On Friday, July 19, 2002, at 11:42 AM, SlashDevNull wrote:
> I'm sorry. You are right. When you buy an OS or a computer you are
> completely entitled to every future service or enhancement for as long
> as
> you live. And iTools is _not_ a feature of the OS. Itools is a
> separate
> service. I thought that was obvious.
iTools is not a "future service or enhancement." It is advertised right
there on the front of the Mac OS 9 retail box. "NOW FEATURING iTOOLS." I
thought that made it obvious that it WAS a part of the OS.
> So charging money for a service is unethical?
That's not at all what I said. Taking away an OS feature people already
paid for, then saying you can have it back for $50, is unethical. And it
is somewhat like the MS licensing scams.
> I am still waiting for your solution. Anyone can stand back and bitch
> about
> what others do. You said Apple could do it. Tell me how.
You want my solution? Here you go. Close of all iTools subscriptions.
You can now only sign up for .Mac. And close inactive iTools accounts.
Then only add the new features to .Mac- if you want the new features,
you have to upgrade. And, increase the price of 10.2 to about $170,
including 18 mos. of free .Mac.
> Hmm. I fail to see how you paid for iTools. And if you had purchased
> _any_
> extra hard drive space, you will get a free year of .Mac.
I bought a Mac! I bought Mac OS 9, OS X Public Beta, and OS X! That is
when I paid for iTools. When it said in the marketing materials, "Now
Featuring iTools," etc.
> What exactly do you not understand? You _didn't_ pay for iTools. You
> paid
> for the OS.
If the OS box lists iTools as a feature, then it is part of the OS.
> .Mac is a _very_ substantial upgrade than iTools. It is _not_
> shady to try and recoup their investment, after losing a ton of money
> for 2
> years, by charging for a substantial upgrade.
No, it isn't. UNLESS you completely remove the old functionality. It is
fine to charge for an upgrade, but it is not okay to turn off the old
service.
>>> If you don't want to pay the cash, then don't use it.
>>>
>>> You can find cheaper email and web services. Just remember that you
>>> get
>>> what you pay for.
>> It isn't the fact that it costs money that annoys me. What gets me is
>> the sheer sleaziness of this maneuver. If .Mac was a new service
>> announced today, it would be totally okay to charge for it. But it
>> really isn't a new service... it it iTools plus a couple things
>
> <snip>
> Has anyone looked at what .Mac offers? Have you looked at the Virus
> software? Do not the software virus companies charge for virus updates
> after a year? ... This is a good deal. If you don't like it you can
> always go with hotmail
> (with service drops every month) or yahoo (with ads everywhere and slow
> page
> loads).
Like I said, charging for the upgrade is not a problem at all. The
problem is removing a feature from an OS I already paid for.
sj
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