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Comment by mthoms | Hacker News Reader

Looking a little deeper one can only conclude that the launch of a desktop App store coinciding with the death of the optical media drive is no coincidence.

You don't need an optical drive because of the App store, and you must use the App store (and iTunes) because there is no optical drive.

Simply brilliant.

Edit: Downvotes? Perhaps the tone makes it sound too much like a conspiracy which is not what I meant to convey. It's a logical move for Apple and their customers (even if they might not know it yet).

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Well, even without the app store the majority of software I've bought in the last few years has been delivered electronically, which just strengthens the argument for getting rid of optical drives. I don't even mind replacing the HD with non-upgradable flash storage provided that there's decent external connectivity (for which neither USB2 nor FW800 qualify).

Even though vmware fusion came on CD for the mac, it was already outdated by the time I bought it. I downloaded a 200mb full install from vmware. In the age of internet, software CDs are always out of date.

You seem to have overlooked that CDs and DVDs aren't the main way to get programs now. You can download them from the internet.

And with respect, you seem to have overlooked that average users (ie. not people who read HN) still buy millions of dollars of boxed software/games/movies yearly.

Sure downloading software was/is the inevitable future, getting rid of the optical drive just gives the average Joe the little push he needs to get with it quicker.

None of my Mac-owning, non-programming, non-HN-reading friends buy software that comes on discs in boxes.

Not even iWork, iLife and Mac OS X upgrades?

Anecdotal evidence. Irrelevant.

Edit: Truly confused about the downvotes (and upvotes for parent). Since when is anecdotal evidence a good supporting argument in a discussion on HN?

It's not good evidence, but it's definitely not irrelevant either. Don't be childish!

By the way, I can confirm that observation. Now we're at N=2.

the plural of anecdote is not data.

from 2003, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-110814573.html

  Once the decision to purchase is made, 78 percent of the 
  participants said they wanted to use the product right 
  away and therefore choose to immediately download the 
  software. When purchasing CD-ROM versions, specifically, 
  46 percent requested delivery within a few days.

they don't mention sample size and perhaps have an agenda.

The plural of anecdote is not data indeed, and what was provided was anecdotal evidence. However, was there any evidence provided to the contrary (users do buy software on CD)? I think the reason the anecdote was upvoted was due to the lack of supporting evidence for the contrary conclusion. I'll give you games and movies (although Steam seems to be making great inroads toward making CD games obsolete), but I sincerely doubt that the majority of Mac software is purchased on CD and not through the internet.

> you must use the App store (and iTunes) because there is no optical drive

What do you mean? You can still download and install whatever you want. The same distribution channels that have always been there are still there, and if you REALLY need it, you can attach and optical drive... just like how you can still attach a floppy drive if you need to.

These days, if someone doesn't have a fast internet connection, you can send them a DVD or a USB flash drive for a few dollars.

Every MacBook now has an SD card slot and of course USB ports so removable media isn't going away when the optical drive disappears.

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