Apple have to fix this. In recent weeks I have seen several very useful updates to software announced on MacNN and other places only to find that the App store version is delayed by weeks relative to the update direct from the vendor. Of course, due to the ecosystem if you bought from the vendor you can't take advantage of App store updates and if you bought from the App store you can't get updates direct. I notice this because I have a Mac at home (ok several) and at work (ok several there too) and have App store and bought direct versions of the same program depending on who's pocket the money came out of.

Yes. And, what's more, this is the kind of problem which should be pretty easy to fix by throwing money at it: hire more people to review things. (There would necessarily be a bit of a delay before they started helping, but nevertheless, Apple has more than enough cash to do this without impacting their stock performance in the slightest.)

Another thing: Apple should work out some kind of system for moving non-app-store purchases into the app store. I own OmniGraffle Pro. It's a great program, and I recommend it, but it's fairly expensive -- $200. I don't want to have to re-buy it just to get all my software into one convenient location, but at the same time it's really annoying to have this one single program which doesn't fall into place when I go into the app store and tell it to download all pending updates.