Or you know, many OS X users are software developers who use tools that actually need access to the filesystem beyond the officially provided "save as" dialog.

Or you know, many OS X users are software developers who use tools that actually need access to the filesystem beyond the officially provided "save as" dialog. Every IDE is expected to be able to load and save files wherever the developer saves their projects - it is simply unacceptable to pop a dialog for every save of a file in a supposedly "privileged" location. Your everyday average user who is just installing games might get away with sandboxed applications, but power users cannot be limited by the extreme restrictions placed on App Store applications. The App Store on iOS is mostly a success - users are happy, and the only complaints are from developers trying to get visibility for their shit app that nobody is interested in. The Mac App Store for OS X, on the other hand, is a complete failure. You are locked into a single sandbox mode, with no way to ask for extended permissions from the user. The Mac App Store could die tomorrow, and nobody would care. You're a single Google search away from downloading the software - and hey, the company doesn't lose 30% for absolutely no reason.