I'm oddly relieved to see that I'm not the only disgruntled Apple user. Here is the gist of feedback that I sent to Apple:
"I have noticed the howls of protest that Apple is going to charge for iTools, but as far as I am concerned whether or not iTools is free is not the question. The real question is whether Apple should get away with seeking to charge a hefty price for the addition of features and a series of bug fixes in OS X. What were versions OS X to OS 10.1.5 - beta software? I use my PowerBook for business purposes. Yes, the screen on my lap top looks very swish but looks aren't what really matter. What really matters is whether the computer does what it is meant to do, efficiently and effectively. In my case, print. I have a HP OfficeJet G85 multifunction printer. My PowerBook has 640 meg ram. It prints in black & white at a whopping 1 minute per page, but that is the speed of light compared with the printing rate that a colleague enjoys in OS X. He has an iBook and Epson 5900GL. He bought them in January this year from a dealer who assured him that a driver would be available in January. It still isn't. His computer does not print at all in OS X. In order to print it must be shut down then rebooted in Classic. The USB connected Epson, like my G85, does not recognise the computer if it is merely restarted: the computer must be rebooted. How productive is that. We and many thousands of Apple users have wasted hours and hours because of things that Apple now recognises must be fixed, yet Apple wants us to pay. Apple should forget about bells and whistles. It should focus on getting its software to work, and it should reward the loyalty of users who stuck by Apple rather than hit them yet again in the hip pocket. And when it does that, results will follow and people will switch. But at the moment I for one can not in all conscience encourage any one who needs to be productive to buy Apple." Regards Michael Hawkins.
