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Apple Exploring Ad-Supported Operating Systems?

Rdf

Interesting to see if Apple can warp the RDF to cover such a ridiculous idea... I mean, they've done it with so many products... can it be achieved? They like a challenge!

"...and starting from today, you'll get Snow Leopard FREE, all you have to do is watch a few adverts every now and then, we think this is a really GREAT idea"
 
This is the company that sells computers without the "intel inside" or "energy star" logos- it would really surprise me if they used ads.
 
kwikdeth said:
as of this post, 4 positive votes, 126 negative votes.

the "knee-jerk" reaction, aka the "gut reaction" aka instinct, is probably the right one. the last two years of Apple's "direction" have been especially hard on me, as a mac user for over 20+ years. Unfortunately, I dont see this as totally unexpected from the Apple of today. Even worse, I can see people lining up for it if it meant free stuff.
Of course, if apple opens the floodgates on advertising, it's only a matter of time till we're forced into locking down our computers with over-priced antivirus software subscriptions and having to have every download scanned for trojans.
I guess in one way, I should be glad that most of my macs are PowerPC and will never get any more OS updates. They'll never have to deal with this *********.
Click to expand...

Quoted because this post is spot on.

walnuts said:
This is the company that sells computers without the "intel inside" or "energy star" logos- it would really surprise me if they used ads.
Click to expand...

The latter is the only one that increases market share through cheaper computing though.
 
OK I think this patent shouldn't go any further than it has. It would be immoral for a user to have to put up with advertisements in an operating system that they have already paid for! :mad:
 
kwikdeth said:
I guess in one way, I should be glad that most of my macs are PowerPC and will never get any more OS updates. They'll never have to deal with this *********.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Actually I never thought about it that way but I think that would be the best solution. The problem is that you will be left behind with software updates etc.
Having say that I am planning to replace for my daughter my iMac G5 on G4 20" just only because of its beauty. She doesn't need all top software stuff YET:rolleyes:
 
wesleyh said:
What is with these reactions? This is obviously optional. For example, they could give a free mobileme with ad supported, or you give $99 per year without ads.. Works for me. Works for you. Works for everyone.
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it's obvious, so obvious I can't believe people don't understand. WE ARE TIRED OF ADVERTISING PERIOD.

Honestly, it's as simple as that. if it was done with some respect or taste the I would be more open but it's shoved in our face and we're tired of it simple, natural reaction to a system that has overstepped it's bounds and abuses the concept. I know many people at ad agencies and hearing the things they talk about just makes my skin crawl. their never respecting the user. it's all so sleazy. not advertising in general, just the way they go about it and the bombardment on the consumer.
 
Interesting idea. I'd pay for the non-ad version, but something as integral as the OS with advertising is sure to get advertisers. I can see low income households getting computers that were once out of their league because of this.
 
I hate advertising period!

i have a bolt on my letterbox to stop junkmail and if they try and wedge it in i go out and give it back to them.

The idea of being shown what i might want instead of me looking for what i want just grinds me into a rage.
 
Cinematographer said:
:D:D:D

You might be right. Arn founded the most influential Apple rumors site missunderstandig all concept of Apple. That's probably the secret of his success.

You really made my day! :D:D:D
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I don't care who he is and what he does. Even being most objective person you can be wrong. Look other posts.
 
Apple will be expanding into cloud computing. The future is lightweight cloud computers linked into their gargantuan server farm, with applications served up AppStore-style. Except the apps won't be on your device, but on your virtual hard drive at their farm.

Having all your data on their servers will allow for extreme ad-customization through mental profiling, allowing for extreme ad-revenue generation. (I'm sure the NSA really likes that idea too).

Thus it's natural that advertising be deeply integrated into that future cloud computing environment. The patent merely combines the AppStore idea with the Ad-Revenue idea, both ideally suited to that cloud technology.

Welcome to the future.
 
arn said:
I think the knee-jerk negative reaction is silly. It's obviously an optional thing.

I don't know how much sense it makes for an OS. But the idea seems to be that you would get the OS for free (for example). In the past, people could get whole computers for free. Would you accept a free Mac Mini if it had ads in it? Some people would.

In my mind it makes more sense for an application (like MS Office) where you might not use it enough to justify the spend, but might use it intermittently and not mind seeing an ad to use it for 30 minutes.

arn
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Exactly, and hell yeah I'd accept a free Mac Mini if it had ads.
 
That would be as ridiculous as MacRumors having ads so that it's well maintained at no cost to the user...

BOOOOO! BAD APPLE!

:p

As for the comments about "people would never accept it"... MSN Messenger has had that ugly ad down the bottom of it since... well, pretty much forever. It still managed to become the most widely used messaging client.

I'm neutral about the concept though... and I doubt Apple applied for the patent because they have big plans, but purely because patents = royalties if it ever does.
 
kwikdeth said:
...
Of course, if apple opens the floodgates on advertising, it's only a matter of time till we're forced into locking down our computers with over-priced antivirus software subscriptions and having to have every download scanned for trojans.
I guess in one way, I should be glad that most of my macs are PowerPC and will never get any more OS updates. They'll never have to deal with this *********.
Click to expand...

People are getting worked up over something that is not actually real.

Apple patents TONS of crazy things. Those patents tell us nothing about their actual plans. Most of the patented stuff never happens, and a lot of the stuff that DOES happen was not predicted by patent-watchers.

When Apple comes up with an idea, they don't say "if this is a good idea we really want to use, we'll patent it," they say "we'll patent it."

Patent first, ask questions later--because a FEW of those ideas will become useful in future, and not patenting them could mean throwing them away to a competitor.
 
I just realised that there is practically only one way Apple can get away with this. Remember how Apple is rumored to have approached newspapers and the like to gather content for their tablet? Online newspapers and magazines thrive on advertisements, this could be a way to broaden the possibilities of advertising in that context. The tablet being a computer it can track everything you do with it, send that information to Apple for them to infer what kind of advertisement you would most likely yield to and then present you that ad not through a web browser but through your OS. You'll see ads in your software when photoshopping, writing, and watching your own videos. You'll hear the ads when you're listening to your own music, etc.
That seems to me the most probable use of this system. Speculation, though.
 
arn said:
I think the knee-jerk negative reaction is silly. It's obviously an optional thing.
Click to expand...

Patenting stuff like that is silly. Reaction like this is normal. I'll bet the great plan is to monitor also consumer behavior and all that crap so I'd rather go with any other OS rather then spam crap like that.
 
talkingfuture said:
Looks to me like the kind of thing that Apple would never do, but they would patent it to make it harder for Google to do it.
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Apple has been radically expanding their business and this might be one way of making cheap Mac's. Think about their cellular business and revenue sharing policy with operators. Could they be after the advertising dollars this time... Honestly, I would hate / wouldn't use a spam OS / computer like that...
 
Lets hope not, reminds me of windblows and pushing bloatware,adds,3rd partys yuck yuck yuck! Apple has more taste then this and im sure they shot it down. Not on my Mac!
 
Man I'm with a lot of you yall. My mac is my baby and if Apple starts screwing up we are all f*****. No one comes close to the mac experience. NO ONE! Please God don't let Cupertino screw up the OSX with ads please!!!!!!!
Where would we go if this crap happens? Really. MS? With that sick, kooky bastard Ballmer and his devil brow? I'm starting to loose consciousness.
I'm going to sign out know and pretend I never saw this article.
 
I don't like this idea at all for consumer devices. However, I could see it working to boost market share for a number of reasons.

If internet cafés and other places with public computers were offered "free" mac minis or imacs at the cost of having an advert every 30 mins, i'm sure they would jump at the idea. More people would come to use the computers because they are Macs, and it could be a way of attracting more and more customers by introducing them to the OS. They then go on to buy a real machine from Apple...

Alternatively, the tablet could subsidise 3G all the time by watching a few ads. I know a lot of people would rather that then pay $30/month for unlimited 3G.
 
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