Sweet and Sour

July 17, 2002

This morning Steve Jobs presented the keynote for Macworld New York, where he introduced a number of new products, both software and hardware. There was the updated version of OS X, Jaguar (10.2), which includes new mail, address book, Sherlock and chat applications as well as something called Rendezvous, which will make networking a snap. Jobs also unveiled iCal and iSync, a new calendar system and a program to sync calendar and address information with your ipod, palm or bluetooth cellphone. There is also a new version of iTunes that has smart playlists; they generate based on your ratings, number of times played or any other rule you set up. In terms of hardware, they have a widescreen, 17-in. iMac and an updated line of iPods. The two existing players are dropped $100 and a new 20gig model will be at $499.

Now that's the sweet, and it's definitely sweet. Unfortunately, there is some sour. Apple's free web services, donned iTools, has received a new name and a complete overhaul. It is now .mac. The difference is more webspace, more email space, virus protection and automated backups. Oh, and its $100/year. I must have forgetten about that. There has been some outcry, and it is understandable since they are taking away a free service, but I think it is slightly unwarranted. The cost is reasonable and the services are high quality. All I'd really want is to keep the free email and charge for the rest.

All in all, I thought this was a good keynote and I'm super excited about OS X.2. It is only a matter of time until I'm all Mac.

UPDATE: My outrage is now increased. I thought that the upgrade to 10.2 would be $20 for existing OS X users, but it appears it is the full $129. I expect to pay for a big upgrade, but to charge the full price for an upgrade that is really the first major upgrade (10.0 was essentially a beta release, so 10.2 would be the first) is unbelievable. $50 would be doable but I will have a serious problem plopping down $130 for these updates.

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