OS X Yosemite: The Missing Manual

The Mac App Store

For years, people installed software onto their computers by buying disks: floppies, CDs, and, later, DVDs.

But starting with the iPhone, people installed software onto their phones by downloading it directly from the Internet. Once everybody saw how convenient (and profitable) that system was, it didn’t take Apple long to realize it could bring the same convenience to the Mac.

So now there’s the Mac App Store—or, as the program is called in your Applications folder, just App Store (Figure 5-1). It’s an online catalog of software from huge software companies, tiny one-person software companies, and everything in between. You can read about the programs, check out customer reviews, and download them directly to your Mac. (As you probably know, Yosemite itself is an App Store download.)

Figure 5-1. Top: Mastering the App Store won’t take you much time; just about everything you need is in the toolbar at the top, including a search box and buttons like Featured, Top Charts, and Categories, which are meant to help you dive into the enormous catalog of Mac software. Purchases shows everything you’ve ever bought using your Apple account, for easy re-downloading. Bottom: As with the iPhone/iPad App Store, you can read reviews of each piece of software, written by other people who’ve tried it.

There are some huge advantages to this system. Since there’s no box, disc, registration ...