by Mavericks, Apple’s latest operating system has gone live and it’s a FREE download. Many will agree that was a “holy s***” moment”. However you look at it, from an Apple fanboy front to an Apple hater this really has made things different in the world of a desktop OS. But is it a revolutionary move, a disruptive move or Apple’s acknowledging they make enough money from Apps to pay for the development of an OS?
Lets look at the other operating systems out there but this isn’t a comparison of features it’s a comparison of markets.
With Apple it goes Leopard ($129), Snow Leopard ($19.99), Lion ($29.99), Moutian Lion ($19.99) and then finally Mavericks ($0). So for each major leap in technology a price bump occours and then for what we can call “transitional” updates the price has come down. Many will argue those transitional updates are a service pack in disguise but those people obviously don’t look at all the OS updates and improvements before each major release.
Windows 8.1, the one that most are not doubt going to vouch for in the PC market rocks in at £68. That;s somewhat traditional pricing and not bad when you look at it at all. Oddly sales slowed from way back when it was pushed out as a $19.99 special offer before rocketing up in price.
Should Microsoft have stuck to their introductory pricing to get mass market share over first hit profits to increase the user base and therefore making it a much more attractive platform for developers? Has Microsoft failed to acknowledge we are in a world of cheap apps and so the expectation of OS level pricing is the same?
“in a single step update…to Mavericks” for no charge
Just as take steps to make expensive software more affordable to the masses, even if it is a used car salesman pitch of “it’ll cost you this much day” breaking it down the the smallest monetary amount, offering Office 365 for a reasonable price Apple has challenged that model. You now have everything you need to create and work for free. Yes I’m aware the feature sets are way different but it’s all about perception. Let’s hope those market segments of soho workers and enterprise types don’t star merging.
Turning things onto it’s head Apple has effectively shouted to the world “Our marketplace supports us, how’s yours doing?”
But Linux Is Free.
And it’s a darn fine operating system but lacking that one vital component, how do you monitise something that’s a hard core free operating system. The spirit of linux is something to behold yet, despite coming close to being a viable windows alternative, it’s still never really made it. Apple’s free OS is no threat to Linux at all, Torvalds says “there is a difference between Open and Free”
Has Mavericks Going Free Devalued It’s Worth?
A traditional mindset will always say “charge what it’s worth”. If you do something on the cheap then that’s what people think it’s worth and then you have the race to the bottom. Offering a premium OS with many enhancement’s the general public wont get could have a bigger impact on that traditional mindset.
Most likely it won’t as people will understand it’s Apple related and Windows has a feature rich upgrade path yet it could still resonate in people’s minds that Apple offer that free upgrade.
What I believe is that most people looking on the outside there is too much emphasis on the expectation of an Operating systems. When you use an app, game or create what is the level of interaction with the blank screen of icons you see when you boot up known as the OS Desktop? Not an actual lot until you hit the file menu systems and then you hit the critical point. I’ve yet to cease being amazed at a Mavericks is boring comment when you think about what actually happens on that level.
Is Giving Away Mavericks Completely Irrelevant?
After all you still need dedicated Apple hardware to OS X Mavericks
Windows 8 Pro
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Snow Leopard
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