Indentured servitude is what
I say the risk of becoming addicted to the mac is!
Hope you're feeling better! Guess the nice thing about forums is that I can't catch anything from you!
Really though, I hope you feel better soon.
I think I agree with most of what you are saying as well. Where we differ is on Apple's intent for the program, is it not? I think the evidence you provided points directly to
my view of Apple's intent. Without a member of Apple management on hand to prove that I'm right
, however, the only sure way to be sure one is 'following the right path' is to make sure that one is strictly, completely, and honestly following all legal and binding requirements for the discount, which Apple has explained in very clear terms on their website and which I quoted above: To be a student at a real university and be over 18. That's all they require, and is what one should concern oneself with in order to make sure one remains an honest and upstanding citizen of the world and member of the Mac community.
If we want to get into whether honestly following those guidelines could ultimately destroy the program, then I think we'll have to contact a higher-up in the Apple educational developer program and ask him to explain in more detail what their intent is. I'm absolutely positive that they would not like to have to offer this discount at all. As nice and cool as Jobs and every other Apple employee may be, Corporate Apple is a corporate entity and is responsible to the shareholders for turning a profit. There are three classes of people who will take advantage of this discount, and Apple really only wants to make this offer to one of them. They are:
1. Students who will take advantage of this offer yet would
become an Apple developer regardless of the discount.
2. Students who will take advantage of this offer and will end up
becoming an Apple developer because of this of this discount, and would not have otherwise.
3. Students who will take advantage of this offer and will
not end up becoming an Apple developer, regardless of the discount.
Apple obviously only wants to have to lose potential profits on students who would not otherwise become developers. All Corporate Apple really cares about with regard to students is making their path point toward Apple, because after graduation it quickly becomes exponentially unlikely that they will or can change career paths. Not impossible, but much, much more difficult and unlikely as time goes on.
If you really wanted to make sure the program remained in place then, you would try to convince as many dedicated student programmers and developers as possible
not to take advantage of the discount. You would tell them as emphatically as possible to pay $100 for the membership and mailings but
not take advantage of the offer. Because
if too many Apple-dedicated (type-1) students take advantage of the discount the program will not be profitable and will be discontinued. Offering such a discount to type-1 students simply isn't profitable.
I think you have to be fair: If you want to preserve the program by discouraging students of type-3, then you also need to discourage students of type-1.
The problem, however, with discouraging any student at all from taking advantage of the offer is not only that
you may be wrong about which type of student he is, but that
the student himself may be wrong about which type of student he is. (I use he/himself/he of course, with a he/she meaning.) Even if a student is studying law, foreign language, or medicine, any of these and most any major can be applied to development on the Mac in one way or another, and as a student in college (in the US at least) there is always a
very good opportunity and
very good probability that a student will change majors at least a couple times, or even completely switch fields in grad school. Very often students (and everyone else) don't know what they really want to do until they are given the tools and a chance to try it out. Thus Apple's desire to get as many students as possible a Mac and monthly mailing of development tools.
I'm helping Apple by posting in this manner because it will result (as their program was intended) to put the tools in the hands of a lot of people who are in the right time of life to be able to change their minds about what they want to do. Browsing these forums (especially Mac News & Rumors) is enough evidence that a student has enough interest in the Mac to consider working for development on the Mac in one form or another. Even, or especially if the student himself doesn't think he is really interested. All the more reason for Apple to give him a great discount and monthly mailings! The student gets to try out the computer no strings attached and gets monthly mailings to provide the rest of the tools he needs to try it out for himself.
As you said, this is not aimed to be like the normal educational discount. This is a
one time shot (not once per year or once per membership -- it's once per life) meant as bait for those in their moldable years. Even those who do end up sticking around as developers will have to use the normal educational discount for their purchases, and that's what the educational discount is there for. Both discounts have their role to play for every student.
I don't think we should start mass mailing university students about the deal or submitting it to dealmac.com to publish for bargain hunters. Apple doesn't advertise it in that way and I don't think we should. I do think word of mouth between students mutually interested in the Mac is a way in which Apple inteded it to spread, whether they're in the same classroom or different countries.
If you're still in college and interested in the Mac enough to be in this forum then, whether you realize it or not (Apple does), you have the potential and a reasonable chance of leaning or changing your career path toward one that heads in the Mac development path. So buy the Mac at the right price! You might be sure that you'll never develop for the Mac, but haven't we all been sure about a lot of things that we weren't so sure about later? Apple's willing to bet that a one-time offer like this stands a good chance of influencing you to head down their path. Take them up on it and see what happens. At the very least you'll get a good price on a great Mac.
