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A note from Subband Software, former developer of MacAmp, cropped up on Macintouch recently. Here's a taste: "Thanks to everyone who supported us over the years -iTunes just got to be far too big, far too free, and far too bundled with the OS." Is that what the iApps do, ultimately? We've touched on this theme previously at IGM, but, increasingly, there's hard evidence to suggest that there's little incentive for small, independent software developers to compete in the same market space as Apple. We all complain - loudly - about Microsoft's monopoly. What alternatives are there to Excel? To Office as a whole? They've all either been bought or driven out of business, with I suppose exception opensource products. But equally, what retail alternatives are there on the Mac platform to iMovie? To iDVD? To iTunes? What's more, don't bother writing software plugins for iTunes: you'll be in violation of the EULA if you use the Software Developer's Kit that way. And a letter will arrive from Cupertino. XPress. And it won't be from Quark. Rewind. Think back to OS 9 - if your memory's good. How many MP3 players were there out there? SoundJam MP: swallowed up and repackaged at iTunes, complete with burning functionality. SoundApp: brilliant, free, but no OS X version yet. Vamp: huh? Cabrio: Who? Yes, there's AirWhisper and MP3 Dock now for OS X, but there's little incentive to go head-to-head with iTunes. Not at the price Apple sells it. Zero dollars. Same with iDVD. Yes, Formac bundles its Devideon with its Pioneer-based DVD-R drives. But, like iDVD, it only works with Formac's proprietary software. Likewise, when Other World Computing tried to met public demain and innovatively developed software which would permit use of iDVD with its own external DVD-R FireWire drives, Apple asked OWC to withdraw the software, which it did. Apple could have probably sold iDVD for $100 and bundled it with this utility, but instead decided to protect hardware sales and force you to buy a new computer to get a working copy of iDVD. iMovie? Can't think of too many alternatives, although I suspect I'd have to look hard. And Apple's new Final Cut Express - its new Pro/Am entry in the DV capture & edit market - is sure to make the potential competition count to ten and take two steps backwards. How about DiscBurner? I'd take bets that if Apple included the functionality Roxio (courtesy of El Gato software) builds into Toast and, say, added desktop burning, like DirectCD, Roxio would pick up its bucket and spade and go home. If Apple gave it away like the rest of the iApps. iPhoto? No small developer can put the amount of R&D into something that sophisticated. And hope to win. Or, jeez, maybe even make some money. And now we've got Safari. True, it points a single digit in the air in the general direction of Redmond. But I wonder what all the folks over at Opera Software (who've committed to the PPC and a 68K version of Opera, plus the X version), iCab and the Omni Group think of all this? Not to mention to open-source Chimera people. The iApps are tremendous, no question. No one can complain about free software of this quality. It's part of the reason we use a Mac (or three). You can now get MacAmp Lite X(for free). But don't go expecting any updates now.
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