The Mac App store has launched. My initial reaction to the news? Interesting, but does not apply to people like me. After all, I know how to use Google search, and find the apps I want.

Actually, if I am being quite honest, I am feeling a little insulted that Apple thinks I need an App Store with a gate to access quality applications. Nonetheless, I am not ignorant to the purpose behind the Apple Mac Store.

I realize that dumbing down the install experience to that of the iPhone’s will increase Mac application installs. And yes, I understand that this is a boon for Mac developers, and serious developers would be stupid not to distribute their App through a store that is installed on nearly every Mac. Hell, if I was a Mac developer and didn’t take advantage of this channel of distro, I would let people start a blog in my name and burn me at the stake.

I wouldn’t even sue.

If we are facing reality though, an App Store for the desktop is by no means a “unique” idea. The “revolutionary” Mac App Store is basically a copy of what many popular Linux distributions such as Ubuntu have had to offer for years. Might I also add that while Linux as a whole only owns 1% of the desktop market, they do the whole desktop app store thing a whole lot better, and are a lot less scarier. Because while Ubuntu may offer apps through a main distribution center, providing convenience for a more mainstream audience, installing third party apps by other means has never been frowned upon.

Sadly, it will be on a Mac, and that’s the slippery slope we face.

There is no doubt in my mind that the App Store will be a huge success. Actually, let me rephrase that, a “revolutionary” success. It will change how developers distribute their work, and what users can install and do with their computer. But if we are to follow precedence set by other Apple products, the Mac will become more closed than ever, with the Web as our only option to access the outside world. Much like the iPhone and the iPad. As a Mac owner, the writing is on the wall, a closed computer is my future.

This is a slippery slope that I hope Microsoft never attempts to down. App Stores are not a bad thing, Ubuntu and even Android have proven that, but App Store’s like Apple’s are. Microsoft has already embraced the model of Apple on Windows Phone 7 with their Marketplace, with no other repositories for developers officially available, or even hinted at in the future. It’s either the Microsoft way or the highway in mobile, and the same applies to the 360.

Do developers and customers really want this as a permanent future?

We need an OS that lets users do what they want, and OS X is fast becoming not that OS. This leaves Microsoft with the option to leave the application distribution world open, and I hope they continue to do so. If not, we better hope that the web doesn’t get censored any time soon and HTML 5 is loved fast, because that will be our gateway to freedom.

[Cross-posted at Winextra]