Chesapeakes
Every time Apple announce something, there are always a few (as illustrated by the comments on this Guardian weblog entry) who moan about the cost; and a few others who moan about the hardware requirements. It's always puzzled me why someone who last spent any money on Apple kit about 5 years ago should consider themselves entitled to a lifetime of free software upgrades from Apple.
I mean, do they understand the computer industry, even a little bit? Like it or not, software companies exist to sell software, so they continually release new versions to maintain a revenue stream. And hardware companies, believe it or not, like to sell new hardware.
Apple's suite of excellent consumer software, like iMovie, AppleWorks, iDVD, and iPhoto has always been meant as an incentive to buy new Macs. If I was Apple, and the moaners are lucky I'm not, I'd make new versions only available with new hardware. So if you want iMovie 4 or Garageband, buy a new Mac. Furthermore, I'd make the hardware requirements such that you had to have a newer Mac in order to run it.
But I'm not Apple, and Apple offer a compromise. You can buy new versions of this fantastic software for £39, or you can carry on using the older versions of the fantastic software. Yes, some of the older hardware won't be able to run Garageband or iPhoto 4 (with high speed scrolling etc), but on the whole we're talking about Macs that are over 3 years old. And even those of us with 18-month-old iMac G4s are surely going to struggle, trying to encode 2 hours worth of DVD footage in iDVD.
But that's the unfortunate nature of the computer industry. Software gets better, but in doing so takes advantage of the power of new hardware. And the G5 desktop range is seriously more powerful than anything that came before. Why should Apple cripple their software so as to appease people who haven't bought any new hardware from them for a few years? Why should they keep giving things away for free when the stuff is so good that many, many people are happy to pay for it?
If Apple were interested in having cheapskates as customers, they'd sell cheap computers wouldn't they?
I mean, do they understand the computer industry, even a little bit? Like it or not, software companies exist to sell software, so they continually release new versions to maintain a revenue stream. And hardware companies, believe it or not, like to sell new hardware.
Apple's suite of excellent consumer software, like iMovie, AppleWorks, iDVD, and iPhoto has always been meant as an incentive to buy new Macs. If I was Apple, and the moaners are lucky I'm not, I'd make new versions only available with new hardware. So if you want iMovie 4 or Garageband, buy a new Mac. Furthermore, I'd make the hardware requirements such that you had to have a newer Mac in order to run it.
But I'm not Apple, and Apple offer a compromise. You can buy new versions of this fantastic software for £39, or you can carry on using the older versions of the fantastic software. Yes, some of the older hardware won't be able to run Garageband or iPhoto 4 (with high speed scrolling etc), but on the whole we're talking about Macs that are over 3 years old. And even those of us with 18-month-old iMac G4s are surely going to struggle, trying to encode 2 hours worth of DVD footage in iDVD.
But that's the unfortunate nature of the computer industry. Software gets better, but in doing so takes advantage of the power of new hardware. And the G5 desktop range is seriously more powerful than anything that came before. Why should Apple cripple their software so as to appease people who haven't bought any new hardware from them for a few years? Why should they keep giving things away for free when the stuff is so good that many, many people are happy to pay for it?
If Apple were interested in having cheapskates as customers, they'd sell cheap computers wouldn't they?
posted by Anonymous at
Thursday, January 08, 2004
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home