Notices

this is rediculous
i got so excited when i got that email and rushed to the store to find....nothing
suuucks

I wud be happy if I could even buy it ^^

Noobmonkey - If you are still running a non updated UK firmware the app manger / file manger don't do anything with the .deb. You have to drop down to the shell and manually install it.

Clearly this was never properly thought out, hence why it has been pulled again.

I'm sure it was pulled down for other reasons, one being the fact that the deb can be uploaded by anyone and everyone on the internet can install it.

Yes and there is that reason as well.

Why put it up in the first place then? They must've been aware of that when they opened up the sales...

This is what I don't understand. There is obviously no concept at all how to handle paid content for the N900 in Ovi Store. Somebody decided there will be a store for the N900 and put the icon/shortcut on the first firmware release... But months later, they still don't find a way to implement it properly.

Also, if you look at the big picture: Remember how a majority here agreed that removing red pill mode was a good thing because the average user should only install from repositories, never from *.deb files? (Dependency handling etc.)
Now it seems they try the exact opposite: Put each mainstream application in a standalone *.deb file and make it even easier than ever before for end users to install these files. - "How to create a mess on everybody's device in 5 minutes."

From a commercial point of view, we had two possible weak spots in Ovi Store: The old one was the "apt-get" workaround, which allowed people to install an application without anyone ever paying for it. The other one was the *.deb-file, which can easily be shared and re-distributed once at least one person paid for and downloaded it.
Now which one is more likely to ruin your business? In other words: How many people know how to become root and use apt-get vs. how many people know how to send and open files they find in a file manager? Did they really, honestly think that distributing *.deb files is a good idea?

I think they did. And that shows the danger behind the whole thing: no concept, no plan, no hope. In other words: Ovi as we know it.

Have Nokia implemented any kind of DRM on the N900 yet? In any case I'm glad they have not used it on this pack. Someone would have cracked it in a short amount of time anyways, and uploaded it to the internet. Then only we who pay would be left off with DRM, which means that some off us probably would have more trouble installing it and we would be the ones not able to make a backup.

And right now it seems like a good idea for Nokia not to waste time and money on DRM when they appearantly have bigger issues to deal with when it comes to Ovi Store. But the Maemo team has been saying that DRM is on its way - so I guess we'll see how things end up.

the ppl that running ovi store for n900. do they know what they are doing? i mean its possible to test the store before release paid content. but to me it seems like they dont know what they are doing. will we ever get a ovi store for n900. I think not

No DRM on N900, its useless anyways like you said.

The problem with distributing plain debs are obviously how difficult it is for end-user to install them. First you need to become root which requires a 3rd party app, or flasher to setup r&d mode -> thats instant FAIL right there already.

Then you need to know where the deb is saved, where the folder is on directory tree, you need to know xterm commands to do it and finally you need to know dpkg to install it -> seriously no average end-user will know any of those bits (yeah yeah, N900 is nerd targeted device, blaablaa says me) -> FAIL.

Also the aforementioned point that debs floating around is not cool, its not user-friendly nor its effective for anyone -> FAIL.

Why don't they simply set up virtual repositories for paid content per user? That would solve all three FAILs and use the existing AppMgr people know how to use. It would provide automatic updates to purchased content too etc. Its no DRM, so basically if you know what you're doing you could dig up the deb anyways, but at least you don't explicitly need to know any of the technical stuff nor any location to purchase and install paid content.

They already do this with SDK nokia-binaries, so they know how to do it. Why not use it as temporary solution (if there even is a plan to fix this properly?), it would be positive-only change compared to current "solution"!