Rooting for Android
An app called “a Hands Heater” has been sitting in the iPhone App Store top 25 of the paid apps for awhile now. It’s a stupid gimmick app that makes the screen appear like a set of heating coils emmitting heat. Amazingly the app ’s description takes three paragraphs before it mentions that it doesn’t actually do anything. Kind of a slimy thing for the developer to do.
The really sad thing though is how many people are buying it and subsequently leaving reviews saying “Doesn’t actually work, I want my money back!” Though the reviews certainly have worse grammar and spelling; think YouTube comment level of English mastery. The developer is raking in cash due to stupidity. I dunno who to fault more.
Anyway, aside from making me really fear for our world, this makes me really want Android to win. If Android were to become the Windows of mobile devices, all of this crapware could go over there. Have you ever tried find a quality, well designed piece if software on Windows? It’s a joke. Every search brings up results for crap shareware on stupid sites like download.com. I love how they present advertisements with “Download Now!” buttons that are larger than the link for the software you actually want. Barf.
On the other hand, it seems like there is always at least one beautifully designed piece of software for all genres and needs on the Mac. I’ve paid for many pieces of independantly developed Mac software, and they all are a joy to use.
It may sound elitest, but I think it would be great if Android wins the marketplace so the App Store can start losing the cruft and just be filled with beautifully things I want to buy even if I don’t really need them.