iCloud Transition Update for Yojimbo ⇥ barebones.com

Rich Siegel of Bare Bones Software:

Please note that with the release of the new version, Yojimbo will only be available in the Mac App Store. This is because Apple has decided that any applications that use iCloud for sync may only be distributed through the Mac App Store. Therefore, customers who have bought Yojimbo directly from us and wish to use iCloud to sync data will have to purchase a new version of Yojimbo from the Mac App Store.

The Mac App Store makes these transitions quite rough for developers and users alike. Andy Ihnatko has some thoughts on that:

The knock-forward list of problems here is a long one. My initial “what’s the harm?” reaction to the App Store’s requirements was based on the idea that a developer could still sell their apps outside of the Store if he or she wanted to. My attitude has changed. iCloud is just one example of a larger (and kind of nasty) problem: Apple is making the newest and most desirable features of the OS exclusively available to App Store software. How does that encourage developers to create the best apps possible?

Of course, iCloud syncing is a feature that is only used in some apps, and only for some features. But it means that the version of Coda 2 you buy in the App Store is slightly different than the one you buy directly from Panic.