The Mac App Store seemed to get off to a good start last month, if the habits of people I know are at all representative. Many of then have experimented with free applications, several have bought a paid app or two, and a few spent much more than they originally intended. Still, it was a good way of using up iTunes gift cards received at Christmas, or to take advantage on recent specials on gift cards at Target and Dick Smith.

Things are going so well that according to one report, Apple intends to stop selling boxed software in its retail (and presumably online) stores.

It makes sense for some items, but the sheer size of some applications is a barrier. The Mac App Store version of Garageband is a 182MB download - but the version on my iMac includes 2.6GB of instruments and other files, located in /Library/Application Support/Garageband. (If you've bought the program from the Store, please post a comment saying how big the Instrument Library etc are.)

This, I suspect, is the real reason for the unbundling of the iLife and iWork applications in the Store: people will download software up to CD size, but they're not happy with the idea of downloading a DVD's worth. This is especially true for those who for whatever reason need to rely on mobile broadband with its relatively small quotas and high prices.

Apart from download size, another issue is that Apple applies strict technical rules to software that's offered through the Store, so programs that need to go outside those rules won't be sold there. One example is that EyeTV needs to install device drivers, but Store applications "cannot install code or resources in shared locations." Another is that PrintMaster 2011 uses Java, but "Apps that use deprecated or optionally installed technologies (e.g., Java, Rosetta) will be rejected."

There are also some commercial issues - especially regarding the sale of add-in content, mandatory licensing for multiple computers, the "no demos" rule, restrictions on what is 'acceptable', losing direct contact with customers, and problems around transitioning existing customers to the Store versions of applications - that will put off some developers.

So even if boxed software does disappear from the shelves of Apple Stores around the world, there's going to be a place for channels other than the Mac App Store for some time to come.

Unless the prophets of doom are correct.

One school of thought holds that - despite statements by the company to the contrary - Apple does want the Mac App Store to be the sole source of Mac software, and that this will be enforced by Mac OS X 10.7 refusing to run any code that isn't digitally signed by Apple.

Frankly, I can't see that happening. (Feel free to come back and gloat if I'm proved wrong.) Can you imagine Microsoft and Adobe agreeing to let someone else sign their applications? I can't. Is Apple really at the stage where it can tell them to take a hike?

And an awful lot of people run open source applications on their Macs. Firefox, Cyberduck and VirtualBox are just three examples that come to mind. Yet at least some of the major open source licences seem to be incompatible with the Mac App Store licence.

It's one thing creating a new platform (iOS) and effectively saying "here are our rules, and if you don't like them, don't buy our devices or develop for them." It's quite another to try to impose such a big change on an existing customer and developer base. I just don't buy it.