A question: can open source projects submit just their most stable versions to the App Store and then also release in-progress versions through their own sites?
If so, that would seem to address most of the issues. The people downloading software from the App Store don't want buggy or untested software, and those interested in cutting-edge versions are likely to be aware and active enough to download it themselves.
Depends on the license. App store apps are limited in how they can be copied among machines, so depending on the license, a person submitting an open source app to the App Store might conceivably be violating the license. (This wouldn't be Apple violating it. It'd be the submitter.)
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A question: can open source projects submit just their most stable versions to the App Store and then also release in-progress versions through their own sites?
If so, that would seem to address most of the issues. The people downloading software from the App Store don't want buggy or untested software, and those interested in cutting-edge versions are likely to be aware and active enough to download it themselves.
Win-win situation.
I mean, open source projects already have stable branches and dev branches, so it wouldn't even require that much additional work from developers.
Depends on the license. App store apps are limited in how they can be copied among machines, so depending on the license, a person submitting an open source app to the App Store might conceivably be violating the license. (This wouldn't be Apple violating it. It'd be the submitter.)