The first MacHeist was not very entertaining for me, and the clues were too obscure. I found the tone quite silly. In contraste, I found the MacZot scavenger hunt more accessible.

However, the MacHeist software bundle was a good deal. I paid the full bundle price. I'll probably do so again. It was worth not having to waste time on the Heist tasks.

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If Tuaw hypes this then they to suck... What even became of that mess that was ep 1 ? Nothing it seems.. who cares

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A couple of questions asked in all honesty and with no hidden agenda, I'm just aching to know:

Why do people or blogs that promote marketing initiatives like MacHeist "suck"?

Why are people who like to buy software that isn't liked by the majority (or possibly just the most vocal) development community looked down on?

Why do developers participate in MacHeist if it such a bad deal?

Should I avoid trying software that I was unaware of until MacHeist etc. told me about it?

If MacHeist and software marketing is stupid, where should I learn about new apps?

Thank you for your input.

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It just makes a mess of the order of good content to read. There is always versiontracker or macupdates.com for new software that is not being pimped out like coke.

But the real bigg issue is that nothing has come out of the first shows round yet. Which kinda made it pointless. Which shows it as a defunct project.

Why do programers jump on board? Who knows, why do designers do free work?

Its just a mockery to programs.

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Tripdragon may be confusing MacHeist with WasteAWeekend.

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@tripdragon

Thank you for your thoughts.

Macupdate.com and VT are both handy, but I see them more as directories, usefull when I look for somthing I already know exists. The ratings do help, but it's a bit overwhelming as I, like most people, don't have hours to spend looking for stuff.

How ever I do appreciate your suggestions.

Are you opposed to any non-developer driven software marketing? It strikes me that many developers want to be very indie, and not seen to "commercialize" their apps as they would get panned by the hardcore Mac community. Yet they want to make as much money as possible to fund their lives, families, and their work.

What would in your mind be a better way to reach the more mainstream part of the Mac community?

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"Yet they want to make as much money as possible to fund their lives, families, and their work."

So they go through MacHeist, and lose money on every sale, but make it up in volume.

Riiiiight.

Why is TUAW such a whore for these people? Is TUAW paid for the advertising? If not, why? MacHeist makes plenty of money, why aren't they buying ads?

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Hey, one of the Heist organizers here,

I just wanted to clarify that this event is actually very separate from MacHeist 2, which is scheduled for later this year.

Mike, if you'd like some invite codes to give out to TUAW readers, hit me up on AIM under phillryu, and I'd be happy to provide.

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@Jon H

" "Yet they want to make as much money as possible to fund their lives, families, and their work."

So they go through MacHeist, and lose money on every sale, but make it up in volume.
Riiiiight."


I think you misunderstood my statement. I am assuming that developers need to make money to be able to develop as a full or part time profession.

Whether MacHeist works for them or not is impossible for me to comment on as I am not a developer, nor do I know any who participated in MacHeist.

You seem certain that this does not work. Are you one of the MacHeist 1 developers? Please share your thoughts with us who know less about this subject.

"Why is TUAW such a whore for these people? Is TUAW paid for the advertising? If not, why? MacHeist makes plenty of money, why aren't they buying ads?"

It is my understanding that TUAW covers a multitude of topics related to Macs, and Apple. It's called reporting. Being a whore is, as far as I know, a different profession all together.

"Why don't they buy advertising?"

Are you suggesting that paid for content, without editorial review, is better than what TUAW does? And should, in that case, indie sw developers pay to be seen on the pages of TUAW?

Where is the limit - if someone makes $10 000 per year from sw should they in that case pay for coverage?
Or is that to high/to low? Share your reasoning with us.

Should that philosophy also extend to newspapers who could simply carry advertisements and not employ journalists?

TUAW does often point out flaws in products by both the biggies like Apple, MS etc, and small developers. As consumers, and professionals in the Mac community, we should appreciate this as it helps us making informed decissions, and thus saves us from spending our $ on louse products.

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My experience has been that most of the macheist apps given away and in the bundle were end of life versions on the verge of being updated and most of those updates were not free… The developers did just fine, give 'em a little credit, it was a calculated risk and it paid off very well.

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Omigod! That's My Face On The Picture! Too bad you cut the bottom of it out!

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Nice! I can't wait. I enjoyed the first MacHeist even though some of the missions were a bit too tough for the average person and the sixth was WAY too long in coming. All in all I got some great software that I enjoy. Some of it I would probably never have heard of or used otherwise. The MacHeist community is what made things fun and much less frustrating when you got stuck.

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Frankly, I don't see the draw in me spending my time and effort on some "scavenger hunt" for the favor of getting marketed to. I think this spin on viral marketing is kind of insulting.

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