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Why Apple Wants Its Software to Be Free

businessweek.com

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Re: Why Apple Wants Its Software to Be Free

#21

Post by bluecalm »

r0h1n wrote: post #6

> By going free, Apple has acknowledged something that’s been true in the industry for years: Software is a means to sell hardware. What? How has this "been true in the industry for years" ? Maybe its true for smart phones & tablets, that too for just the OS, but how does he go from there to all software and all hardware?

Let me correct it for the author:

> By going free, Apple has acknowledged something that’s been true in the industry for years: software is a means to sell hardware for hardware companies Apple being one of them.

Re: Why Apple Wants Its Software to Be Free

#23

Post by cincinnatus »

dhruvmittal wrote: post #11
dmyler wrote: post #5

It's also a response to google docs. Introducing collaboration on iWork is a good first step to address to the shift towards shared docs. I imagine we'll see that expand significantly in the future.

I just wish they'd gone ahead and made iWork free across the board (or perhaps for Mavericks users), rather than only with the purchase of a new device.

I suspect they will at some point in the next ~18 months.

Re: Why Apple Wants Its Software to Be Free

#24

Post by cwp »

felixr wrote: post #12
microtonal wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if as a developer you only have to worry about a single platform? Actually, this was one of my first reaction as a developer. I developed and maintain a scientific software package (treebank search) that I maintain for Windows (>= XP), OS X (>= 10.7), and Linux (latest Ubuntu LTS). My first reaction after hearing that Mavericks is free was: great, if most people will upgrade, I am freed of supporting the lega…

> My first reaction after hearing that Mavericks is free was: great, if most people will upgrade, I am freed of supporting the legacy OS X versions. And if software developers cease to support older OS versions, those people with old computers that cannot upgrade have a stronger incentive for buying new hardware.

Nah, that's a very minor consideration at best.

"Cease to support older OS versions" means that new versions of applications won't run on older operating systems. It doesn't mean that older versions of applications suddenly stop working. If you're running an old OS on old hardware, running an old application is fine. In fact, it's preferable, because it was written with the capabilities of that hardware in mind.

Re: Why Apple Wants Its Software to Be Free

#25

Post by MPetitt »

otikik wrote: post #3

Because why charge peanuts for an operative system, if you can charge $3000+ for a machine?

Well I don't think that is entirely fair. To get to that price you have to take the most expensive mac product, then add tax. I just bought the highest end MacBook pro today with the student discount and it only cost a little over 2k. Which if I wanted another computer of comparable hardware quality (aluminum vs. plastic), screen resolution, and weight and dimensions I would be hard-pressed to find a comparable PC for that much cheaper. And that is disregarding the crappy support of most PC manufacturers. So I wouldn't say their prices for hardware are even that crazy, a MacBook quality laptop that only ran windows or Linux could still sell for 80-90% of the price.

Re: Why Apple Wants Its Software to Be Free

#27

Post by roc »

xutopia wrote: post #2

I think this guy completely misses the most important point. Apple sees how much fragmentation hurts Windows and Android and they want to avoid it. Imagine if as a developer you only have to worry about a single platform? Imagine if as a distributor you only have to worry about releasing a single package? It makes things much easier for everyone and allows efforts to be on quality rather than compatibility.

That's part of it, but it doesn't speak to why they also made iWork and iLife free.

Re: Why Apple Wants Its Software to Be Free

#28

Post by cygwin98 »

The fragmentation issue in Mac OS X [1] is the hurdle that has been holding me off from writing apps for Macs. According to [1] (published about half a year ago), the Mac OS X market share breakdown:

26.8% Mountain Lion 10.8

28.0% Lion 10.7

35.1% Snow Leopard 10.6

10.0% Leopard 10.5 and Tiger 10.4

If we assume that half of the macs running Snow Leopard (10.6) are pre-2007 and ineligible for 10.9, we have about 72.3% macs that can upgrade to the free Mavericks, which is great news for Mac App developers.

[1] http://www.zdnet.com/ad-network-os-x-is-becoming-fragmented-...

Re: Why Apple Wants Its Software to Be Free

#29

Post by [deleted] »

r0h1n wrote: post #6

> By going free, Apple has acknowledged something that’s been true in the industry for years: Software is a means to sell hardware. What? How has this "been true in the industry for years" ? Maybe its true for smart phones & tablets, that too for just the OS, but how does he go from there to all software and all hardware?

[deleted]

Re: Why Apple Wants Its Software to Be Free

#30

Post by gonzo »

dhruvmittal wrote: post #11
dmyler wrote: post #5

It's also a response to google docs. Introducing collaboration on iWork is a good first step to address to the shift towards shared docs. I imagine we'll see that expand significantly in the future.

I just wish they'd gone ahead and made iWork free across the board (or perhaps for Mavericks users), rather than only with the purchase of a new device.

if you already had iWork, they just upgraded you for free.
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