The only software I’ve ever given money for on my Mac has been donationware and usually it has to be open source if I’m going to do that. I’ve never stolen any software for the Mac platform and I use freeware and preferably open source apps. Freeware sort of pisses me off to be honest because I feel apprehensive that it has spyware or that it would be open and I just don’t understand someone making freeware, except in the case where they plan to charge for future versions. Weather its a good reason or not is something I can’t defend, but almost never donate to a free but closed project.

I know that my tendencies are not at all representative of the average Apple user. I figured that out rather quickly when I got a Mac after using Linux for years and was astounded at how difficult it is to find open source software, or even freeware, when you’re a new Mac user. It very much does seem like a culture where people are proud to pay out the nose for utilities that are underwhelming considering their price tag. OS X is a platform where I found that everyone out there is trying to make a buck and that users seem to be willing to pay for it.

At the same time that users are willing to pay for things, there has been a consistant trickle of users coming from the Linux community to check out the Mac side of things (a disappointing journey at first) and it might not be a lot, however this is a move that’s going to over time push that minority back to using Linux, I think. While Apple does stand to profit it may also come back, and in addition to other shenanigans, to bite them later.
What will they do when a phone with quality hardware and quality power management hits the market and there isn’t a rift between the company and programmers/hackers. What will they do when the iPad is only one option for tablet computing, and worse, what will they do after these things come to pass and the ‘cool’ wears off?

I think in a market where customers have come to expect something for nothing that the business model Apple is about to embark upon is dangerous because it might sound good today and it might make people feel fuzzy to be paying legally for what they use but if that turns out to be nothing more than a temporary feel good trend then at the end of the day people are going to end up asking themselves “Why am I paying extra money for the hardware, not allowed to run other OS’s on the hardware without it taking full advantage of it (power management on my macbook pro specifically), being forced to use iTunes to use a device, and what’s this I hear about only being able to develop for the Mac on a Mac when they use an open source compiler that has been developed via the blood sweat and tears of volunteers?”

That might be a little dramatic. Its safe to say, though, that Apple doing this opens them up to a whole new way to be dragged through the mud at some future point, especially if people end up paying $12.99 for crappy software – the comparison I’m trying to make is the amount of “junk” I’ve tried out and found useless on the iPhone over the past 2 years.

I’ve already made up my mind about how I feel about Apple and what this addition means for me, and it means that the next time I purchase a laptop or desktop I won’t be purchasing from Apple. We shall see if I change my mind or not once they undergo their transition but it is sort of just a few straws in a bundle so I’ll have to feel that I was largely mistaken to change my mind.