Apple to kill physical software sales?

so i'm guessing the logic here is screw all the 3rd party developers, now they have to pony up 30% of their sales so Apple can hype their seemingly endless application outlets. also eliminates used software sales, which i'm sure Jobs has been out to kill for years.

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/07/apple-to-eliminate-retail-box-software-inventory/

developers were probably already giving up more than 30% to put those boxes there in the first place. physical distribution isn't cheap.

Say goodbye to optical drives on Macs in t-minus 2 years.

i strongly detest apple. they pretend to be the friendly indie alternative, but actually they still try and shove their totally pointless accessory products down your throat

Hah, who buys software?

I never do anything with my software boxes. Some of them I've put on shelves in my studio as decoration like Komplete, but overall I say good riddance.

  On 2/7/2011 at 10:08 PM, baph said:

Say goodbye to optical drives on Macs in t-minus 2 years.

Apple disabling CD drives => Apple sheeps unable to rip or play their CDs => Music can only be purchased digitally => The only possible place to do so (according to Apple sheeps) is iTunes Store.

GENIOUS!

  On 2/7/2011 at 9:44 PM, chaosmachine said:

developers were probably already giving up more than 30% to put those boxes there in the first place. physical distribution isn't cheap.

Yes, but you can distribute it on the web. But if this would happen you would have to pay the yearly developer program fee. So I'd have to pay to actually develop for their platform. It's mind bogling.

But more importantly: making Apple the only means of distribution is frankly very very scary. How much control are you willing to give them? What if they start declining applications claiming it doesn't conform with their TOS or quality standards? It has happened to the iPhone, I'm sure they'll love to do it to OSX.

Now I'm not sure this rumour will become true. But if it did, this has nothing to do with a free market anymore. I hope Neelie Kroes teaches them a lesson.

one more reason to hate apple

fact 1: developing for the Apple app ecosystem will land you a decently paid job easily. The true winner is still Apple, but being part of the system will still make you win a little, relatively.

fact 2: don't buy Apple devices if you don't like?

This is hardly just an apple thing, things have been moving this way on all platforms for a long time.

  On 2/7/2011 at 11:55 PM, phling said:

 

fact 2: don't buy Apple devices if you don't like?

I really like OS X and I invested a shit ton in a MBP purchase a few years back and some apple-specific recording hardware, and plenty of OS X software, so while I could not care less what Apple does with a shitty iOS ecosystem (which, honestly, I want to be robust and streamlined and closed, because something like the iPhone is a communications device first), the thought that Apple might want to lock OS X down more is unpleasant.

That said, I doubt they'd actually close OS X to the point where you'd need to acquire software through the app store; but by the same token Apple's not going to go out of its way to make non-app store purchases easy, and I definitely can see optical drives going away on non-Pro models soon.

the last century was all about rotating storage media. time to put it to an end really.

think about it: Physical. Software.

are you folks really using optical drives, like more than once or twice a year..?

yeah physical media is on its way out... theres nothing really surprising about this at all

Losing optical drives isn't really a problem unless you're involved in content creation, which used to be apple's base and all, but fuck em, luxury consumer items and content rental over ownership ftw.

wait a sec. Oh yeah got it. You need an optical drive to create content, makes sense.

lol

Meh, you guys are over reacting.

Seems like everyone is heading in this direction. Games certainly have.

Anyway, I don't see apple doing away with optical drives on their pro model computers, perhaps the 13" macbook...

umm blu ray

Who gives a shit???

First of all .. who the fuck buys software ??? everybody is a pirate nowadays ... and if you are one of the rich mofos that buys software .. who the fuck buys physical software??

Get the fuck out. More anti-apple propaganda

We get it , its "cool" to hate apple , but please grow up .. you are not in High School anymore.

  On 2/8/2011 at 12:40 AM, Boxing Day said:

Who gives a shit???

 

First of all .. who the fuck buys software ??? everybody is a pirate nowadays ... and if you are one of the rich mofos that buys software .. who the fuck buys physical software??

 

Get the fuck out. More anti-apple propaganda

 

We get it , its "cool" to hate apple , but please grow up .. you are not in High School anymore.

I happen to like the idea of owning a physical copy of my games/ software, in case something happens to my hard drives, and have a very, very shit internet connection that goes in and out frequently, making downloading anything quite a pain in the ass (not to mention, i can't play anything online).

But then, I heard rumours about this a year ago, and it's the primary reason that I never caved and bought a macbook.

Yeah, guys, fuck Apple.

:sup:

I buy my games in a hard format if I can, but it's really so much easier to distribute things online, and cheaper for those that are doing it by themselves. Even if I prefer hard copies of things, I understand the shift away from it.

The Apple hate is annoying. You can dislike it all you want, but quit bitching like they raped your mouth or something.

I find optical drives really helpful for ripping cds!

If you're using optical drives then you need to go back to computer-class, yeah?

apple raped me in the mouth but nobody seems to care.