Me and wiz just had a little discussion about this, that Apple is becoming more power-hungry and money-hungry, instead of offering a great value to their customers like they used to. First off, I go to upgrade Quicktime 6 to Quicktime 7, and GUESS WHAT? AFTER deleting my older version of QT, they tell me this:

Are they NUTS ? I just paid over $40 Canadian for QT Pro less than a year ago! XO I'm sure not paying that amount again! They're lucky I still have the old QT on my other Mac, so I could transfer it, or they would have been recieving plenty of hate mail from me. 8( Among other things, I'm NOT going to switch to Tiger for a LONG time. Maybe Apple will get alot of angry customers and learn from this... Anyway, my *evil scheme* is to:
1. Buy Tiger for $150 (Holy moly, that's expensive! $45 more than Panther! Sheesh!)
2. Hack the CD/installer and grab all the nice apps off of it (iChat, dashboard, etc.) Trust me, this is possible, I've done it plenty times before as experiments... I never thought the day would come when I actually would NEED to do this... ;)
3. Hack the GUI/skins (easy step, eh?) and add them to Panther (also fairly easy)
4. (optional) Get some of the Tiger frameworks

There I go, a nice Panther machine that looks exactly the same as Tiger, and Steve Jobs couldn't tell the difference... :)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go switch to Linux now...

You're really smart.

Apple charged for QT Pro in the 5 to 6 transition also. It can easily be worth $30.

Hmmm, nice rant Chilled. Unfortunately, I can't agree with your sentiments on most of the issues you bring up.

First off, QuickTime Pro. I have some mixed feelings about this. While I think Pro features of the player should be paid features, I tend to think if Apple were TRULY serious about making QT the absolute de-facto standard in the industry, they should really take just a few of those pro features and put them in the basic player. My biggest gripe is… FULL SCREEN MODE. Now, what marketing person at Apple is responsible for thinking that playing a video at full screen is a "Pro" feature? I really don't understand this one at all. Look at all the competitors out there, Real, Windows Media Player, etc. As far as I know they all let you play a video at full screen without having to buy their Pro version. Why Apple can't do the same with QT is beyond me. Besides this, and maybe a few basic export options, all the rest I see as pro features, such as copy/paste/splicing video, editing tracks, exporting to a full range of other formats, etc. So if I want those features, I'm gonna pay for them, same as I would with competing products. End of story.

As for your other complaints, first off, Tiger is not one penny more expensive than Panther when it was released. They both sold for US$129.00. If you got Panther cheaper than that, it's only because you got some deal where the price came down. The same will happen with Tiger if you just give it a little time. Amazon already has it for, in essence, $99 after a mail in rebate. So, please get your facts straight about the price. Apple isn't gouging customers by inflating the price of Tiger over other releases of OS X. It's been $129 for several major releases now.

As for hacking the installer CD to graft it onto Panther, good luck with that. You might be able to pull some features over, but you will never end up with what Tiger is. I assume from your post that you don't actually have Tiger yet. Well, take it from those who have it and are using it now. It is well worth the asking price. This new version is more a sum of its parts than individual little improvements. There have been fundamental changes, speed enhancements, etc under the hood that you'll never gain doing it that way, not to mention that you could potentially destabilize your system.
Also, the new iChat video conferencing uses the new H.264 codec, which, if you haven't seen it, you don't know what your missing. It is absolutely STUNNING quality. So without installing QT 7, you won't get the multi-user video chat, as far I know.

Lastly, you're really dreaming if you think people are going to complain to Apple in droves about some of the things you disagree with. On the contrary, Fridays release was probably their biggest yet. People lined up for hours, lines stretching pretty far for people to get their hands on a copy of Tiger, so I doubt Apple will be crying any rivers over you not buying it right now. They have plenty of other customers who understand the value and hard work they've put into this release, willing to pay for it.

CL,
How is that an "evil scheme" at all. Your buying the software, and only using a small part of it. Why would steve jobs even careÉÊyou still paid apple for OS Tiger, whether you use it or not, doesn't make any difference to them.

Also,
if you just want to get some of the GUI skins to make panther LOOK like tigerÉ you can do that without buying Tiger. You just need the right theme to change all the graphics elements.

Finally,
IT'S ONLY $30!!!! That's ridiculously cheap for a brand new codec and player, especially for how much better it is.

Make the switch to microsoft!

^ NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

^LMAO, Windowze! I cant believe the amount of people that stay with windowze, Everyone should be on a mac

Windows For me :P

Macy to complicated XD ;)

"Of course I'm joking about the "2 complicated" part... If u couldn't Tell"

What Dream World did you come from? Well, where I come from (USA) Apple has always been way more expensive then Windows. That was one of their major flaws when they first started. The other was that they were first built closed. If it weren't for that every one would have a mac. I'm a windows owner by the way.

You know Windows can be pretty handy if you know what you are doing, same as a Macintosh.

Look, if you had Macintosh, you would say "Oh Macintosh is the greatest thing in the world! Ah reject that Windows!"

And if you has a Windows, you would say "Oh Windows is the best! No other system can beat it!"

Vise versa on any other system.

You know what? This is getting a little disrespectful for other systems. I don't appreaciate it at all. Every system has its own advantage of doing things. So please, don't gudge right away on something you haven't tried yet.

Thank you.

-ZeBoLoBoT-

I run 3 OSes on my gaming machine at home:

Windows HaXP - My hacked and tweaked gaming version of XP. What I play TT and all my other games on.

Windows 98 - I only play older games on this, I use it for no other purpose.

Red Hat Linux 9/Fedora Core 3 (all the packages from Fedora) - Ah my linux drive. I love it very much, I use it every day. I need to get my Software working on it now.

I think I'm pretty fair here, Windows HaXP for daily use and gaming, 98 for older games, and RH Linux 9/Fedora 3 for Unix based tinkering system.

@ ZeBoLoBoT

Call it what you like. I have used both Mac and Windows products for years. I use both of them everyday and I also use both of them in a corporate envrionment and for personal use. I agree wth your statement that each have their own advantages. The one thing I like the most about Apple is that hey are responsible for both hardware and their software. There are some great benefits to controlling both software and hardware. Although some people are complaining about the $139 upgrade price for Tiger, I would (and did) pay without hesitation. It basically comes down to two things that turn me off to Microsoft.

The first is that way Microsoft does their licensing and the sttructure of the licensing. Any product requires more and more licensing. Per seat, per cpu, per cluster node. Oh, you want Exchange server? More licenses please. Oh you wnat a SQL server?, more licenses please. It never ends. It's simply blackmail if you ask me. The other thing is, there is always something real annoying when using Windows. Security patches, Service packs that always break something else. All I can say is that, I routinely find myself saying I'd rather be using my MAC. I have no problems with Linux, I just don't see why I would go play with Linux when I alread have a Mac. I'm sure Linux is great in it's own ways as well.

LOL

I''ve probably been using some sort of operating system longer than you've been on earth. :)

How old does that make me seem?

Nap

Last edited: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 at 6:37:28 AM

Yes, every OS has it's advantages, even Windows. :) Seriously, Windows serves a purpose in the computing world. Despite the fact that I dislike MS and their practices, I would never want to see them completely fade away. Never mind the fact that we'll never realistically see that happen. But even if it were possible, I wouldn't want to see it. There needs to be a balance in technology. I would no more want to see Apple become a monopoly than any other company. Monopolies are not a good thing. MS has too much of a stronghold on the computing world for too long now, which is why they can do the kinds of licensing blackmail that napalm refers to. It benefits no-one but Microsoft in the end.

@ZeBoLoBoT - many of us commenting here have been using computers for quite a long time, and have used Windows, Mac OS, Unix, etc. So to make the assumption that anyone dissing Windows hasn't ever used it is somewhat naive.

@Bomber-

Wait, so… cheaper automatically means better value then? Well, if you follow that logic, then a Yugo is a far better value than a BMW, right? Why is it that some people can't fathom the idea of people not minding paying a little more for something made with a high level of quality, polish and reliability?

People saying Dont judge before youve tried. I own 4 Macs and 3 PCs So I know the difference, Im with macintosh all the way, If only Apple, Macintosh had all the same software and games as a PC then Apple would be EVEN better. Thats the only problem that it doesnt have enough Software..... But the thing Microsoft need to sort out is they make software but hack into their own software to make it better thats why PCs have had so many Viruses and Mac's have had, well, None!!

The Worm(Virus) Still hasnt Reached the Apple

Last edited: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 at 8:32:59 AM

Mac is more expensive? Not really.

I agree that the initial cost is higher. You can buy a Windows box pretty cheap. The thing is, Microsoft doesn't control what hardware it gets put into.

I am one of the people in my school system who makes decisions about technology purchases. We have been buying Macs for the 12 years I have been here. We have had great experiences with them. We have to eventually sell off the old ones that are obsolete but have few that just break down. That hasn't been our experience with the Windows machines. They need more frequent repairs, and sometimes just aren't practical to repair, requiring another purchase.

Long term, we've found Mac to be cheaper. You can work with any of the systems, and they do all have their advantages, but cost of ownership leans me to Mac. (My laptop is 5 years old, and has only had one hard drive replacement. No other repairs of any kind.)

Well, I am a windows user myself, and I like it the way it is, if I wanted a mac-styled windows, "Applying Panther Style...", if I want mac bars, its easy to download some windowze ones, I got the latest protection and got my PC for 4 years, never had to do anything to it, and I know ppl that have had a pc for 9 years without any kind of repairs, so dont complain about "PC having less quality as it needs more repair", as it isnt true.
I have worked with macs and linuxes but not for a long time so if I got used to them, I might like them more, but some things you are saying are not real, I like my PC and it likes me :P

I want to be clear that I wasn't slamming PCs, just relating my experience.

You can do cool things with any of the up to date systems. (Like play ThinkTanks! XD )

Make the switch today! To microsoft. Way better than mac :P

@Pedro, I have also owned, used, and had to deal with Windows, Macintosh, AND Linux computers. Linux was very nice in my opinion, but I prefer the Macintosh out of all of those. The Windows always had some kind of problem that I had to lookup how to fix because I was never good with Windows. The Linux never had a problem that I knew of, but a couple things I wanted to work badly didn't work. Overall I prefer the Macintosh. Personal opinion alone, y'all.

Cloud, have you ever TRIED a Mac? :) Anyway, sorry for over-reacting up there, yes, I got a deal on Panther ($100 Canadian), and Tiger has alot of nice new apps. I figured out a way to use both QT #7 and QT #6 Pro, but I'll just upgrade. What the heck! It's totally worth it.

I can understand your reaction C.L. I never read the fine print either and remember being dismayed when I suddenly lost my QT Pro in the 4 to 5 transition. I was going to email you about the workaround but I see you've got it figured out. :) The book Quicktime for the Web might come with the QT7 Pro licence soon. That's how I got the QT5 Pro licence and it was well worth $50 for both.

HEY I GOT THE SAME THING