stompy

dewme said:

wood1208 said:

Apple should have offered DTK at lower price and let them keep it. Not sure what Apple will do with returned DTK unless rip off processor,memory,etc from it and use in Macbooks products because of component shortages.

The DTKs were leased equipment,...

I do realize that in the current mindset of universal entitlement, anything that goes against one’s personal wishes and desires, regardless of anything else, is viewed as an offensive move by an overlord. ...

Apple knew, going in, that they needed to get these DTKs back,...

 Anything they don’t like is instantly viewed as a personal affront and categorically labeled as an offense, and of course, they’re now the victim. Business agreements and keeping your word don’t seem to matter. If I’m not happy, it must be wrong. 

You make some valid points, but Apple could have done better.
I'm definitely not saying Devs / commentators are completely right.

Mistakes that are 100% on Devs (and commentators) 
1. Many lesees assumed this DTK program would closely resemble the Intel DTK program, even down to getting a voucher equal to (or greater than!) the cost of the lease.
2. Many lesees are unaware of the hefty fees Apple Developers paid in 2005 in order to qualify for the ability to lease a DTK. These fees quite literally offset some DTK / voucher expense.
3. Potential lesees that don't believe the stated cost is worth the perceived benefit should not enter into said lease.

Mistakes that are 100% on Apple
A. Lease should have spelled out that if Apple requested early return of DTK, a refund or voucher, say, equal to x/365 * $500 would be provided, where x = days Dev had the box. 
B. Credit should be available prior to return of DTK. (refund to credit card on file, once DTK returned)
C. Voucher/credit should expire when the original lease would have ended.

Hindsight should be applied by all parties.

Andrew_OSU said:

red oak said:

This reminds me of that start-up that sold car rear view camera systems.    DOA.   Everything will be NFC in 3 - 5 years.   Any window of opportunity is rapidly closing by the day  

This IS NFC as well as compatible with mag stripe readers. There’s no downside. 

The downside is magstripe. Put it out of its (our) misery already.

mbdrake76 said:

neilm said:

mbdrake76 said:

It's pity they're not putting storage capacities in the terabytes on these things to allow you to download all your iTunes movie purchases - because if you don't download them, and the content provider pulls it from the iTunes store - you're screwed.  Just had a title removed from my library that I bought in 2015 for this reason.
[snip]
And you don't get any recompense or any notification whatsoever from Apple prior to the title being withdrawn.  It makes buying movies from them a massive risk (even worse with other digital stores such as Amazon or Google Play as you don't get to download them as a file as you do with iTunes - assuming one has a computer, of course).

Apple doesn't own the copyright to movies from major studios, and doesn't set the availability or terms of sale. That's why, for instance, new releases are sold for some time before being offered for rental. And when a studio, or its distributor, pulls a title from online sale or rental, its gone. It's also common for titles to be pulled from streaming temporarily during the period when they're being aired on cable or network TV. Again, that's a contract thing that the streaming service has no control over.

Streaming I absolutely get.  It's why I subscribe to so many.  And no, Apple does not own the copyright to the content they are selling (more like renting/licensing).  But the practice of calling something a "purchase" or "buy" and then having it pulled from under you - even with all the caveats and legal definitions - screams anti-consumer law to me.  At best it's an extended rental that offers no set limits.  And I intend to challenge Apple with this in the UK after giving them a week or two to respond to my queries about this.

Serious question: is there a for-purchase video retailer that 'sells' movies and guarantees you can stream it as long as the retailer exists?

I know there are many who've had the same experience, but this has been publicized widely. Even moving to a different country can affect your ability to stream a 'purchase'.

For years, when I've 'bought' a digital movie, I've backed it up within a week or so. Contrary to what others have suggested, huge storage and expense are far from necessary: buy a 2TB portable drive for ~ $60 to store hundreds of HD movies.

dclivejazz said:

Ha! Of course it can. I just bought it 10 days ago with the 32 gb GPU because I got tired of waiting for the W5700X. Everyone has me to thank. 

Apple's 14 day return policy states the clock starts from the time you received it. (Has to be purchased from Apple to return to Apple, however.)

sflocal said:

ApplePay needs to be more mainstream at gas stations as well.  They are slowly showing up and I frequent those that do.  I think that is when it will reach critical mass here in the U.S.

As it stands today, the card reader liability shift for fuel dispensers is Oct 1, 2020. I expect that while many stations will just update to chip terminals, some will add NFC readers as well. You may see things start to change next summer.