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Hog Bay pulls back its iOS applications
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Posted by Dr Andus
Jan 8, 2014 at 12:44 PM
Paul Korm wrote:
Pulling the app from the App Store doesn’t mean the installed copy you
>have will stop working. TaskPaper is pretty simple, so its probably
>going to work for a while to come. It used to be the case that if you
>backed up installed apps to a desktop then then could be reinstalled
>even if not on the App Store. Don’t know if that’s still possible.
This is an interesting question as to what happens to abandoned iOS apps or the ones that abandon your particular version of the OS. E.g. I’m on iPad 1, iOS 5. A while ago I got a notification from Workflowy that they will no longer support the iOS app for v. 5 and that it will turn into read-only. I figured that as long as I don’t update my current copy on my iPad I will be safe. But no. Even without me doing any app update they were able to deprecate my Workflowy app, so it’s read-only now. I also had other apps that were completely disabled, without warning. They just say “upgrade your OS”, which means “buy a new iPad.” I don’t seem to have a say in not wanting the “downgrade.”
So it seems to me that when you buy an iOS app, you are not buying software but only a service to use the software, and it is entirely unforeseeable as to how long that service will be available. This is quite different from buying software for the PC that you can keep forever, as long as you’ve got the hardware and OS to run it on.
Posted by Paul Korm
Jan 8, 2014 at 01:34 PM
Doesn’t Workflowy communicate with the Workflowy mothership? I could see a case where the developer will want to deprecate an iOS app because then they do not have the cost of keeping their server compatible with clients that they no longer support. TaskPaper just saves plain text files to Dropbox. Someday, Dropbox will change their API or Apple will do something, and it will die.
I agree with the general case that frequently we’re not really “owning” anything when we “buy” software—- it is a lease. Same for the cable television companies that uptick the prices of movies and say you “own” it. Sure, you own it as long as you pay the cable fees to access that movie in your library. Terminate the cable service and the movie vanishes.
Posted by Dr Andus
Jan 9, 2014 at 01:01 AM
Paul Korm wrote:
Doesn’t Workflowy communicate with the Workflowy mothership? I could
>see a case where the developer will want to deprecate an iOS app because
>then they do not have the cost of keeping their server compatible with
>clients that they no longer support.
Yes, you’re right, that’s probably why Workflowy had to ditch iPad 1 users.
It’s tricky though with the App Store updates. In the past I got used to hitting “update all” without ever looking at it, but now I have to be very careful because I can start ruining my apps. Just today I saw a message from iAnnotate PDF, saying “iOS 5 users don’t update to this version.” So it will just have to forever sit there…
Posted by Prion
Jan 9, 2014 at 09:17 AM
Regarding the subject of the thread, Taskpaper is now open source. Perhaps not all is lost if someone smart picks it up.
http://blog.hogbaysoftware.com
Best
Prion
Posted by Paul Korm
Jan 9, 2014 at 11:07 AM
That’s an interesting development. I wonder if anyone has successfully created a profitable app from open-sourced abandonware. The core target audience is desktop TaskPaper users, probably not a large group in total—and the subset of those who care to integrate their desktop documents with iOS. In the very crowded market for todo organizers.
Prion wrote:
Regarding the subject of the thread, Taskpaper is now open source.
>Perhaps not all is lost if someone smart picks it up.