MacAppGem :: FAQ

Who writes this stuff?

2009-06-27T09:45:00.161-04:00

Primarily MacMuse (a.k.a. Jenn Landefeld). But there will hopefully be a steady stream of guest bloggers developing so there will be a well rounded choice of gems — applications that other avid Mac users find to be well done and useful. See the Authors page for more info on MacMuse and the guest bloggers.

Why don't you have the prices of the payware listed?

2009-06-27T09:44:56.705-04:00

Because they can change rapidly and I'm not basing "gem" status on actual cost. Once you get to a site, check out the software and decide if it is right for you, payware sites list all the current information that seems silly to duplicate here.

What's with the odd categories? No Shareware?

2009-06-27T09:44:53.648-04:00

There are some very good discussions, forum & blog posts about the categorization issues surrounding software. I chose to simplify to Freeware, Payware and Donationware because it's getting tougher and tougher to distinguish between shareware and commercial software, in particular.

Some devs still call their offerings shareware -- these will fall into the payware category here. Suggestions to use Indieware have been made as well, but it doesn't seem to fit if I'm not using commercial to designate things like Apple, Adobe and the like.

Why another Mac App site?

2009-06-27T09:44:49.303-04:00

I’ve been adding to the Twitterverse with Macintosh applications I’ve deemed “gems”. Apps that I find useful and thought I’d pass on to others in case they might find them useful as well.

Along comes the following tweet from a friend:

I thought maybe you were working for macappgem.com. Of course it doesn’t exist; maybe we should start it.

My reply? Sounds good to me. Maybe we should start it! Lo-and-behold, the URL was actually available. So, here you have it. The ever-so-humble, social media inspired beginnings of macappgem.com. I'm pleasantly surprised at how truly readable the site is on my iPhone. Bonus!

Okay, I see you have "Guest Bloggers", how do I become one?

2009-06-23T13:41:17.304-04:00

You can fill out the guest blogger application.

If you already blog about anything else be sure to include the URL so I can take a look at your writing. If not, put a short paragraph about a Mac app on the application and that will suffice as a starting point for us to discuss becoming a guest blogger.

Be sure to provide your email address and at least your first name so that I can contact you to discuss your potential for contributing to the blog.