Does Apple get away with things Microsoft could not?
Double standards in the platform wars
Tuesday, May 10, 2005 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Imagine this scenario: Longhorn comes out and Windows Movie Maker, Remote Desktop, and Outlook Express were no longer part of the OS. Instead, Microsoft included them in a seperate $70 package. And then imagine that Longhorn was essentially a Windows XP Service Pack 3 with a bundled Google Desktop Search like function, a Lite version the DesktopX Run-Time, and a few other niceties. How do you think people would react? How do you think the media would react? Probably not with glowing praise.
But that's exactly what has happened with Apple. A few years ago, Apple was touting MacOS X as the way to make movies and DVDs and manage your photos and other such things. It included a pretty nice DVD making program and a pretty strong movie making program. But as the latest version of MacOS X shows, Apple has no problem removing significant programs from its OS and charging for them seperately. Some might say that's the ultimate "bait and switch". Whatever you want to call it, I think most would agree that if Microsoft had done the same thing, there'd probably be something just short of a riot.
That isn't to say MacOS X Tiger isn't a great operating system -- it is. But while people are fawning praise upon Apple and their OS-making abilities, people also need to take a step back, put down the Steve Jobs brand Kool-Aid and take a serious look at what they're getting for their $129 upgrade. Of course, any time anyone criticizes Apple or the Mac, even in the most mild form, the Mac zealots come out to vigorously defend it. This in turn makes reasoned discussion a lot more difficult. But one Mac/PC user, Paul Boyer, has written an article that gives his experiences with Tiger.
Paul Boyer, has created countless skins, themes, and of course his incredible packages of icons that have been freely downloaded by millions of people uses his computers as tools to do everything from graphics design to recording TV shows. And he's just upgraded to MacOS Tiger. He's not an OS advocate. He's not hard core. He's a more typical, casual consumer. And he's not happy. While he can appreciate the improvements in Tiger, he also feels he's getting jerked around a bit by Apple. People criticize Microsoft as the evil empire and yet some of the actions Apple takes seem to be pretty bold. Read the whole article with an open mind and let us know what you think.
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Reply #22 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 5:56 AM
So as I see it, Apple, by removing these "features" from OS X itself is precluding the possibility of these lawsuits. Simple as that. You still get them when you buy a new machine, but that's no different than all the "crap" software that's preloaded on any HP or Dell you buy in a store. And with the new Mini I bought, iLife was included as a CD, not preloaded, so I had the option to install those free programs, or not. I like that option.
Reply #23 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 7:13 AM
wocowboy: the fact that Apple bundles iTunes, THEIR MUSIC STORE, in their operating system along with Quicktime is a severe infrigement of antitrust laws. It hinders competition. And there's a heck more to file a lawsuit against them!
Reply #24 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 9:19 AM
| Computers are for working. Buy a console. |
Strange....
I want my comp to work so I built my own....a PC
....and I wanted it for 'work' and it does.
....and I wanted it for 'games' and it does.
Why would I [or anyone] want a Mac AND an XBOX?....
Reply #25 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 10:30 AM
| MAC lacks this graphics card upgradability |
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
...
Wow. You clearly don't know shit about Macs.
| ... lacks compatibility with most commercial games, therefore limits what you can do on it! |
Naturally binaries compiled for an operating system with specific APIs on a certain processor architecture won't run on a different, incompatible operating system that runs on a completely different architecture.
| I can't play Half Life 2 on any console anyway. |
The Xbox version is probably being shown off at E3 as we speak.
| If it's not for playing games, neither is it for browsing: so many pages are not loaded as they should on Safari or MAC's MS Internet Explorer. |
Pages are loaded as they should be on standards compliant browsers. I believe Safari is standards compliant. I also believe Firefox is available for the Mac. I also believe IE on any platform is an utter piece of shit.
| MAC's are a bummer! |
That's just retarded.. I honestly don't know what else I can say to that. Hmm, I guess I can make fun of you capitalising Mac, and using an apostrophe for a plural, which should never, EVER be done.
Clearly you're an idiot.
If you're gonna hate Apple, or Macs (note: no capitals except for the M, and no apostrophe
), at least come up with some valid reasons for doing so.And Jafo:
| Why would I [or anyone] want a Mac AND an XBOX?.... |
Quite simply because then you have both an excellent (I'd barely call Windoze 'good') computing platform, and a good (well, that's open to debate, maybe I'll say 'decent') gaming platform.
Reply #26 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 10:41 AM
Mr Eroticus Prime ....'bang for buck' is better with one decent PC versus BOTH a Mac AND a Console.
You could even call it the 'greener choice' .... less resource usage than with 2 'machines'...
But, each to his own.
Reply #27 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 10:41 AM
Mr Eroticus Prime ....'bang for buck' is better with one decent PC versus BOTH a Mac AND a Console.
You could even call it the 'greener choice' .... less resource usage with 2 'machines'...
But, each to his own.
Reply #28 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 12:20 PM
| Why would I [or anyone] want a Mac AND an XBOX?... |
Those are the two things I live and die by. Mac and Xbox, FinalCut and Halo. It pisses me off so much when someone states that a PC is better than Mac because of games, just to buy a PC and never play games on it. People need to pull their head out of their ass and accept that just because there is a limited number of games on Mac dosn't make it a bad system. If that where the case then Linux should have died years ago. If you are so concerned with games then you should seriously conceder your life and marital status. Many people do not have 3 grand to lay down on a PC that will be outdated in a year; you constantly have to keep upgrading to play games. So, they buy these $100-$300 gaming systems that last 4-5 years and that are guaranteed to run any game made for it. Anyway, if you took the cost of all 4 OSX releases, added iLife and iWork (4x$129=$516+$70+$70) = $656. Now lets take XP Pro, add Office, antivirus, and a decent burning program ($300+$300+$50+$50) = $700. If that is too much math for you, then stop playing games and stay in school. There are about the same... and that is if you bought OSX 10.0. If you started with OSX 10.3, then the price difference is clearer. Mac > PC. Now stop with the constant Mac, Windows, Jobs, Gates bashing and get on with your life.
Reply #29 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 12:35 PM
Silly.
Reply #30 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 12:38 PM
"Pages are loaded as they should be on standards compliant browsers. I believe Safari is standards compliant. I also believe Firefox is available for the Mac."
Y'all are all hat and no cattle. Stating truths to counter valid arguments won't get'cha far yonder. Games developpers ain't big on Macs because it's all about money: designing games for a platform that's not popular is a waste of time.
Firefox (also available on Mac) is not 100% compatible, neither is Safari and no matter how much you dislike IE: it's the most standards-compliant browser. I tested'em all, there's always something not loading in Safari or Mac's IE version (javascript, forms, tables...). Now personally I only expect from my web browser to load pages properly. Others like theirs to do cool stuff like playing our anthem while a page loads, I don't.
"MAC lacks this graphics card upgradability" (open your peepers)
I stand by my claim. I didn't say Macs had no upgradable graphics card, I only said that if you have a PC, you sure have more cards to choose from and better optimized driver. Now try proving me wrong.
I never said I hated Mac, I've been using Steve Grenier's Tiger WB theme for months now and it sure looks awesome. On the other hand calling me an idiot for spelling fast is so gay.
Reply #31 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 1:01 PM
Reply #32 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 1:27 PM
| Your last sentence is short of hypocrisy. |
You are too kind. I found it to be full-on hypocrisy.
Reply #33 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 2:26 PM
| Anyway, if you took the cost of all 4 OSX releases, added iLife and iWork (4x$129=$516+$70+$70) = $656. Now lets take XP Pro, add Office, antivirus, and a decent burning program ($300+$300+$50+$50) = $700 |
Hum, why do you not compare apples with apples?
OSX + iLife + iWork + Norton Antivirus = 129$ + 79$ + 79$ + 49.95$ = 336.95$
XP Home upgrade + Roxio's Easy Media Creator + Works 8 + Norton Antivirus = 99$ + 69.95 + 49.95$ + 49.95$ = 268.85$
Now, that is comparing similar products on both platforms.
Reply #35 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 7:15 PM
Reply #36 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 7:17 PM
OSX + iLife + iWork = 129$ + 79$ + 79$ = 287$
XP Pro upg + Roxio's Easy Media Creator + Works 8 + Norton Antivirus = 199$ + 69.95 + 49.95$ + 49.95$ = 368.85$
Reply #37 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 7:17 PM
| It pisses me off so much when someone states that a PC is better than Mac because of games, just to buy a PC and never play games on it. |
I never said ONCE that Mac was an inferior computer.....reason being the only 'Mac' I have is an Apple 2e ... so I'm hardly an 'expert', unlike others who attest to such.
But...
Currently I have installed, mostly without even needing their CD inserted...full installs....
30 full games
16 Demos.
They range from Solitaire to Doom 3 and NFSU.
Most of my computer time is as Admin on Wincustomize.com ... so it's not 'all' games.
I also am a self-employed Architect .... and it's a work machine as well.
Mac alone wouldn't handle that....and neither would a Console.
Oh...and my marital status is just fine, and utterly immaterial.
Never presume.
Reply #38 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 7:54 PM
As for XP Pro, most Pro users don't need it. It hs features that most don't even use, and that OSX may have but not nearly as friendly to use as Pro. OSX may have Apache, but you can get Apache for free on a PC with XP Home. Sure OSX has sendmail, but really, who uses it? What other OSX feature, other than Web server and mail server does XP Pro has over XP Home that most OSX users actually use? In my comparison, I chose XP Home over Pro because I didn't feel that OSX had the features that warrents a Windows user to purchase XP Pro, which is usually easy and powerful networking (Samba isn't so easy to configure, Apple still needs to work on that), and easy to set up solid web, ftp and mail servers.
Reply #39 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 8:02 PM
Reply #40 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 9:08 PM
All that verbal abuse - tut, tut, tut
Each to his own and respect the choices of others - now there's a concept!
Windows vs Mac? When the PERFECT OS comes out - I'll pay triple the asking price
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Reply #21 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 5:48 AM