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Apple Offering 'Free' Updates to All Owners of Aperture, iWork, and iLife; Not Worried About Unethical Users

kingtj said:
This is ALSO really just a chance for Apple to talk a good talk and look like the "generous, friendly company" while not fully putting its money where its mouth is. The only applications which will update via App Store without confirming ownership first are these iLife and iWork apps (plus Aperture).

In pretty much every other case, the apps Apple sells happen to have undergone major version changes when they became "App Store only" purchases -- ensuring you can't turn some "not for resale", "trial", "educational version" or pirated install from CD/DVD into registered ownership of the current version. (Logic Pro X has only been offered via the App Store, for example. Same with Final Cut Pro X. If you install Logic 9 or an older FCP from DVD, you don't get some generous free upgrade downloaded to you.....)
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Some people really do have a bad case of self entitlement.
 
So what is the exact list?

ilife
iwork
aperature

is that it?

I have most products, that is all I saw upgrades for...
 
I think Apple has the right strategy with these free software updates, even if some features have been removed from iWorks to create a smoother cross platform experience.

Microsoft currently owns the desktop Office applications, which fundamentally work on the old model of installed local software. For some time, Google has been providing free web based productivity apps. Apple is not going to compete with Microsoft for desktop applications, but it can enhance the Apple ecosystem by providing a slick cross Platform option.....something that works seamlessly across desktop, tablet, and web browser.

What is interesting is that more and more people are using web based productivity apps. I watch my kids collaborate on reports with other students on google docs. Real time editing whilst FaceTime chatting. It is very impressive, and they are remarkably productive for teenagers. When they grow up and become working professionals, the old model of keeping every document on a local file system and emailing documents to and fro will seem laughable to them.
 
Question, how do you know if you have the MAS version installed or not? Is there a place to check to see if you have that version or not? I have Aperture and it is showing 3.5, but I don't know how to tell which version it is.

Update, it is now showing up under my purchases. Sweet!
 
rhett7660 said:
Question, how do you know if you have the MAS version installed or not? Is there a place to check to see if you have that version or not? I have Aperture and it is showing 3.5, but I don't know how to tell which version it is.

Update, it is now showing up under my purchases. Sweet!
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Open finder and look in the Applications folder
Find Aperture and right click the app and the Get Info
 
ThisIsNotMe said:
Apple is a hardware company.
As long as you are using Apple hardware I can't imagine they really care one way or another.
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Apple is a hardware and services company I'd say. Even people who use Hackintoshes are likely to get drawn into the world of iCloud, the iTunes Store and iOS devices. I wonder if this is why they appear to turn a blind eye to all but those trying to profit from the Hackintosh scene.
 
If I can't upgrade my iPhoto/iMovie '09 for free, is it worth paying for it? My only gripe with them is that they are slow to open.
 
TheFeeblizer said:
I have iWorks '09 but I only see the option to buy Pages, Numbers, etc.

Is there a trick to getting them upgraded free? There is no upgrade mechanism in the apps themselves and the app store lists them as $19.99 each.
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Change your OS X system language to English.
 
Excellent. I've always found it a bit annoying whenever I reinstall to have to use the disk image of 3.0 then download the full version to install an upgrade; instead of just downloading the latest fresh.

And yes, it's a legal copy. Thanks Apple :D
 
I have the iLife'09 preinstalled with the macbook late 2009. how come it is still 14.99. and how come they don't verify anything with me before they charged my gift card balance :(. now what to do...
 
Luis Ortega said:
My iPhoto stopped working after the upgrade to mavericks and the App Store made me pay another 10£ to buy it again.
I felt ripped off.
And the free GarageBand now requires that you buy media if you want to use all of its sounds.
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Again, if your system language is not English, change to it and you may have luck upgrading all your iLife and iWork apps.

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dxmac99 said:
I have the iLife'09 preinstalled with the macbook late 2009. how come it is still 14.99. and how come they don't verify anything with me before they charged my gift card balance :(. now what to do...
Click to expand...
Contact iTunes support and request for a refund.

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melendezest said:
Don't count on it. Make sure you get AppleCare. I (foolishly) didn't for my maxed out 2011, and bit a $1,000 bullet less than 2 years in with a logic board and graphics card replacement on a home-use-only computer. And it's not the only Mac I've had issues with (although the others were repaired under warranty).

I used to be attached to my old "PowerMac lasted me 7 years" paradigm; bad idea. It's a PC. They all break. I especially don't trust the iMac, all that heat in a single enclosure can't be good (although I hear the new ones run much cooler than mine). So I'd temper expectations if I were you.
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Maxed out configs are definitely going to be much hotter than the standard configurations. And in a few years, maxed out or not, if it's the same generation of CPU/GPU, all of them will be obsolete.
 
I like to believe Apple is honest, even if that belief is in vain. Good thing they are giving free iPhoto since they broke my old version. Places suddenly stopped working.
 
Great news for owners legacy iWork and Aperture. It's nice gesture and with Aperture X coming in December that is going to be a 'paid upgrade' they can't be worried too much. Just giving everyone a taste at this point lol.
 
jamesjingyi said:
It seems Logic Pro and FCP have been left out... Maybe too expensive to give out for free?
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To be fair, they are not giving iLife/iWork/Aperture away "for free". They are allowing updates to App Store versions from the disk-purchased versions. This is because they see ex iWork 5.0 as a free upgrade from iWork 4.3 (aka iWork '09 aka iWork '11 in the app store), and Aperture 3.5 as a free upgrade from Aperture 3.x.

Final Cut and Logic Pro, however, only exist in the App Store as completely separate products from those which were sold on disk years ago. There never has been a "free" upgrade path from Final Cut Pro to Final Cut X. So, I don't really expect that they will suddenly see my old Final Cut Pro suite install and grant me App Store licenses for Final Cut X / Motion X / etc.

That having been said, I wouldn't complain :) I shifted over to iMovie as my needs no longer justified the "pro" expense, but I always loved the Final Cut level of tools over those in iMovie (even the "dumbed down" X), so would gladly take advantage of a free upgrade to the latest and greatest!
 
melendezest said:
Don't count on it. Make sure you get AppleCare. I (foolishly) didn't for my maxed out 2011, and bit a $1,000 bullet less than 2 years in with a logic board and graphics card replacement on a home-use-only computer. And it's not the only Mac I've had issues with (although the others were repaired under warranty).

I used to be attached to my old "PowerMac lasted me 7 years" paradigm; bad idea. It's a PC. They all break. I especially don't trust the iMac, all that heat in a single enclosure can't be good (although I hear the new ones run much cooler than mine). So I'd temper expectations if I were you.
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Absolutely. AppleCare has always been one of the only "good" extended warrantees out there.

That said, I currently have a 4-year-old iMac, which replaced a 6-year-old iMac G5, and a 1-year-old Mac Mini which replaced a 9-year-old iMac G5. In my Windows days I never had a computer see its fourth birthday, despite buying high-end computers from name brand assemblers (Dell back when they were good, NEC before they got bought out, HP, etc). Other than the DVD drive in the iMac no longer working (a syndrome which had also afflicted the older G5 iMac shortly before it had a logic board failure and was replaced by the mini), we've had really good luck with these guys.

I'm definitely harder on portables, though. My wife's old ~2007 MacBook (black plastic) is still kicking, but the MacBook Pro she got to replace it in 2009 bit the dust with a logic board failure in early 2010 (a $800 repair job which we decided against; we had bought that one at Best Buy on sale and never got AppleCare for it ... never again!); meanwhile my 2009 MacBook Pro from work (coincidentally the same model I'd bought my wife) is a bit long in the tooth and showing its age, but it is still running (other than the DVD drive, which gave up the ghost earlier this year).

So, no guarantees, of course. But, in my experience - and the experience of those I've talked to - Macs do significantly outlast even their high-end Windows brethren.
 
BeyondtheTech said:
Unlike Microsoft, where all customers are treated as criminals.
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Can't agreed more.

I did purchase a OEM copy of windows 7 along with my MBP, and installed it in bootcamp. Things going sour when I decided to also run it as a VM under VMWare fusion, and back in bootcamp sometimes. The activation prompt and "not licensed copy" notices bugging me all the time. How comes I just run a licensed copy into the same computer, but being treated as criminals.
 
Hm. I bought the Pages upgrade for $19.99 before it became "free." Does anyone know if I can just call up Apple and ask for a refund?
 
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