> Everything else being equal I prefer the mac app store.

I'm completely the reverse -- I cringe when the mac app store is the only way to download and purchase a program. The app store is such a horrendous piece of engineering and design, and I'd much rather my money go straight to the devs anyways.

I much prefer a simple sparkle-like updater.

And as atom said above, I worry about the app store/gatekeeper killing off all the interesting and creative apps. I appreciate added security only so far as it doesn't come with substantial restrictions on what I can do with my mac.