Editorial - Macrimination 

The Apple Software Conundrum

By Steve Sobek - Contributing Editor

Apple is getting a lot of respect these days, which makes it hard to write a column called "Macrimination."

Criticisms of Cupertino's benchmark tests on the G5 aside, the mainstream and PC press has been gushing over the new super-powerful G5, iChat AV and the new iSight camera. And Apple has just been given an A-plus in customer satisfaction in a survey of PC Magazine readers.

But even in the midst of this Apple lovefest, there are still some making my job easier by -- once again -- claiming that the sky is falling. Like this columnist David Zeiler wrote about on SunSpot.net. Writing for the Web site TheDeal.com, Joshua Jaffe said he thinks Apple needs to be broken up into two different companies in order to survive.

To people like this, the sky has been falling on Apple for at least a decade. But they don't ever seem to notice that during that time, the sky hasn't seemed to get any closer to the ground when seen from the Apple campus in Cupertino. Maybe it's some sort of trick of the light that only affects these outsiders from where they are standing, wherever that may be. But the rest of us know that the sky has indeed stayed at the same level -- or hasn't threatened to actually fall on Apple, at the very least.

Now that Apple has a brand-spanking new machine (the G5, with its enormous bandwidth and 64-bit architecture), a new OS coming out sometime this year and new spokes in the digital hub like iChat AV, it's getting easier to lure folks from the dark side (Windows). It has been hard to find real numbers as to how many Wintel users have made the switch, but the Associated Press article referenced above on the PC Magazine survey at least gives us a clue that Apple is doing something right. Apple got its A-plus in the user satisfaction survey after "not making last year's rankings because too few PC Magazine subscribers used Mac," according to The AP. This means the magazine definitely has more subscribers who have Macs this year.

But there is a fly in the ointment. One of the things helping Apple rise to this new level of popularity is the integration and ease of use of its software. The company has been expanding relentlessly into software markets it finds important to the platform.

Admittedly, this has brought us many of the most powerful and easy to use applications in computing -- iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, Keynote, etc. And in the paragraphs of this column, I have called on Apple to continue its assault on Microsoft, which began with the release of its own Web browser (Safari) and presentation software (Keynote).

But when deciding on its next great piece of software, Apple might want to think things through a bit more carefully. Adobe has announced that it will not support the Mac with the new version of its digital video application Premiere. Apple's competing Final Cut Pro was a factor in the decision, company officials said.

I don't think there's any danger that Adobe will stop making Photoshop for the Mac, a development which would have seroius consequences for the platform. With the introduction of the G5 at the WWDC in San Francisco last month, Adobe seems committed to making Photoshop for the Mac, at least for the foreseeable future. And the loss of Premiere will certainly not kill the Mac platform.

However, the situation does say to Apple that it needs to consider the possible ramifications each time it goes to replace a third-party application with its own software.

If the balance tips too far, and Apple kills off too many applications, the sky could indeed start feeling closer to the ground in Cupertino. And every time a Wintel user comes up to us and says "There's no software for the Mac," we'll have less to say in defense.

Steve Sobek is a journalist and Webmaster of United Mac. Reach him at ssobek@stevesobek.net.