Hullo all,

I've got my retail DVD of the latest iWork ('09 ?) and installed it on my iMac. I'd like to manage the apps through the Mac App Store (like iMovie, iPhoto, Garageband already do), but the App Store doesn't seem to pick up that I've got them installed, at least not until I click "Buy" and I get a message saying that I already have Keynote (for example) installed and must get updates through Software Update...

Any ideas on how to make the App Store take command of them?

Cheers,
Ben

I think it might be tricky. App Store receipts are digitally signed, so you'd have to figure out a way to break the encryption to create one for the app so the app store can recognise it. And if you can do that, having the app store version of iWork should be way down your priority list. Plus the app bundle version will have to match, so you'll have to 'hack' the plist in the app bundle. And, to be honest, there's no real reason to do it. The non app store version will still auto-update, just via Software Update rather than the App store app. In theory the licence is different but Apple don't mind, so you can install iWork on as many Macs as you own, just like the App Store version. I'm not entirely sure what having the app store version get you in this case, apart from a slight amount of convenience.

Even if you don't want to shop the DVD around, it's a little known fact that the demo version of IWork (downloadable form Apple's web site I think) is actually exactly the same as the retail install. It just doesn't have a licence code. You can download the demo, add in the licence code and you've got exactly the same setup as the 'full' version.

Jon

The "easy" way, which most make enthusiast podcasters talk about it "buy the software again through the App Store, it makes management of the software and installing new machines so simple, it is worth buying the software you regularly use again through the App Store."

Jon, I didn't realise it would be so...Hacky.....I though there might have been a magic "put me in the App Store" button, or registration page, I'd missed somewhere.

It seems odd that the App Store recognised I had the iLife suite installed and displayed it on the App Store, but it doesn't do the same with iWork...

The App bundles may be different too. It is certainly the case with some third party apps - BBEdit for example (and that's got some significant differences with the version you buy direct from BareBones). How the iWork apps differ is not something I know about. The next version will, I guess, be app store only.

I don't think the app store should be the only way to buy software on the Mac. The restrictions Apple place on apps are right now fairly basic, but could be far more draconian when they start enforcing the sandbox requirements.

I don't think it ever will be, however I suppose there's not much you can do about Apple keeping the stuff they sell themselves to the app store.

Jon

I like it as a system of getting an app onto my Mac. I'm increasingly disliking optical media as I seem to have less and less space to put them.

My view is that the App Store should manage updates for apps, while System Update should manage updates for the core/low-level system. iWork isn't part of the core/low-level system, but it is a suite of apps, so should eb managed through the App Store (or individually, but App Store is nice).