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Apple Announces iLife '11, FaceTime Mac, Lion, Mac App Store, MacBook Air
Apple once again streamed their latest keynote where they unveiled iLife '11 (more fullscreen and Facebook in iPhoto, Audio editing and automatic trailers in iMovie, Rhythm correction and lessons in Garage Band). FaceTime for the Mac will connect video chat to phones with a Beta starting today. Next we get a preview of OS X Lion which will have an App Store and new UI bits shipping this summer. The Mac App Store will launch on Snow Leopard in 90 days. The New MacBook Air is under 3lbs, 13.3" screen, Core 2 Duo, solid state only storage. There's also an 11.6" version starting at $999 with 64gb of storage shipping today.
Will the app store have the same lock down?
With no apps that can use plug ins?
No games with user maps or mods?
No sex apps?
No fat app?
$99 year fee even for free apps?
fixed price points?
will you be able to buy app and use it on all systems you own? will app dev be able to have app that you need to buy per system?
can apple pull a app at any time?
Will there be a max app size?
One step closer to macos lockdown just like the iOS platform
As Ron Gilbert just put it
"For you Apple apologists claiming Apple will never lock down the Mac, step one is in place and you all let it happen."
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
Linux does it, but it sure as hell isn't better.
more fullscreen and Facebook in iPhoto, Audio editing and automatic trailers in iMovie, Rhythm correction and lessons in Garage Band
Why can't all this functionality be available through one integrated program instead of being fragmented over many sources?! The end user will get confused!
I mean, App Store for iPhone / iPod touch? I get that. It's basically the first of its kind and creates its own market share. Apps which would have been trivial and/or freeware for a desktop could be sold to mobile users if they were good or early to market enough. Kinds of apps that would be made wholly useless given a full-size-screen web browser and a keyboard could have a market, too.
But for the Mac? When roughly all Mac users are dual booting Windows anyway?
They are *not* locking down OSX. You will still be able to get apps anywhere you want.
Gone!
Actually, it's worse than lame as they're now locking down Mac OSX just like they do with iOS.
You mean except for the fact that it was explicitly stated that the app store wasn't the exclusive place to get apps for Mac OS X? How can it be locked down when nothing has changed beyond having a new source for downloading apps from?
It gets rid of a lot of developer headaches, including finding a place with high bandwidth mirrors for consumers to download and fetch updates.
Yes, Apple gets a 30% chunk, but IMHO, it is a good thing to have long term.
Wow, and people talk about the "Microsoft tax". How long until the only way to get software on your Mac desktop is via Apple's store and all Mac developers are required to pay a 30% tribute to Apple? And, since taxes are passed on to consumers, every time you as a customer buys an "app" from the store it's really you who's paying that insane 30%.
But that's beside the main point. Do you really thing most smaller developers can't find a place to host their website and software which costs less than 30% of all their sales? Keep in mind that most developers don't need Steam/Microsoft/Amazon levels of bandwidth.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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I know that every other comment under the sun here is going to focus on the app store and DRM concerns, but I'm also somewhat concerned about the fact that CPU speeds on these new Macbook Airs seem to be... rather pathetic. C2D 1.4 and 1.86 Ghz processors? Is Xcode really that much better at leveraging the GPU, to where they can release something like this when announcing Lion and its new features that sound like they're going to brutalize processing power. With CPU speeds like these, it almost seems like they just didn't want to say the word 'Atom'.
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
As long as it is not the only place to buy applications for the Mac, then that's ok. We already have steam for games and that works well.
The issue I have with the app store on the iPhone/iPad is that if it falls into a category that doesn't meet the puritan standards, then you can't buy it. It would be nice to see a place for application that are API compliant, but don't fill some of the other check-boxes.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
And for a huge number of consumers, they'll be quite happy with the locked down device with Apple as gatekeeper. They'll have everything they need or want, will pay a bit extra for that, and won't even notice the /. crowd wailing and gnashing its collective teeth over Jobs' "war on openness".
When will /. readers acknowledge that they're not the entire fucking market for computing devices?
Anyone who loves or hates any language, platform, or manufacturer, doesn't know what they're talking about.
As soon as Apple can convince Microsoft and Adobe to hand over 30% of their revenue from Office and Photoshop. I like a conspiracy theory as much as anybody... no, wait, I actually don't.
It's not exactly free to do it on your own. For a small shop it's a huge benefit to not have to deal with all that infrastructure and hiring and payment processing. A one or two person team can focus on development and not worry about the other headaches. It will bring me back to developing Mac software.
They just released the hybrid device (MacBook Air) that will eventually replace all consumer devices with built-in DRM. Steve will have no incentive to allow you to buy any software outside of the App Store, since he gets a 30% cut.
No, seriously guys. You already consented. He's going to stick it all the way in.
I think people like you _want_ Apple to become some evil company because you dislike something else about the company or its users.
No, seriously guy. No one consented to anything. It's a product announcement and evil DRM wasn't part of it.
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
So both of them got Macs (at different times) and now I don't get any questions... Because shit just works for them...
Nonsense, large vendors like Microsoft and Adobe will get a free pass (since they're platform-movers.) Everyone else, though, will have to pay up.
You don't seriously believe that all the major game studios are doing the 70/30 thing for their releases on the App Store, do you?
Linux repositories are a general purpose mechanism; you can point at any "app store" you like with them. Furthermore, they do extensive dependency management and checking.
Apple's App Store gives you one source of applications
To be precise, it gives you one source of applications for whatever mechanism the App Store uses; nothing requires that you get all your apps from there, but you might have to go through the hideously burdensome process of clicking a few links in your browser, maybe typing in your credit card number, and answering a few questions from the installer or dragging an app bundle to /Applications to buy and install an app from the vendor.
and it doesn't seem to do much in the way of dependency management.
How many dependencies between downloadable components do OS X apps have? Linux repositories (and BSD ports/packages collections) have lots of libraries in them, and apps (and other libraries) might depend on them, so dependency checking is useful there. OS X apps, for better or worse, tend to be self-contained - either they only use libraries and frameworks that come with the OS, or they bring along the other libraries and frameworks for the ride.
As soon as Apple can convince Microsoft and Adobe to hand over 30% of their revenue from Office and Photoshop.
You say that as though it's a good thing that Mac owners are now essentially dependent on Microsoft and Adobe of all horrible things to safeguard their freedom of choice, as surreal as it sounds.
Those two companies provide pieces of software too crucial for Apple to flip them the bird... for now. Otherwise you'd already have the scenario you deride as a conspiracy theory.
Do you idiots not understand how retail product distribution works?
If you can get my app in front of 50 million Mac owners, and handle application delivery AND payment processing...
I will GLADLY give you 30% of the action.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Your father-in-law is apparently ridiculously more tech-savvy than mine, who needs to visit the Apple Store Geniuses for help multiple times every month.
I honestly don't think Apple has made money off of him, in the grand scheme of things.
Sorry, but if you can get my app in front of 50 million Mac owners, and handle application delivery AND payment processing...
I will GLADLY give you 30% of the action.
Do you have ANY clue whatsoever what it takes in marketing and advertising costs alone to even get a dozen people a month to visit a website selling some OS X something-or-other?
This is a BARGIN.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Oooh ooh, I can play that game too!
Apple is not currently murdering small children. Wait a few years.
Sounds sinister, doesn't it?
# (/.);;
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You forgot to include:
The Rise and Fall of Online Community
You forget that it's only evil if Microsoft does it. For example, when MS bundles their browser with their OS, that's illegal/evil/anti-competitive. When Apple does it, it's just providing a useful service to the consumer.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
There's a difference. If the Mac app store leads to a lockdown like iOS where you can ONLY install apps via the App store, then that's not like Linux distributions and package managers at all. Every distribution and it's package manager does not prevent the installation of programs outside of the package manager.
What now? The new Airs aren't much different than what was out yesterday -- the only differences are a new case, a higher-resolution screen, some updated specs, stereo speakers, on-board Flash, the same trackpad as the rest of the Macbook line, a smaller version, etc. Its still an OSX laptop, nothing 'hybridized' about it. There's no more DRM in the new Air than in any other MacBook. Nothing has changed in that regard.
Second, Steve said you could still get software from other sources. It would be platform suicide to do anything else. They're just trying to make it more convenient for developers and users. I'm personally curious to look at the terms and see if open source software can be distributed using it -- in those cases it could basically be a repository just like on any Linux distro.
Finally, I haven't consented to anything like that. If OS X Lion were to implement the changes you seem to think exist, I would stick with Snow Leopard. If the changes were made retroactive and made it difficult to use old versions somehow, I could install Ubuntu. The Mac platform suits my needs for now (a Unix platform with nice laptop hardware integration) -- its not actually a cult, so I can re-evaluate my options at any time.
Quit the FUD.
Apple gets a 30% chunk, but IMHO, it is a good thing to have long term.
Wow, and people talk about the "Microsoft tax".
Getting 70% is a developer fantasy. By the time you find a publisher, and they sell to a distributor, who then sells it to a retail store ... a developer is lucky to get 15% to 20%. Digital distribution is a game changer. For a small developer implementing an online store with support and returns, paying for international payment processing, bandwidth, etc is non-trivial. If that adds up to less than 30% then the difference may easily be justified by the increased traffic and exposure of a high profile site like one provided by Apple. Unless you are a large corporation Apple's deal is not bad at all.
But it's Apple... And this is slashdot...
Brain... struggling to... process cognitive dissonance...
How do you propose to filter out the "useless and annoying" apps? When Apple tried to do some filtering people called them draconian and not being transparent with the review process. Please define "useless and annoying" such that both consumers and developers would be satisfied.
That's definitely NOT visible from todays announcements. The App Store for Mac is an extremely good idea, but it's entirely optional. There'll still be a lot of software distributed through "classic" channels, as the App Store will of course be closely guarded and most probably won't allow porn, pirate tools or anything else Apple deems unsuitable. Aside from those issues, a lot of companies will want to offer more licensing options than are possible through the App Store. However, it will be a great place for individuals to get their consumer-level apps from and it will take a lot of burden away from people who have to support them. Conclusion: It's optional, not a lockdown for Mac OS.
Apple holds no monopolies of any kind, and are not anywhere NEAR the penetration Microsoft accomplished. There is a RAGING WAR going on in the handset space, so its impossible to call monopoly there. Itunes has many competitors, as does Macintosh, ipod, etc and so forth. Apple has absolutely ZERO monopolies. Your analogy does not hold water.
Good-bye
That is a HUGE HUGE if. I didn't see any sign they plan to stop you from downloading and installing whatever you want. All these upmodded "The Apple machine is locking down OS X!" comments are quite sad.
Sigh... I should have invested in a tin foil hat startup years ago. I probably could have retired by now!
?
Yes, it's completely optional. It'll probably always be optional too, just like you still have an option to run DOS on a 386.
I don't think anybody is saying that this is mandatory TODAY, the issue is down the road.. Will the successor to OS X be iOS 5.0 or some such?
I did get a laugh at one site saying basically the future of apps is Modal. I'm so glad I'm running a multi core CPU so I can run one app at a time...
And have they EVER made a statement to that effect about Mac OS X that would lead you to believe they would prevent you from installing software any other way?
They were pretty up-front about it with the iPhone - if you want to distribute to the iPhone, this is the only way to do it.
In today's announcement, it was simply "a way to distribute apps" - not "the only" way to distribute apps. Frankly, I'm not sure why people seem to think that the Mac OS X and iOS platforms will necessarily, or ever, converge to that point. They've stated that they don't intend to lock down Mac OS X that way, and they've made no comments that would contradict that today.
iOS is "unix". OS X is UNIX.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Linux users yesterday: "We have centralized software repositories with quality control testing and easy installation, and it rocks."
Linux users today: "Apple is locking down the Mac!"
There was never a Linux distro that blocked all software installation other than from its official repositories.
In Apple's case, we've all seen iOS.
ultimately, it will have Windows for business, and XBox for consumers. Apple will work on a similar distribution.
Yeah, I think they'll call their business distribution OS X. It'll be a lot like Windows.
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.