Learn from My Mistake: Buying Apps from the Mac App Store: Read the Fine Print!
I've been trying to find an offline blogging app for my MacBook Pro for quite awhile. I purchased MarsEdit, and have used it, but it is so quirky and strange, it has been a big disappointment. When posting through MarsEdit, sometimes the format morphs into something not desired, and it is impossible to change it. As a former Windows user, I miss Windows Liverwriter immensely, but please don't tell Bill Gates.
Today, plastered big as a billboard, I found an advertisement for Blogo, another blogging editing software. I skimmed through the description and was immediately sold, so I purchased the app. I downloaded it and immediately tried to connect it to this blog. I received an error message immediately. It seems Blogo only supports WordPress currently. Bummer! I purchased a $15 app that might as well be bloatware on my computer.
I then went back and explored the Blogo ad further and at the very end of that ad, the developers mention that their app only works for WordPress, but they hope to include Blogger soon. Hmmmm! That seems a bit deceptive to me, but granted I should have read their entire ad to begin with, which I will religiously do from now on. Apparently, the Mac App store is like the National Enquirer: Don't believe everything you read! Had I gone to Blogo's website, I would have seen clearly (well not really) that their app only works with WordPress. They have the WordPress icon brightly colored, and the Blogger and Tumbler icons dimmed out, but they are there. Why list these two at all if you do not currently support them? A quick glance at the web site would lead users to think the app works for Blogger and Tumbler too, which it does not currently.
At any rate, lesson has been learned by this Blogger. You can't believe everything you read in the Mac App store either, nor on developer web sites. I should have known better. Still, all I ask is that app developers clearly avoid making claims about their apps, and that they mark clearly how their apps work.
I am still looking for a Blogging app that works for blogger if there are any developers interested in that. As you can see, I was willing to pay for it too.
cross posted at the21stcenturyprincipal.blogspot.com
J. Robinson has decades of experience as a K12 Principal, Teacher, and Technology Advocate. Read more at The 21st Century Principal.
