talmy,
Thanks again for your reply.
In regards to free stuff, such as Mavericks, we are in agreement that the vendor does not have an obligation to release a finished product. It would be professional for them to accurately label unfinished work as beta, but if they wish to pretend it's done and are willing to suffer the reputation consequences for such a fantasy, so be it.
If Mavericks were all we were talking about, I wouldn't have much to say here, and would shrug and walk away.
My concern is that a business philosophy of "let the customers find the bugs" seems to extend in to every corner of the Apple product line. I will spare you the anecdotal stories, as I expect you've read as many or more as I have.
It's my belief that we are not being supportive of Apple's future by enabling and rationalizing such an outdated business philosophy. If you'll forgive a short story, I'll try to explain why by putting this issue in a larger context.
Younger readers may not realize that back in the fifties and sixties the customer experience across our culture was very different.
As example, restaurants didn't allow you to customize a menu choice. It was
amazing to us when around 1965 the Burger King in our town advertised "have it your way" and allowed customers to specify what would go on your burger.
In those days, it was close to impossible to return anything to a store, you almost needed an attorney to do that. These days, stores like Home Depot will take anything back, at any time, without a receipt. I believe I could bring them a truck load of chickens and they'd say OK with a smile and put some money back on my credit card.
Here's the point...
The consumer experience has changed dramatically for the better over my lifetime,
and that cultural trend is not over.
As example, consider the coming era of personalized medicine, where custom drugs will be created just for you based on your DNA etc.
If Apple continues to insist on shifting much of the burden of quality control on to it's customers, it will increasingly be seen as the new Microsoft, an arrogant dull witted company of the past, out of step with an emerging future.
Ok, just one anecdotal story.
I could easily afford to buy 10 new Macs, and work online all day everyday. But I haven't bought a new Mac in 12 years, because I'm sick of playing the lemon lottery.
That's the future for Apple you are arguing for, imho.
Thanks for the dialog!