Pipe dreams
Originally posted by SiliconAddict
Whats the point of these apps if they arent going to be the best of breed? Again behavior I expect from Microsoft NOT Apple.
Heh heh. Best-of-breed for free? Be honest, you're really my teenage nephew, right?
Apple has delivered what some consider to be the best-of-breed jukebox, and they're giving it away. Why? Out of the goodness of their hearts, just like MicroShaft?
Apple's execs have been very upfront about their strategy: they produce software to sell their hardware. FCP by itself has sold oodles of high-end boxes. The music market is much different, of course, with tons of decent free stuff available. So they invest heavily in iTunes and give it away with the belief they'll make it back with their fat margins on iPods. Groovy.
So tell me why they should sink tons of money into making the rest of the iLife apps best-of-breed? So they can ruin sales of DVDSP and FCE? In general, the iLife apps already beat most of the apps that come bundled with Windoze boxes in the area most important to the average consumer: ease of use. "How quickly can I actually get something done?" Can you point me to a Windoze hardware & software Movie combo that is as foolproof to set up and use as an iMac & iMovie? iDVD? iPhoto?
Granted, Apple has some work to do on iPhoto re: large libraries, and everybody always wants more features, but for the average consumer -- Apple's target market for iLife -- they've done extremely well, IMHO.
Most reasonable people (and even a few teenagers) don't expect best-of-breed for free. View iTunes as a gift, not as evidence that you're being screwed.