iGouge or simply a good business decision?
One of the major shortcomings of the free iDVD software touted by Apple as one of the iApps is that it only works with Apple computers that are bundled with a SuperDrive DVD writer. If you run out to buy a third-party DVD recorder to use with, for instance, a Titanium PowerBook, Apple won't let you use iDVD with the new hardware. Your only option from Apple is to pay $999 for DVD Studio Pro, a professional-level program well beyond the means or needs of everyday computer users who may want to author a movie on DVD to send to friends and family.
Recently Other World Computing rolled out a new utility that allowed iDVD to work with OWC's own third-party DVD writers, and according to MacCentral, OWC has now dropped iDVD support at Apple's behest.
Is Apple playing hard ball with third-party hardware and software vendors fair?
My thoughts: Apple has shown over recent months that in the small market where it holds a monopoly over hardware and software, it is more than willing to stop innovation in an effort to direct more dollars to the company coffers. Many claim that this is Apple's right and that it is the only way that Apple can survive. This may be the case, but it also could be argued that Apple's iApp strategy is at fault here, forcing the company to give away applications that should carry a price tag in the first place and then forcing the company to enforce heavy-handed policies to allow Apple to protect free applications that should never have been free in the first place. Apple's iApp strategy follows the same principle as numerous failed Internet companies that decided to give everything away in an effort to lure people to their services. In the end, users of "free" Internet services learned that "free" came with a price - either in terms of unreliable service, a shift in policy to paid services, or the company going out of business - and Apple users who rely on "free" iApps like iDVD are seeing that free also comes with a price. It is a tired saying, but you really do get what you pay for.
My advice for users of Apple products has always been to check out the free iApps, but to keep in mind that using a "free" application like Mail or iDVD comes with a price. If you rely on a free application you face the limitations placed on that program by Apple, but you also hurt innovation in the software market where third-party developers have to try to compete with Apple's free software. Ask developers of popular email applications like PowerMail just how hard it is to compete with free...
OWC has removed support for its own DVD Enabler software, and buyers of the Mercury Pro DVD drives can still use programs like Roxio Toast to author DVDs. Users just can't use Apple's free iDVD to burn DVDs with a third-party drive.
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