PlinkPlankPlunk

I’ve been using Apple Mac computers at home for several years. It’s definitely a more pleasant environment than Windows. Hardly anything ever locks up and I haven’t heard of any widespread malware issues. But you have to wonder about some design decisions. Not too long ago Apple started selling software through an App Store application. It’s a centralized way of browsing, purchasing and installing new software. Apple does some vetting of the applications, so developers must meet certain quality and interface consistency requirements to have their software in the App Store.

This is all good and helpful. It would seem updates would also be a greatly improved experience with the centralized control of the App Store. After all, many non-App Store applications, both Mac and Windows, check for updates automatically and let you know immediately when an update is available. Not so with the App Store. I have a few purchases and thought I’d be notified somehow when updates became available. No, can’t do that. To check for updates you have to open the App Store application and look for a numerical badge on the update tab (or click on the updates tab). Why can’t this be integrated with the software update agent that so seamlessly keeps the operating system updated?

I checked with online Apple Support and found the following, updated September 13, 2011:

Updating apps that were purchased from the Mac App Store

Software Update does not show updates available for apps that were purchased from the Mac App Store. To update your purchased apps, open App Store on your Mac, then click the “Updates” view at the top of the App Store window. This will show all available updates for apps currently installed on your Mac.

I hope this needless manual checking will be addressed in a future ….  err….   update.