Our pie-in-the-sky wish here is for the Mac App Store to recognize a previously installed version of an app and, with the developer's blessing, update that app going forward. More on that in a moment.

If you've got non-Mac App Store programs that use the update framework, those apps will check for new versions each time you launch them, immediately notifying you if a new version is available and letting you update with a click. Prior to the debut of the Mac App Store, Sparkle was the most painless way for a developer to ensure users always had the latest version of an application. The Mac App Store brings iOS-like app updating to the Mac: Open the Mac App Store's updates screen, and you see which of your Mac App Store-purchased apps have available updates; click Update All, and those updates are downloaded and installed.

The problem here is that, unlike apps with Sparkle, which check for updates whenever you're using them, the Mac App Store requires you to launch the App Store program to manually check for updates. That means if you don't use the Mac App Store regularly, you could end up using out-of-date apps--possibly with bugs or other serious issues--for days, weeks, or even months.

Apple should allow Mac OS X to automatically check for updates to Mac App Store-purchased software the same way it does for updates to OS X and Apple software, perhaps incorporating that functionality into the Software Update pane of System Preferences. And it should notify you of those pending updates in a conspicuous way--say, using a dialog similar to the one that appears when your Mac's due for an OS X update.