Quote:
Originally Posted by MBTC
I agree.... another example is iOS 7, and how badly it performs on pretty much any iOS device that's more than 2.5 years old.
It pretty much forces the user to upgrade their hardware, but we have to understand this is Apple's entire business model. They make money off hardware, not software. If they don't constantly find ways of making your hardware from two years ago obsolete, they are out of business.
This is very different from Microsoft, who has always made money off the software and for a long time stayed completely out of the hardware business. Now, they "dabble" in hardware, for example buying Nokia's phone division, making their own Surface tablets, etc, but they mostly do that to prevent the kind of fragmentation problems Google ran into with Android and having a gazillion different variants of an OS running on different vendors phones and tablets.
One way or another, we have to pay to play in technology. It just depends on which business model you consider the lesser of evils: Microsoft stays in business via software upgrades, Apple stays in business via hardware upgrades, and Google stays in business by finding ways of selling out your privacy to marketing people.
I personally find the MS approach the least offensive.
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When you put it like that, me to!
A few years ago, if you had a mac it would last you for a long time! And new OS updates would still run on older machines, besides the machines themselves would probably last you a lifetime at least for a more moderate usage. Second best thing about them, besides the overall quality - I remember that an imac screen would put almost any computer screen to shame - was security and the other reason, what probably made it so famous for audio people, was the overall stability of the system.
I still think that the mac OS feels more robust and the interface is better thought out then Windows, but currently there's some stuff that kind of annoys me. I used to be ahead of the curve, with the latest OS and software. But something made me think twice about Lion, then Mountain Lion, then Logic X which was one of those awkward moments of excitement followed by a deception like "why on earth would they go down this path?" kind of thing. But then, if you want to update Maschine's software to v2 you need the new OS... So eventually, I'll be forced to change...
The thing is I don't really want to. I don't like Logic X's new interface. I don't feel particularly touched by the new features, I think it's more of a cosmetic thing and makes a system demand more resources for doing exactly the same with the same plug-ins (tested!!!).
To be honest I've been considering investing a little more time with Ableton and even Reaper 'cause I know I'll be forced to move somewhere if I want to be able to get new stuff and I don't feel like keeping myself on Apple's boat anymore. Maybe the OS (specially if you consider live act) but certainly not Logic X. Would I ever dream of saying something like this after (I don't know how) many years of using Logic? NO! Glad there little toys are selling a lot for them, but been feeling like everyone's supper happy about a stupid phone and tablet that does pretty much the same thing every other one does, except looks nicer with flashy graphics and stuff like that, while with computers we're seeing less and less respect for the user's previous investments. Firewire is no small thing, top of the line audio interfaces worth many K use this standard. And it's not like Apple hasn't promote this to oblivion previously. And the thing is, there isn't any new technology out there that makes the change worthy for someone with a dedicated RME audio interface with very low latency, top notch pre-amps, nice and steady word clock, so forth and so on. So we're talking a lot of money here. To my mind, even dropping the cd/dvd thing so fast is kind of silly. If this is to become a new kind of fascist cool, I'm certainly out of the party. While these new gadgets may feel like a dream come true to many, perhaps due to my interest in the technology and concerns about privacy like you mention, like Linux's policies much more then any proprietary, jail-like, push users into the stuff we like and punish competition, kind of thing...
With the new OS that comes packed with previously paid-for software becoming free, they're actually turning more aggressive while people comment on how this thing was such a good move on their behalf. It's not, it renders perfectly capable machines useless and will ultimately make people feel like they need a new one. Most people don't feel it like I do, probably, because this things still sell by the millions, but why on earth would I care for better facebook and twitter integration? Or the App nap thing, when most pro audio people will work with just one app at a time anyways? I could go on...
Goes so far as to say: most people should be aware that google and facebook are not exactly public services and that it's a bit scary to see less and less competition for such things, in the sense that only one color world always reads to me like the product of control obsessed people rather then democracy where choice is just a BIG part of the game. If you know what I mean (I'm sure you do!).
So I hope Reaper continues to grow and it already is the only software whose work flow is totally definable by the user, even mouse behavior. The thing feels light and stable, and enables both audio unit and vst (even vst3) formats to be used on the same machine for next to no money. And even 32 and 64 bit plug-ins running next to each other with no problems at all. So you get flexibility with almost free software and you get dictatorship with paid for software on expensive machines - that start to feel like big ilok keys to me, lately.