• Apple Just Ended the Era of Paid Operating Systems
    39 replies, posted
[IMG]http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/business/2013/10/osx-free-660x433.jpg[/IMG] [QUOTE]The desktop operating system is dead as a major profit center, and Apple just delivered the obituary.[/QUOTE] [URL]http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/apple-ends-paid-oses/[/URL]
Ending the era of paid operating systems? Wait. Don't they mean the era of paid upgrades for OSX? Because if I'm not mistaken, OSX still costs money to buy, no?
Well, Apple did atleast - maybe this is how they leverage their higher cost of hardware in a bid to retain/get more customers? If such is the trend (OS's going free) how would it impact Linux as a viable competitor in the future?
There's no way in hell I'll replace my desktop OS with any form of a mobile version.
Still have to buy the expensive 'apple' hardware to even use this, not really worth it in my opinion unless you already have an apple computer.
Both Windows 8.1 and Mavericks are minor upgrades, the difference is that Apple used to charge for those, but Microsoft has never charged for service packs...?
[QUOTE=MaxOfS2D;42617311]Ending the era of paid operating systems? Wait. Don't they mean the era of paid upgrades for OSX? Because if I'm not mistaken, OSX still costs money to buy, no?[/QUOTE] I'm not a Mac user, but you get it *free* (Comes with the Apple Tax) with all Mac products. The only reason you'd buy it is if you wanted to run it on something other than a Mac.
Looks like Apple's doing something old and calling it a revolution again
[url=www.debian.org]Debian[/url] is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. Debian was begun in August 1993 by Ian Murdock. Good job playing catch-up Apple.
well since mac os will not run on non-apple machines (without modifications), they will still make boatloads of money
I was already sort of expecting this. Major iOS updates are free, so why not major OS X updates? It makes a lot more sense, too. Because you already have to buy their hardware to use their OS, as was already stated by previous posters. [QUOTE=MaxOfS2D;42617321]Both Windows 8.1 and Mavericks are minor upgrades, the difference is that Apple used to charge for those, but Microsoft has never charged for service packs...?[/QUOTE] The OSX upgrades are usually a lot bigger than service packs, though. OS X still receives some major updates throughout the year that could be seen as near service pack size.
[QUOTE=danharibo;42617343][url=www.debian.org]Debian[/url] is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. Debian was begun in August 1993 by Ian Murdock. Good job playing catch-up Apple.[/QUOTE] No clearly Apple did it first Debian just stole the idea from apple just like the iPad and the iPhone and the Macintosh and the GUI. Apple made all of those from their own ideas and then everyone came along and stole the ideas and made a bad one themselves! It's ok though cause apple4lyf!
[QUOTE=danharibo;42617343][url=www.debian.org]Debian[/url] is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. Debian was begun in August 1993 by Ian Murdock. Good job playing catch-up Apple.[/QUOTE] Obscure Linux distros do not count. No usual consumer cares about installing Linux except for people who think it liberates them for some reason. Why do you think there's a distro called fedora?
[QUOTE=E1025;42617411]Obscure Linux distros do not count. No usual consumer cares about installing Linux except for people who think it liberates them for some reason. Why do you think there's a distro called fedora?[/QUOTE] Because it's sponsored by Red Hat. [IMG]http://select.cs.cmu.edu/code/graphlab/platforms/redhat-logo-big2.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=E1025;42617411]Obscure Linux distros do not count. No usual consumer cares about installing Linux except for people who think it liberates them for some reason. Why do you think there's a distro called fedora?[/QUOTE] Because the company that owns it is called Red Hat, it is a pun.
[QUOTE=E1025;42617411]Obscure Linux distros do not count. No usual consumer cares about installing Linux except for people who think it liberates them for some reason. Why do you think there's a distro called fedora?[/QUOTE] How is Debian an obscure Linux distro?
[QUOTE=E1025;42617411]Obscure Linux distros do not count. No usual consumer cares about installing Linux except for people who think it liberates them for some reason. Why do you think there's a distro called fedora?[/QUOTE] Debian is not some obscure Linux distro, its a major flavour of Linux and a major OS in the world. Debian is the OS of choice for many servers (FYI Linux dominates the server market) and some desktops; I myself use Debian and find your comment naive. Many people don't use Linux because they think it liberates them, they use it because its more flexible to administrate, code for, and generally 10 years ahead of any OS besides maybe BSD. Your sir are naive. Please remove your head from your behind. Also Fredora has little to do with Debian due to the different philosophies behind them; there are more flavours of Linux than you could count because its eco system is so diverse with different or similar philosophies behind each distro. Please do not try to generalise the Linux/Open Source community using one distro, its fucking offensive.
[QUOTE=MaxOfS2D;42617321]Both Windows 8.1 and Mavericks are minor upgrades, the difference is that Apple used to charge for those, but Microsoft has never charged for service packs...?[/QUOTE] 8.1 isn't a service pack though. A service pack was just all the Windows Updates updates rolled into one big package along with some other updates not yet released. 8.1 is the same type of upgrade as OSX 10.x in that along with the updates comes changes and features, which in Windows didn't come until 3 years after release until the new release of Windows came out.
[QUOTE=MaxOfS2D;42617321]Both Windows 8.1 and Mavericks are minor upgrades, the difference is that Apple used to charge for those, but Microsoft has never charged for service packs...?[/QUOTE] 8.1 was not a service pack, service packs normally are a bundle of updates whereas 8.1 was features + a few updates
This only exists because you generally don't run OSX on anything but Apple computers. The loss is negligible. Way to jump the gun with a grand statement, Wired.
I thought OP's title was satirical.. and then I checked the source
[QUOTE=MaxOfS2D;42617311]Ending the era of paid operating systems? Wait. Don't they mean the era of paid upgrades for OSX? Because if I'm not mistaken, OSX still costs money to buy, no?[/QUOTE] Mavericks is free. And don't forget the upgrades they were charging cost significantly less than a new version of Windows.
So what I'm getting is that they are going to treat their OS more like mobile OS's now, where it comes with the expensive hardware and will be updated until they decide your hardware is outdated. That's pretty good for people that use Macs, but it really isn't the end of the paid OS. MS would never suddenly make Windows free, it would literally kill them as they don't sell the hardware they are used on. I hope that this doesn't mean that apple will start doing what they do with their mobile devices and start dropping support for them after having it for like 2 years. [editline]23rd October 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Memobot;42617641]Mavericks is free. And don't forget the upgrades they were charging cost significantly less than a new version of Windows.[/QUOTE] It's less than a new version of windows because they are making so much on selling the hardware for such high prices. Saying it's 'free' makes no sense seeing as you have to pay £1000+ to get hardware that's licensed to use it.
Considering how much Apple computers cost I don't feel like I save money.
Isn't osX based off open source work anyway?
[QUOTE=frozensoda;42617693]Isn't osX based off open source work anyway?[/QUOTE] its based off UNIX but its heavily heavily modified
[QUOTE=fruxodaily;42617704]its based off UNIX but its heavily heavily modified[/QUOTE] It's based off of BSD. [url]http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25633[/url]
[QUOTE=Quiet;42617449]How is Debian an obscure Linux distro?[/QUOTE] Linux is an obscure linux distro
[QUOTE=TheCreeper;42617546]Debian is not some obscure Linux distro, its a major flavour of Linux and a major OS in the world. Debian is the OS of choice for many servers (FYI Linux dominates the server market) and some desktops; I myself use Debian and find your comment naive. Many people don't use Linux because they think it liberates them, they use it because its more flexible to administrate, code for, and generally 10 years ahead of any OS besides maybe BSD. Your sir are naive. Please remove your head from your behind. Also Fredora has little to do with Debian due to the different philosophies behind them; there are more flavours of Linux than you could count because its eco system is so diverse with different or similar philosophies behind each distro. Please do not try to generalise the Linux/Open Source community using one distro, its fucking offensive.[/QUOTE] what makes linux 10 years ahead of most OSes? genuinely curious because i don't know shit about linux
[QUOTE=TheHydra;42618049]what makes linux 10 years ahead of most OSes? genuinely curious because i don't know shit about linux[/QUOTE] 10 years is a bit of an overstatement in many cases, but its generally where most experimentation happens. Any time there is a new standard, such as UEFI, some enthusiast will write software for it the day is announced, and have a semi working build for it in a week, where as with windows and osx, that may take 3 or 4 years. ZFS, while being a mostly Solaris and BSD project, is a good thing to look at when it comes to major innovation that neither windows or osx are even anywhere near in terms of performance or functionality.
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