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Whining Weally Works! (1/14/03)
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Say, remember all that pre-Expo rumbling about how Apple was planning to start charging for iDVD 3, iPhoto 2, and iMovie 3? Well, as you know, those three products were unveiled during last week's Stevenote, and the only one that'll actually cost anything is iDVD 3; both iPhoto 2 and iMovie 3 will be available as free downloads once the software is released in a couple of weeks, and the main reason why iDVD 3 won't be downloadable right alongside them is because it's just so frickin' huge. iDVD 3-- along with the other two products and the previously-released iTunes 3-- will be available for $49 as the boxed "iLife" suite later this month.
You may recall that the hint that Apple might start charging for its iApps the same way it started charging for its previously-free iTools service sent some Mac fans into fits of apoplexy. So was it a whole lot of teeth-gnashing over nothing? Well, yeah, but only barely; according to Think Secret, Apple really was planning to charge for the latest and greatest versions of its digital hub applications, and there's some pretty compelling evidence that Steve only changed his mind at the last minute. Author Jim Heid was granted prerelease access to the software in order to work on his forthcoming book, The Macintosh iLife; a preview of the book (one that was distributed by Apple itself on the show floor) notes clearly that "iTunes 3 is included with iLife, and remains freely downloadable from Apple's web site... iPhoto 2, iMovie 3, and iDVD 3 will not be downloadable." Verrrry interesting.
Indeed, if Think Secret's sources can be believed, it was that very moaning and wailing about the rumored charge for iMovie and iPhoto upgrades that prevented it from becoming reality. Reportedly El Steve-o was "surprised" by the "overwhelmingly negative" response to reports that users would have to fork over yet more cash to stay current; from this we can only deduce that Jobs has a certain blind spot when it comes to pattern-matching skills, unless Apple somehow received "overwhelmingly positive" feedback when it decided to charge for .Mac, when it made existing Mac OS X users buy the whole product again at full price just to upgrade to 10.2, etc. Whatever. The point is that Steve reportedly decided just four days before the keynote that he would make iPhoto 2 and iMovie 3 freely downloadable, and that his decision came due to a whole lot of complaining among the faithful. Who says whining never gets you anywhere?
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SceneLink (3903)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 1/14/03 episode: January 14, 2003: One of the teen switchers cheats death in a helicopter crash; is anyone naïve enough to believe it was an accident? Meanwhile, Microsoft tries again to wriggle out of antitrust lawsuits by giving software to schools-- and Apple once again publicly opposes it, and evidence surfaces that iPhoto 2 and iMovie 3 are only free because customers complained about rumors that they wouldn't be...
Other scenes from that episode: 3901: Teen Switchers Gettin' Twitchy (1/14/03) Okay, we're going to have to start getting sick on purpose a few times a year, because it just never fails: when we're fighting to keep our heads above a rising tide of mucus (or we're otherwise unable to broadcast, because we're dealing with, say, a wedding or a newborn or an out-of-control hyperdimensional snake infestation), that's when all the drama comes seeping out of the woodwork... 3902: If At First You Don't Succeed (1/14/03) Hey, do us a favor, willya? We're gearing up for the Online Soap Opera Union Local 654th's annual talent show, and the competition's looking pretty fierce this year-- we hear that the team from "Days of Our Lemurs" is going to be juggling live stoats while yodeling...
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