WWDC people noticed that Panic Inc. are coming back to the Mac App Store with their beloved file transfer app, Transmit. This puzzled a lot of people because they moved away from the MAS starting with Coda 2.5 in 2014. Sandboxing was just too restrictive. But now, it seems, the new Mac App Store’s Sandboxing rules will be different enough for Transmit to work. See Panic’s tweets on the topic. The details:

• The Mac App Store version will be a subscription; this way they can offer a free trial on the Mac App Store. When you need the app only for a short while, subscribing for a single month will be cheaper than buying a full license.
• Their web store will feature a classic purchase option where you buy the app (at a higher price than the subscription) once and get free updates.

The combo is an interesting approach to cater to 2 different needs, but I think it’s also not that easy to communicate. Pro users will understand what’s going on, but less tech-savvy people will probably never know about the non-App Store version.

So if you’re a fan and want to support Panic Inc. with your money, you can opt-in to using the subscription, even in addition to your non-App Store purchase. It’s like donating, only without all the tax ambiguities.