Re:Apple has damaged the perceived value of software
by iplaw on Thursday May 04, 2017 @08:27AM
(#14264280)
He didn't even hit on two other major talking points:
1) Free annual macOS updates.
2) Free Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GarageBand, etc.
This change forced Microsoft to drastically reduce the price of their OS, and to offer free upgrades to Windows 10 for a couple of years! It also prevents people who buy Macs from having to decide between Pages/Numbers/Keynote and the oft-times more familiar and business-friendly Microsoft Office suite. If they get the basic productivity apps for free, why bother with an Office365 subscription? Hell, offering GarageBand for free is undoubtedly undermining the business models of countless consumer-grade audio and mixing software developers.
It keeps Mac users within the Apple software ecosystem.
Re:Apple has damaged the perceived value of software
by iplaw on Thursday May 04, 2017 @02:48PM
(#14267575)
But Google was simply extending their already-free web-based offering, not taking historically expensive desktop software (operating systems and productivity suites) and making them free.
1) Free annual macOS updates.
2) Free Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GarageBand, etc.
This change forced Microsoft to drastically reduce the price of their OS, and to offer free upgrades to Windows 10 for a couple of years! It also prevents people who buy Macs from having to decide between Pages/Numbers/Keynote and the oft-times more familiar and business-friendly Microsoft Office suite. If they get the basic productivity apps for free, why bother with an Office365 subscription? Hell, offering GarageBand for free is undoubtedly undermining the business models of countless consumer-grade audio and mixing software developers.
It keeps Mac users within the Apple software ecosystem.