Comments on: Apple Giveth, Apple Taketh Away

By: The Technology Center: Idle Time - Page 192

The Technology Center: Idle Time - Page 192 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:45:09 +0000

[…] have been expected. Seriously if I still didn't burn DVDs I wouldn't need an optical drive either. Apple Giveth, Apple Taketh Away | Techcitement* Reply With Quote + Reply to […]

By: Mordechai Luchins

Mordechai Luchins — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:05:31 +0000

In reply to Mordy.

The thing is, Mordy, Apple’s not being “first” here. People have been using Netbooks now for years now, with no media drive and doing just fine. Apple’s just “running with it” in a way no other vendor has yet.

So if anyone gets to say “called it” it should probably be Asus.

By: Yoni Gross

Yoni Gross — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:33:24 +0000

In reply to Mordy. I'd actually go a third direction on this one. Apple is neither succeeding because of nor in spite of these early advances, and that's not really what they're trying to do either. Apple is trying to drive these changes for their own reasons, whether the market is ready or not.

By: Mordy

Mordy — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:08:04 +0000

Actually, I recall the iMac was very frustrating to users when they ditched the floppy drive.
I knew many people who bought them for school work, only to find their assignments required handing in work via a floppy. One guy I know actually kept his old PC around to map his floppy drive as a network drive from the iMac.

Yes, its “where things were going”, as today we don’t really use floppy discs, but they were years too early. There wasn’t any point other than to be able to say “I called it!”, as people still very much wanted floppy disks then.

Yes, I can see DVDs going the way of the floppy- For most tasks, I don’t miss it on my Tablet or netbook. But I’m only OK with that because I *DO* have an optical drive on my full sized laptop and desktop when I need it or want it.

Just because they “called it” and happened to be right doesn’t make it a good decision. If anything, I’d say Apple’s decisions to declare stuff dead early (floppy disks, optical disks, FLASH, etc) don’t contribute to them being a commercial success at all. Rather, they are a commercial success DESPITE these limitations.

By: Mordechai Luchins

Mordechai Luchins — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:49:33 +0000

In reply to Rin. You raise very valid points. Apple is gambling that people will not buy more disks, and keep it all in their ecosystem with iTunes. I question that gamble.

By: Rin

Rin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:21:39 +0000

Hnh… yes, yours are already ripped to a network drive. But what about any other discs you might want to purchase? I can understand not including it on the Air. Weight, etc etc, so long as you can still use an external with it. I raise an eyebrow at dropping it from the Mini–particularly since a lot of people seem to use that as a home entertainment setup.

Dropping the Macbook secures my leaning decision to go PC with my next laptop purchase.