Apple is at it again, finding new ways to dink Mac OS X owners into paying more for their software.
"... Apple is expected to announce at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco Tuesday that consumers will have to pay for new versions of iDVD, iPhoto and iMovie, which will be sold together as a bundle. Previously, Apple had offered upgrades to its digital media, or "i" applications, for free. The move to charge up to $50 for the software trio is potentially the first step in charging for all six "i" applications, which would continue to be bundled for free with new Macs, sources said." — CNET NEWS
Now I realize that the "i" apps are value add but what else is on the block for potential revenue streams? Should this rumor come to pass, I think Apple would be second only to US healthcare in the "screw the customer in the number of details a person now has to pay for to get a complete package" category.
Perhaps it's time to check out Red Hat 8.0.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
I'm all for charging money for good software. But, these up until now free pieces of software are an integral part of the "new" generation of Macintosh, Mac OSX.
These tools are what Steve Jobs has been boasting *as* Mac OSX, and not as separate software and therefore I think it's wrong to give it away and then take it back.
It would have been different if the "iApps" were finished, polished and stable products, but they're not and Mac OSX customers expect updates to them.
It's all about the bottom line. Before Apple can save the PC world from Microsoft, it needs to save itself. For fiscal year end 2002, Apple's sales were only $7 billion (compared to MS's sales of $28B. MS had revenues of $7B in the 1st quarter of 2003 alone). Apple holds $4B in cash/cash equivalent versus MS's $38B. The brutal facts are Mac users will continued to get screwed as Apple tries to break it's 5% market share. I'm confident that my Wintel machine at work won't be replaced my a Mac anytime soon.
Mike: Just because MS happens to make a lot more money than Apple, doesn't mean that Apple have to screw their customers, really.
I just can't get up in arms about this. Those three apps are largely useless. iMovie is an incredibly weak video editor, iPhoto is completely pointless to me as a photo "organizer, and, well, I don't have a DVD burner, but I have friends with them, and they own Final Cut Pro.
None of these apps change the usefulness of the Operating System itself. I run Chimera for web, XChatAqua for IRC, lots of Terminal.app for ssh to remote unix boxes, where I also read my email. iTunes is a decent mp3 player/ripper/burner, but it's not irreplaceable.
While I agree with you about the usefulness of these applications I am more concerned with Apple's actions.
There are a lot of people that have switched to X because these applications were included, now they will be charged extra.
Apple already got me twice by charging me $180 each for 10.1 and 10.2 now it appears this isn't enough to keep the black ink flowing.
We should keep in mind these things:
a) So far, these are rumors. Apple is surely feeling some of the humiliation of the dot mac fiasco; quite frankly charging for i-apps after that seems a strange move to me.
b) iDVD and iMovie were never free. They came with new computers and with OS X. Only iTunes and iPhoto were downloadable. There is no mention of making people pay for iTunes, which is the only of the iApps I use regularly.
c) Linux is a compelling alternative, but quite frankly the amount I've paid for OS upgrades on the Mac platform are a small fraction of what I would pay to avoid the nightmare of configuring Linux and all the apps I'd run on it. While I've never run my own Linux box, I did work on several Unix variants, and as long as there's both work and deadlines, I'll stick to MacOS.
d) I'm the type that pays for all my shareware. $50 for three apps seems pretty damn reasonable to me.
Yes - but after you endure the learning curve of Linux you are no longer bound by the constraints of either Mac or WinBlows.
Greg - Are you planning on making that new Dell box a dual booter?
Absolutely! I finished downloading all three installation CDs yesterday afternoon. Bluecurve here I come baby!
I installed RH8 after failing with both Debian and SuSe. But for multi-media and other types of productive work, it's no substitute for OS X.