Amazon Quietly Yanks Discount for Mac OS X 10.2 102
WCityMike writes "Amazon has quietly revoked the $50 rebate for Mac OS X 10.2 it was supposedly offering through September 3. The rebate form was updated to reflect this a few hours later. While theories as to why abound (including supposed involvement from Apple), some have reasonably pointed out that Amazon may not have expected as voluminous a response as they got, making the rebate a potentially major cash loss had it continued at that volume. People who already placed their orders should probably contact Amazon, while the rest of us can simply continue hoping Apple will offer its own 'rebate'." I think maybe it was a mistake; the rebate form I saw originally never had Mac OS X 10.2 on it.
Hint Apple... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why don't you just get a REAL operating system. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:the rebate was there (Score:3, Insightful)
Rule number one of marketing: let the suppliers do the rebates, unless you have a ton of stock that you NEED to get rid of, but don't want to just mark down. The only reason to ever sell for less than you buy at is amortization, depreciation, or cutting your losses. Selling pre-orders at less than cost is the mentality behind most dot-com businesses - bleed red ink, but make up for it in added services.
Dumb dumb.
--Dan
Apple has spoiled the diehard Mac crowd... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Apple Pudge Fackers (Score:4, Insightful)
Funny, I'd love to hang out with a bunch of gay apple users. Most of the gay people I know use macs-- they are far too picky about things being stupidly done and so they go for superiority.
what's the big deal? You think anyone is going to feel bad because you said apple users are gay? Sheesh.... it only tells us that you're insecure about the size of your weenie.
Who cares who's gay and who isn't... anyone worthy posting on slashdot doesn't.
Re:Apple has spoiled the diehard Mac crowd... (Score:2, Insightful)
Sherlock 3 is Apple's absorption of the most excellent Watson...$30(includes lifetime updates)
Quartz Extreme...I'd hardly call this an application from the user standpoint. This is Apple making up for opting for stability over performance in the pre-10.2 releases. This is a bug fix; I'm very happy for it, but it's still a bug fix.
It's completely appropriate to charge 130 bucks for this for anyone that didn't pay for the 10.1 release. I just spent $1999 on a new iMac 7 weeks ago. I called Apple to ask them what good my Software Coupons are and they told me they are there to remind me to upgrade now and then. Now I fondly remember when those coupons were there to get you the next release of the OS. So now, just two months after dropping a bundle, I have to shell out $130 just to keep up. There should be a reasonable upgrade price for owners of 10.1.
Re:Why don't you just get a REAL operating system. (Score:3, Insightful)
10.1.1..5 were fixes.
And what you think 10.2 is a whole new OS?
No, you dimwit! It is another fix.
I'll give them 20USD but that's all it is worth.
Re:I hope Apple is watching this... (Score:1, Insightful)
> No, you PAY for the iApps,
Nope, usually free with new hardware, or free downloads. Occasionally Apple has charged for them, but even then it is less than $50.
> with
The money you pay for
> and you PAY for the OS.
Of course you pay for an OS that took millions of dollars to develope and millions more to upgrade. Especially with an OS that is far beyond Microsoft's next 2-5 years of vaporware. Then again, you pay for a lot of things of value, especially when they are in a store in a box with a price tag on it. That even goes for boxed sets of Linux OS and software.
> And you PAY for the hardware,
Um, yeah. Name one place that gives you free computers.
> more than you would for x86 hardware of greater
> value,
That is seriously debatable. X86 hardware is of far lesser quality. I don't care if they put a 15 gigahertz sticker on a PC, if my G4 800 megahertz iMac out runs it, it is still slower. Apple's industrial design is so much better that it is a comparison between fresh Apples and fresh cow pies.
The problem stems from one source: Microsoft. Every year, Microsoft sets the specs for the PC world. Aside from the color of the case (and warps in its shape), the individual makers have little to no leeway in innovating the hardware. Fortunately, Microsoft does have one source of innovation: copying Apple.
> and you PAY more for the same apps Windows users
> get.
Get what? Get for free?!? I would hardly dignify with the term "application" the crap that Microsoft bundles with Windows and forces down the user's throat.
If you mean apps the Windows user pays for, most applications are the same price regardless of platform.
There is one exception: Microsoft's Office X is more expensive than Office XP Standard. Feel free to complain about that one: to Microsoft.
> And you PAY shipping since you have to order
> them all online, since no stores carry mac
> stuff.
That is so not true. Here in St. Louis Missouri (in the midwest US) you can at least get boxed versions of OS X at CompUSA. We have a Mac Store, which if you can get a sales person who is actually interested in selling something, you can actually buy some stuff there. Next month we should be getting our own Apple Store (woo hoo!).
I've never had to resort to mail order for an Apple OS upgrade. In fact I plan to get Jaguar at a local store to thank them for carrying Mac stuff.
> And Apple's OS X performance is sluggish on most
> computers,
It might be a wee bit on my older Macs, but I don't really notice it on my G4 iMac.
> which is why people want Jaguar. They want what
> they were promised in the beginning. A useable
> system.
Sorry, but I've had a beautiful, usable system since March 24, 2001. I've had a great system since 10.1 came out. On August 24th, I plan to have the most advanced system on the planet. Where have you been?
> We NEED Quartz Extreme, and that is why 99% of
> people want Jaguar. Apple knows we all need it,
> so they took this chance to charge for it and
> rake in the green.
Quartz Extreme is a new technology that takes advantage of a new generation of video hardware. OS X.1.x is about as fast as the older generation of hardware can get. Apple is not ripping you off here. There is no conspiracy or deep exploitation plot going on here. Just a little something called "a new idea to make OS X better".
Besides I imagine more than 1% of those buying Jaguar will be buying it for all the other new and revolutionary technologies it contains.
> Amazon offered a discount, and found that
> EVERYONE who would buy Jaguar would buy it from
> them.
Not everyone. Certainly not me:
1) I've been burned too many times trying to preorder stuff from Amazon.
2) I'd rather pay full price and reward Apple for a good job.
3) I'd also rather buy local to thank my local retailers. If you don't support them, they go bye-bye.
> We're all pissed off at Apple's high pricing,
> but we need Quartz Extreme. Just that. Nothing
> else in Jaguar matters to me.
Well, that is your loss, as Jaguar has a lot to offer.
Have you checked to make sure your hardware even supports Quartz Extreme?
> God knows I'm gonna find a way to uninstall
> iChat the minute I get Jaguar loaded. I don't
> want a chat program, don't force one on me, or
> build it into my OS, slowing down my work apps!
Now you are confusing Apple with Microsoft. iApps are easy to uninstall, and the OS doesn't depend on their presence. I don't use iPhoto (don't need it with Photoshop 7) either.
> stealing Watson (thus crippling a third-party
> mac vendor), etc.
Sherlock 3 probably went into development the moment Sherlock 2 was released. It may have even been on the drawing board before Sherlock 2 came out. It is my understanding Watson was developed after Sherlock 2's release, copied Sherlock's GUI, derived from Sherlock's name, and used libraries and functionality Sherlock provided on the back end. If that is true, what we have here is an unfortunate coincedence of parallel development , with Watson dependant on Sherlock from the start. Since Watson's reason for existence is to fill in on Sherlock's feature set, their next version should be to see what Sherlock 3 left out, and provide the same sort of complement they provided for Sherlock 2.
> They're copying Microsoft's one true innovation
> - their legal department's BS tactics and total
> lack of respect for the user base.
I'm sorry, but I just don't see that. You are talking about a company that put their people to work overtime, on a weekend, to fix a bad bug in a *free* iApp. Then they offered to pay to have the damage the bug caused fixed. That is how it *should* be, how Microsoft *never* does it.
Yes, their legal department does make a pain of itself. But it frequently is because they have to defend their trademarks, or risk loosing their very valuable brand identity. Apple doesn't make the laws in the US, but it does have to follow them, whether it likes them or not.
Look at your OS X screen. Do you have files on your desktop? Does a menu appear when you click the Apple logo? Those things would be impossible if Apple didn't listen to its customers.
> And they are falling for the BS of putting the
> shareholders before the customers, which works
> in the short term, but in the long term,
> customers are what pay the bills.
Every company with shareholders has a legal obligation to those shareholders in the US. The shareholders own the company, after all. But no company can fulfill that obligation that ignores its customers. I don't know how Apple does in regards to the shareholders (I don't own stock at the moment, though I've been thinking about buying), but as a customer I am very satisfied and happy.
Long term vs. short term: Apple is and has been for the past few years playing for the long term. Every version of OS X, every store opening, every hardware or software advance has been a building block for the future. Apple is very carefully getting itself in position. When the economy surges upward, Apple is going to surge with it. Poor Microsoft won't even know what hit them.
> And I don't want to get hooked on
> subscriptionware. We have it at work for a CAD
> program, and it's a pain in the ass. Give me
> good old outright ownership any day of the week.
Fine. Buy an XServe, get a T1 line, get a copy of Web Objects, and set up your own web server with email and the works. You've got outright ownership for a few measly grand (except the T1 line, a monthly charge you probably can't afford). Me, I'd rather pay $8.33 a month, and let Apple worry about supporting the server and paying to hook it up to the internet.
> Apple needs to wake up and become decent people
> again.
I think they are decent now. And Apple is night and day different from Microsoft.
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996).
On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki").
OS X: the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.