Linked List: March 30, 2011

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

MacUpdate Spring 2011 Bundle ★

My thanks to MacUpdate for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed to promote their spring 2011 bundle of Mac software. The bundle includes Parallels Desktop 6 (the fastest virtualization tool, according to MacTech Magazine), 1Password 3, and eight other great apps: MacUpdate Desktop, DVDRemaster Pro 7, Mac DVDRipper 2, Hands Off, App Tamer, TechTool Pro 5, A Better Finder Rename, and Civilization IV.

You get all 10 of these apps for just $49.99 — saving 87 percent off the regular combined retail price. Hurry, though: the offer ends March 31.

What’s the Deal With These Windows PC Guys Saying Stupid Things in Australia About the iPad? ★

Asher Moses, reporting for the Sydney Morning Herald:

Speaking at a lunch held in Sydney by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), Mundie, who reports directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, said he did not know whether tablets like the iPad would “remain with us or not”.

Parity ★

Lukas Mathis on Skype 5 for Mac:

At the company I work, we use Skype to communicate. A lot of the people here use Windows computers. More than once, a Windows user walked by my Mac, saw my version of Skype, and said something to the effect of «wow, this looks so much better than the horrible mess we have on Windows!» It seems Skype has noticed that there is a discrepancy in quality between the two versions, and has decided to make the two versions more similar to each other. Unfortunately, instead of making the Windows version of Skype better, they’ve decided to fix the discrepancy by making the Mac version of Skype more like the Windows version.

Amazon Isn’t Paying Music Labels Licensing Fees for ‘Cloud Player’ ★

Robert Andrews, PaidContent:

But Amazon resists any suggestion that it needs licenses for storage. The company tells paidContent: “We do not need a license to store music in Cloud Drive. The functionality of saving MP3s to Cloud Drive is the same as if a customer were to save their music to an external hard drive or even iTunes.” We asked if Amazon believes the same holds true for streaming over its companion Cloud Player and was told this is its official statement and there would be no further comment at this time.

Good for Amazon. I really hope they win this. If you buy a song (or movie, or TV show), it shouldn’t matter where it’s stored.

Amazon Cloud Drive ★

Andy Ihnatko:

Apple versus Amazon is like Ali versus Frasier. This is two evenly-matched fighters and the outcome of their battle can only benefit consumers.

Is That iPad 2 Really Worth $2,000? ★

When’s the last time you’ve seen this sort of argument made about anything other than an Apple product?

Dell-usional ★

Dell’s global head of marketing for large enterprises and public organisations, Andy Lark, in an interview with CIO Australia:

“Apple is great if you’ve got a lot of money and live on an island. It’s not so great if you have to exist in a diverse, open, connected enterprise; simple things become quite complex.”

Dell’s enterprise offerings are renowned for their simplicity.

While Apple had entered the businesses as a consumer device, Lark claimed Dell had taken an enterprise approach toward tablet PCs, which would ultimately give the company, which has a major stake in Microsoft Windows and the desktop PC market, an edge.

Yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket.

How Did the New York Times Manage to Spend $40 Million on Its Pay Wall? ★

Philip Greenspun:

Aside from wondering who will pay more than the cost of a Wall Street Journal subscription in order to subscribe to the New York Times, my biggest question right now is how the NY Times spent a reported $40-50 million writing the code (Bloomberg; other sources are consistent). Google was financed with $25 million. The New York Times already had a credit card processing system for selling home delivery. It already had a database management system for keeping track of Web site registrants. What did they spend the $40-50 million on?

MLB’s Revamped iPad App ★

Jason Snell has a sneak peek at the 2011 edition of MLB’s iPad app.