Yeah, but it's still better than the situation on the Windows side. In order to use the new Metro UI, Microsoft requires all apps to go through their app store. Remember: they've recently been dragged kicking and screaming from trying to hoist this UI on every Windows user. (You could draw the comparison to iCloud, but at least that's a service hosted by Apple on their own dime, not a native UI layer.) So far, Apple has made it clear that OSX is intended to remain an open OS. I expect that developers will be able to use OSX+'s new native features for many years to come, App Store, or no; in contrast, I don't see Microsoft permitting open development on anything but its rapidly aging Desktop.
But yeah, I hope the App Store gets better. Pretty much any cool application idea I've had has required going outside the sandbox.
That's because Windows 8 includes the features of both iOS and Mac OS X. If Mac OS X could run iOS apps, do you reckon these would be supplied outside the Apple Store?
You don't have to use Metro, of course. However, if you do, there are constraints that are required for a secure, always-connected, battery-powered device that are not required for a traditional desktop or laptop.
> I don't see Microsoft permitting open development
I don't understand this. There are several ways to develop Metro apps, including C# or C++ with XAML, C++ with DirectX, and JavaScript with HTML/CSS. Seems to me that Apple is more restrictive on both the iOS and Mac OS X sides. Even if you really mean "open deployment", it's not completely closed....
You don't have to use Metro, but Microsoft was kind of betting on Metro being the future. Many have said — correctly so, I think — that Microsoft wanted to deprecate the Desktop in an MS-DOS kind of way, at least over the course of a few years. From what I've seen, many of the newest APIs require Metro, while the Desktop remains mostly as it has been in Vista. Meanwhile, OSX is adding tons of new features for devs of all varieties with every new release, including features centered around security and power use.
Yeah, I meant "open deployment", sorry. I don't think there's an official way to develop for Metro outside the MS app store, right?
But yeah, I hope the App Store gets better. Pretty much any cool application idea I've had has required going outside the sandbox.