Paid upgrades?
I really don't like the sound of this but I suppose there isn't much we can all do. I appreciate what Apple does, and I'll be one of the last people to ever switch to Windows [I'm using WinXP right now at work and can't stand it] but at the same time, we're all getting these free programs and updates time after time.
One thing about recent [read: any mac that can run OS X] Macs is that everything has always, more or less, just worked. My father, a long time Windows user, who jokingly gives me grief about my choice of Macs, was blown away by the new G4 he helped set up at my mother's office. "I plugged in the printer, and it knew right away what kind it was. I plugged in the monitor and it gave me the brand and model number and suggested all these resolutions for it. It was amazing."
These sentiments were echoed come Christmas morning when he couldn't find the drivers for his camera to work on their freshly reformatted PC. Like Janie Porche [but male and admittedly harder on the eyes than a brillo pad] I was able to bust out my iBook and iPhoto and "save the day", so to speak. My sister-in-law's parents, two technophobes [the most advanced thing they've ever used was the basic cash register at the bakery they own] thought the way iPhoto and iTunes and all of the other iApps I was able to show off work together just amazingly.
While I can continue to show these programs and others to friends and family [turned a friend onto iCal last night after showing him how to add the Red Sox and Bruins' calendars] it will become increasingly harder to do so when newer features fall to the side as I cannot always afford the newest and best. That's why my desktop machine is still beige, and my iBook is a refurb. I look forward to amazing things coming from Cupertino, and I know that Apple is always going to amaze us, especially with Jobs as the ringleader of the iCircus. I can only hope that, as the popularity of Apple increases proportionally to the decrease of general patience with Microsoft, Apple realizes that the simplicity and beauty of these iApps, satisfying power user and novice alike, is something that pulls people to OS X. I'd like to believe that Apple will continue to provide core iApps for free, but I know that's really wishful thinking.
Remember, of course, how many people thought the rumormills were smoking kitty litter when the iTools + $50 = .Mac equation hit the news wire...
