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Apple Exploring Ad-Supported Operating Systems?

Apple is very pro-patent. That means they patent everything they work on even if they don't really plan to use it. They're a successful company because they develop in many areas, which includes areas they don't plan to enter immediately if at all. This is why they don't play catchup all the time.

Ad support is a technology, a tool. They are just getting a tool in case they ever need it to complete a product. It is like how you have a bunch of screw drivers at home so you don't have to go out and buy one screw driver every time you find out you need it.
 
arn said:
Would you accept a free Mac Mini if it had ads in it? Some people would.
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How would they administer this? What's to stop me from taking my free Mac mini and reinstalling OS X on it? How will it know whether I've got a "paid" one or a "free" one? Are we going back to serial number tracking? Software activation? Dongles? Special versions of firmware? (Even then, firmware can be hacked...)

It just seems like a bad idea all around. The concept is sound, but execution would be a nightmare.
 
By the way, I see this as being potentially useful for iTunes "purchases." A lot of people use Hulu (even though it really isn't profitable when only showing a couple of ads).

Frankly, this seems mostly like a shot at Google more than a shot at Microsoft, though.
 
CallsignBaron said:
I would like to know how many of you screaming "BOO!" and "No Way!" actually have ad supported, free or discounted apps, on your iPhone? Think about it people! :rolleyes:
In an increasingly capitalist society this IS the future. :(
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I actually have no ad-supported apps on my iPhone. I'll download the free version to try it and then if I like it, I buy the full ad-less version.

I guess I'm just a different kind of consumer. I don't expect everything to be just given to me for free.... and I hate ads.
 
I think a low-income single parent who shares the same general dislike of Windows PC's that most of us do would jump at the chance to get their hands on an ad-supported Mac mini at $399 instead of $599. Or a Macbook at $799 instead of $999. Why should the Mac experience be reserved only for the affluent?
 
This could very well go hand in hand with a washed down version of mac os x that can be ran on a pc. Ultimatly offering a trial version to the average pc owner so they can get a hands on approach to what apple has to offer. Especially since many people get aggrivated waiting in line at the apple store cause all the preteens are attached the the webcams and the teens are Checking their facebook. Yes many hardware compatible aspects would come up in a trial mac on pc concept...but this idea is do-able.
 
I still believe that Apple is working on a mid-tier OS placed between the iPhone OS and Mac OS X.

This mid-tier OS would power the phantom tablet as well as a new Apple TV, which would be an appropriate candidate for an ad-supported operating system.

There would be other opportunities, such as a game console, e-book reader (I don't think a color LCD tablet is optimal due to battery life and readability constraints at this time).
 
shen said:
so we should all calm down because several million people, regardless of the percentage, isn't enough to make money, and also you believe in a demonstrated myth about virus writers.

i am teaching a critical thinking class next sem. feel free to sign up...
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Regardless of percentage? Seriously, how much money do you think is in click-through advertising when you have such a small target audience? 5% market share, where 4 out 5 Mac users also have a Windows PC, so 1% exclusive Apple users, minus the amount of people who will pass completely on this product, and you're left with a tiny percentage, or 'rounding error' as some might call it.

It would seem like a crazy effort to develop something that has so little potential. Unless they tied it to the iTunes store (like Genius) and pushed it out to all iTunes users, which is a whole lot more than OSX users to be sure.
 
liquidtrend said:
This could very well go hand in hand with a washed down version of mac os x that can be ran on a pc. Ultimatly offering a trial version to the average pc owner so they can get a hands on approach to what apple has to offer. Especially since many people get aggrivated waiting in line at the apple store cause all the preteens are attached the the webcams and the teens are Checking their facebook. Yes many hardware compatible aspects would come up in a trial mac on pc concept...but this idea is do-able.
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This would be more harm than good. Apple isn't capable of delivering enough drivers to make the trial version decent, and people would get the wrong impression when OSX kernal panics from the unsupported hardware. Apple can't seem to get the drivers right on its own hardware, let alone supporting what's out in the wild.
 
I think watching ads will just waste bandwidth. I'd rather pay for the OS than pay for the ongoing bandwidth cost...

and I am really stunned, if that's the correct word, at the negative rating on this idea :p
 
I would think this is just to stop Google (or others) from offering a free mainstream OS and encroaching even more on Apple's product line.

This seems to be the antithesis of what most Apple users would want. We pay a premium to have a superior product, not other other way around.

On the other hand, as cloud computing becomes more popular, they may end up offering some kind of free, browser based OS X option that could really expand the OS X user base to existing Windows users. That's the only real application where I could find advertising like this acceptable.
 
Has to be optional or mobile os.

My first thought that this was for a mobile OS. I'm curious as to what the icon is second from the left. Maybe a SIM card icon? Who knows. Doubt Ad-less OS anywhere would be unavailable.
 
Boo-hiss...

I won't by a computer, or OS, with this. I don't buy software that has this in it either. I'm not interested in looking at advertising. Ads are designed to distract. I have real work to do. If Apple forces this on us they'll lose a tremendous amount of sales. My guess is what they might do is offer a low end something or other that has ad support and normal machines and OS that do not have ads in them.
 
Maybe this is Apple's way of trying to bring their computer prices down to competitor-level prices. The reason you can buy laptops nowadays for $399 isn't because the companies feel like being nice - it's because they bundle so much ad garbage on their computers that they can afford to sell them at such low prices.

I suspect that's why Apple is investigating this - or maybe just an ad-supported version of OS X that would be available for free or for very little money. I say if they can get it right, more power to them. Of course, I don't want an ad-supported OS anywhere near my Macs, but if the option were there, and it meant getting Macs out to more people that typically can't afford a Mac, then everyone wins.
 
madog said:
Apple doesn't traditionally issue patents for products that they won't use. Whether or not they are successful or come into production is another story though.
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Yes, Apple does, constantly, issue TONS of patents they never use. You'd easily find hundreds of them that sound like bad ideas.

Those patents tells us NOTHING about what Apple is actually going to ship. The sky is not falling.
 
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
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I think its a pre-emptive screw-fest for Linux*. Sooner or later, some Linux distribution would've gone that route if only to cover development costs for the "free" OS. After all, one only has to look at Mozilla's success in receiving funds from Google for enabling it as the default search for the browser.

The patent isn't meant to screw over Microsoft because both companies equally use each other's patents anyway.

What a shame. Now that the lawsuits have been cleared up over the ownership of AmigaOS, this could've been a decent business model to fund the continued development of it. Granted, "they" still haven't come to grips with the fact for that platform to ever revive itself, it'll need to copy Apple in embracing FreeBSD for the underpinnings and then focus on the GUI and APIs as the area for its unique "Amiganess". Then again, many have said Microsoft should do the same with Windows but all their billions of monopoly cash still haven't bought them enough collective IQ points to come to that conclusion...


Edit:

*Come to think of it, Apple probably filed this specifically to cover Google's Android and ChromeOS Linux derived platforms since Google is the distributed ad king.
 
Hipocrates...

Everybody say "no" now but if Jobs do a keynote about it everybody would be saying: oh! sweet!
 
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I will kill someone if this really happens!!! :mad:

Talk about ruining productivity! I can't even imagine why a company would even think of doing this and not seeing how badly it would piss off the users.

The only thing I can conjure up from this is MAYBE they are just trying to get this patented so that Google can't do something like this in Chrome OS and Android or they would have to pay Apple for licensing! :eek: :confused:

I will GLADLY pay to keep this crap out of my computer!

the vj said:
Everybody say "no" now but if Jobs do a keynote about it everybody would be saying: oh! sweet!
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No I ABSOLUTELY would NOT!!! I would be pissed at him and wonder what happened to the Steve we all know and love! :(
 
pimentoLoaf said:
Agreed. And switch to OpenOffice.org under Windows instead of MS Office -- all the functionality without the cost.
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You know, I really hate Microsoft but I'll take Office 2007 (or 2008) over OpenOffice every time because I think OO is a bigger pile of [free] krap.

Why can't someone buy up WordPerfect and open source it? If there's one application that needs to come back in a big way, it's WordPerfect [in my book].
 
That would suck... a lot. I doubt it'll ever happen though, it would be scandalous for such a big and rich company to do that
 
Lynxpro said:
Why can't someone buy up WordPerfect and open source it? If there's one application that needs to come back in a big way, it's WordPerfect [in my book].
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Probably because there's no business model.

How much do you think Corel will sell it for? How would you recoup the costs? All of this for a desktop word processor application?

My guess is that WordPerfect also has licensed proprietary components so you couldn't just upload the code to SourceForge and slap whatever open source license you want.

It's probably easier just writing a word processor application from scratch. Like OpenOffice.
 
Yebot said:
I think a low-income single parent who shares the same general dislike of Windows PC's that most of us do would jump at the chance to get their hands on an ad-supported Mac mini at $399 instead of $599. Or a Macbook at $799 instead of $999. Why should the Mac experience be reserved only for the affluent?
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I respect your position because I'm a low-income individual myself. But I have to say, why should the BMW experience be reserved for the wealthy? Why should the Ferrari experience be reserved for the wealthy? Swap in anything expensive and you see my point.

I have Macs because I worked saved my money for a loooong time. I'm all about spreading the wealth and equality, but in a capitalist society, Apple has a right to make premium products for those who can afford it. And you don't have to be affluent; you just buy a computer in March instead of January. Or be like me and buy almost everything refurb! :)

PS - If they start selling ad-supported Ferraris, I quit life! ;-)
 
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