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Macworld NY 2002 Round-Up

Take a trip back in time.

Three years ago if I told you you could have an apple branded firewire device that would carry your address book, calendar and 20 GB of music and data - you would have wet your pants. And they I would tell you you could connect your camera and the machine would recognize it and you could print hard bound book of the photos, you would have doubted it. How about internet disk space, webspace and email with mac.com at the end - I would love it. And the list goes on.

We have come a long way from the days of horrid little pizza box machines and geo modems, so please don't complain. It seems nowadays everybody wants everything immediately.

Chill people.
 
Re: free now not free

Originally posted by theranch

Man I can't believe how many people are upset about .mac costing $99 per year. It's a business! That's a good deal for what you are getting. I'm curious to see if I can direct a domain name to a .mac address then I'll get rid of my current hosting plan. My wife used iTools with iPhoto up until now so going fulltime .mac and dumping my current host could be a better deal for both of us.
Please people...calm down for Jiminy Glick's sake!
Click to expand...

Because they feel they've been duped. For 2 years they were given a service for free. I'm sure they were ever told they'd NEVER be charged for it, and apple has every right to do so. I feel that after a year (and after apple decided it had enough long-time users of the service) Apple decided to start charging. They probably ran focus groups to find out what percentage of users would ditch it, and what percentage of people would ditch it at a certain price point. If they had pulled this a month into the previously free service then nobody would have bitched and probably nobody would have paid the $50 bucks.

You've been duped. Almost swindled. Someone has taken something from you and charged you to have it back. Yearly. Business users can't afford NOT to pay for the service. It would cost them more money to send out the email change notifications. Maybe they should have a new iCard... Hey! I've just dropped my expensive email account. You can now find me at @hotmail.com.

When the service started I was under the impression you had to have purchased a mac. I seem to remember having to input the serial number from my mac to get the acct or something. But later I signed up for another acct when I got my laptop thinking... great, now I can have a second acct.

I would have suggested to Steve a different pricing scheme with grandfather clauses. One that makes you want to buy a first/new mac....

•Free to all current users or maybe 6mo users (he'd have to be REAL close lipped beforehand)
•Free 1 year service with a new mac
•Current new pricing still apples to other users
 
Listen Up

After playing with iTunes I can confirm that while it does not support AAC encoding, it will play AAC tracks you make with QuickTime. Also, for those of you who are students (or affiliated with an academic institution), OS 10.2 is $69.

Bill

PS. Love the 10GB iPod, and just ordered one!
 
I can't believe people are having a fit over $49. That's a little over $4 a month, the price of a DVD rental at Blockbuster.

For that $4 a month, you get:

15MB email account (MS charges $20 for a 10MB acct)
100MB storage
Virex 7.1
iSync between your work and home Macs
other stuff
 
Love that education discount, And you get one if affiliated with any local or federal gov't agency as well. Heh, heh. My crappy job pays off!! Well, and all those disabled people I help.

I tunes supports ACC because it is based on the quicktime arc, FCP suports it too. I honestly believe that this whole ACC thing is over the liscensing issue. Apple has to pay fees, that why even QT PRo 5 users have to pay for 6 Pro. Introducing a charged for iTunes would go against the whole idea of the iApps. Would be nice to have a script for ripping ACC in Quicktime tho.
 
Well, what did you expect from Apple? They aren't making much money off of computers right now. No one is. The .Mac thing is good for Apple, but I think that they should let existing members keep their free account with 5mb of eMail space, their 20mb iDisk, and that's it. Charge for the premium service, but leave the basic cheapo service for us who don't want to cough up $100 a month...

With Jaguar, they spent $9 million on R&D, so you'd expect for Apple to charge something for it, and they deserve it. Jaguar is going to bring tons of new functions, and we're lucky that we'll have it...

The iPods are cool, though. I might get the 10gb model... The iMac's new display is cool too, but Apple needs to increase the resolution on the 17" and the 15"
 
A while back there was a good special on MuchMusic in Canada about a relatively popular but often-criticized band called Sloan. The closing comment from the band's drummer was a response to a question about how the band should respond to its critics: "I'd like to hear their bands."

In the same vein, those of you who believe that you have the know-how and "right stuff" to get a job at Apple and make your desires happen, go ahead!

For instance, it's easier to imagine a new Power Mac G4 than it is to actually create one (and at Apple, "create" means more than just slapping the parts together in a box). It's easier to imagine free mac.com email than it is to actually implement it--mac.com email costs Apple a lot of money to maintain. It's easier to imagine AAC support in iTunes than it is to include it (have you considered that there might be legal conditions, manpower restrictions, or busines plans that preclude Apple from doing so?).

Regarding pricing of .mac and Jaguar: Apple is continuing to build better products than any of its competitors; these products may not be the fastest, cheapest, or most full-featured of all products available in a given space, but they are damn good. Apple products empower people and let them enjoy their lives in the most stress-free way possible. In our world, if you want the benefits of these products, you pay for them.

I was going to wrap this up neatly, but I think I should reiterate that those of you who are unhappy with what Apple is doing, presumably not meeting your precise needs, should get a job for Apple. Otherwise, stop supporting Apple (or claiming to--do you really generate revenue for them?), shut up, and get other products that *do* meet your needs.
 
Re: Take a trip back in time.

Originally posted by zarathustra
We have come a long way from the days of horrid little pizza box machines and geo modems, so please don't complain. It seems nowadays everybody wants everything immediately.

Chill people.
Click to expand...


Hmmm, let's think about this. Last July's mid-range PowerMac was 867MHz Quicksilver. How far have we progressed in one year? 933MHz Quicksilver. A whole freaking 50MHz on the mid-powermac? Whooppie! I can't chill when I'm this excited. Sure, it has the same 133MHz bus, but, man, we've gone up 50MHz on the mid-range PowerMac over the time span of a year! Yeah! This ought to get people switching left and right!

it may not be immediately evident, but there is sarcasm in the above paragraph
 
WTG Apple!!!!

I've been reading a lot of messages about how dissapointed people are in Apple about .mac/itools, powermacs, etc. etc. etc. What the heck were you expecting? If were expecting newer powermac models chances are it was because of all the rumors. RUMORS! Not truth, not gospel, not reality. Some reality for you is that iMac line is getting beefed up just a tad, as is the iPod, which, based on previous experiences with Apple, would indicate that an update to the powermacs may be just around the corner. The big news at this Macworld wasn't hardware, it was the software. I was extremely impressed by the software that Steve and Phil presented this morning. Jaguar just looks awesome. Spring loaded folders, a multithreaded finder, and those are just a couple of the new features. Heck, Jaguar is almost an entirely new OS!!! Some of those features mac users have been begging for ever since OS X first came out! Apple is not all about hardware! While that may have been true 2 or 3 years ago, it is no longer the case. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if future MW expos centered more around the software innovation by Apple than the hardware (not to say that hardware won't remain a top priority for Apple).

As for the whole .mac/iTools issue, yes, I am a bit dissapointed in today's announcement, but quite frankly, I didn't expect much else. It's the way the markets are going. Storage and bandwith cost money and Apple has to do something to recoup some of that cost. Plus, you are also getting antivirus software and a back-up application.

Well, I'm done for now. Have a good day y'all and WTG Apple!!!
 
Watched the whole show, while fiddling with my SymbianOS cell phones (Nokia 9210 and 7650 (different numbers in the US, though)). Just waiting for Sony Ericsson P800, this Nokia **** drives me crazy...

Hope you understand how big this Bluetooth and iSync thing can be. At least it was the big thing for me... A big hand for Sony Ericsson!!!

.mac was a big (but expected...) disappointment...
 
hey, did anyone else notice that Steve's iCal (i think) demo crapped out and he had to "switch to his backup system"... what's the dilly with that?

and during his iTunes show it was supposed to sort his playlist in some way and it didn't so he just walked away and said "that's what it SHOULD have done"...
oh well, I like the updates with Jag-wire (what's up with that BTW, was his turtle neck too tight?), but over $100 is a bit steep. $99 upgrade would be fine and still make them some money.
 
Actually, about 10.2, I should quit bellyaching about the price, 'cause it will come bundled with my new tower next month (hopeful).
 
.mac

a copy of my feedback to apple -
I think, in the future, I will look back on today as the day that I changed my opion about Apple.
I have been using Apple products for over 20 years. I was taught to program in Basic when I was in elementry school. Today I make a living as an editor using Final Cut Pro. That being said, I am not a fanatic or a zealot. I have just been a happy consumer of apple products.

I believe that the choice to change the free iTools services to a "premium" .mac service represents a troubluing shift in business pratice for Apple. In the ever shifting terrain of service providers and new technology I was happy to find an email address that I could use from year to year that was not subject to change. My @mac.com address provided that for me. I was grateful to have it. I just told people to email me at "[my name]" at mac.com. I figured that it was a great way to "add value" for your customers who have already paid a premiuim for their hardware and who have to deal with the "paticulars" of using an operating system that is only 5% of the market.

I have not used the any of the other iTools services very much (iDisk was _never_ even_ functional in my experience) but i did appreciate the mac.com moniker. I will not pay for your "upgrade" however. It is not that I can't afford it, I can. I just totally oppose that strategy of luring your _existing_ users into _free_ services that they are inherently invested in, and then switching it to a $100/year subscription service. What is next? Do I load all of my family photos in iPhoto then get charged for looking at the pictures?

This is clearly a bad faith move that I can only imagine will not succeed. I do not know _a single_ person who will use this service and I work in a mac friendly industry. The fact that the other services were lumped in does not even come close to justifying that kind of money.

I can't imagine what caused you to look at this _clearly_ unworkable business model and apply it to a nifty little service like iTools. The industry is littered with failed companies who could not make this sort of thing work. You must be smart enough to recognize that. Aren't you?

I hope you reconsider and _at a minimun_ allow us to keep our @mac.com email addresses.


Thank you
😡
 
Originally posted by Jam
hey, did anyone else notice that Steve's iCal (i think) demo crapped out and he had to "switch to his backup system"... what's the dilly with that?
Click to expand...

Yea, lol. But you have to remember that iCal still isn't a finished product (due in September?). The iTunes glitch was funny too.

Bill
 
Re: Re: Take a trip back in time.

Originally posted by ImAlwaysRight
Hmmm, let's think about this. Last July's mid-range PowerMac was 867MHz Quicksilver. How far have we progressed in one year? 933MHz Quicksilver. A whole freaking 50MHz on the mid-powermac? Whooppie!
Click to expand...
It was actually a 66MHz increase. 🙂
 
oh dear

I have used Macs since I was 10 years old (1986) and today is the first time they have ever p1ssed me off.

Why exactly did I get upgrade vouchers when I bought OS X if I'm going to have to pay full whack for the upgrade?

I will not buy the upgrade if there's no upgrade path and I won't pay just to use my mac.com email either.

I am very p1ssed off with Apple that I now have to go back to my previous free email/web provider.

Do they not realise that some normal people can't just find £200 just like that with no warning. I am quite prepared to pay over the odds to have a nice machine, but I don't expect it to cost me anything for at least a year after I bought it!

Robin (very disappointed)
 
Apple - are they really this dumb?

The more I think about this .mac debacle, the sillier it seems.

Lets see:

Announce a free mac.com email facility and say that its "for life" (I am sure thats what they said at the time)
The markey goes down and sales are flat, so let some bean-counter decide policy.
Start charging for the service - which magically yesterday was worth nothing, but today is worth $100.

"Oh but you get iCal and all this stuff" Yes, but I dont WANT it.

If Hotmail and Yahoo are free, then how is mac.com email worth $100?

Apple - the company that always finds a way to piss its loyal users off.

Prediction: 90% (or more) of mac.com email users will not have an account in 75 days.

Result: no more free advertising for Apple every time we send an email from whoever@mac.com.

APPLE: $10 FOR THE EMAIL ONLY ACCOUNT AND $50 FOR THE JAGUAR UPGRADE (ASSUMING A NEW MACHINE IN THE LAST YEAR) - DO IT.

I am not certain, but is there a legal issue here with a free service that becomes "custom and practise" and is then changed to a pay service?
There is something very wrong with this way of doing business.
 
.Mac

I just finished upgrading to .Mac, even although my Mac is only capable of running MacOS 9. I've seen the complete two hours of the Keynote and I really think it's worth the money as far as I can see.
Let's just wait and see what they have for us in the future. You can allways quit later...

>DidotCicero
 
One more vote for "good job, apple"

I don't understand how anyone reading these rumor sites could be that disappointed. Everyone has reported no new PMs and that was spot on. But we all know they are coming in August and will probably kick butt. So we get christmas twice (so its kind of like hanukah), now and in August.

The new software looks fantastic. Smart playlists is the kind of thing that will really grow on people as they start to get used to working with them. They'll make iTunes a lot more fun. And that feature that will make all music play at the same volume is awesome - I hope that extends to the burning of CDs from iTunes. iCal, assuming it really works with my palmpilot (they kind of glossed over that), will become my one and only calendar. And anyone who has to coordinate the calendar of multiple individuals (like I do with the 10 people working in my lab), the abiility to overlay multiple schedules and update them sync them over the web is fantastic. Also, that thing SJ showed with DL'ing the Dodger's baseball schedule could totally take off. Just think how easy it would be for TV guide to let you DL a personalized schedule with episode/repeat info to your Palm/iPod iCal. LA Weekly could set one up to show where all the bands are playing when, etc. iSync will be a lifesaver too. SJ was right on the money about all the time I thought my calendar or address info was on both of my computers, but it turned out not to be on the one I needed.

anyone who has been watching this rumor site knows that the latest builds of Jaguar are fantastic both in terms of speed and features. Isn't the upgrade price $19.99? Who can complain about that? If you are paying $129 to start on OS X for the first time that means you haven't paid for any of the previous versions that we all have. And most people will get it free anyway when they buy their new imacs and PMs (in august). as I said, I have a lab of 10 people and thus far I've only upgraded one of their machines to OS X (I've been using it on my own since 10.1), but 10.2 will be the right time (especially with the addition of Matlab for OS X due in 2 weeks)

as for .mac, sure I wish it was cheaper or free, but I think its a valuable service (especially with new backup and virus software - and viruses will become a big problem for macs if the switch campaign ever really takes off). $50 seems like a better permanent price point, but I'll happily pay for the functionality - not to mention the future possibilities that will be added. Apple has never skimped on value for money.

Finally, i like the new imac - 15" was just too small but the new one is tempting to me (though I think I'll wait for the PMs in August). But the new iPods are killer. I didn't believe the rumor sites that a 20GB model would come out because I had heard the form factor for that size HD hadn't be worked out. And a thinner 10GB model is tempting too. And 5GB at $299 is a great value - has anyone who has bought an iPod been disappointed? Has anyone felt like they didn't get their money's worth.

So buck up everybody. Its true that not all of us can afford everything that is put out by the best computer and software company around, but you always get more than you pay for when you compare it to M$ or any other computer company.

JINX 🙂
 
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