May 11 2009
Apple iLife for Windows?
It has been several weeks since my review of iLife ‘09 creative suite was published. You know, that multimedia software suite of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb and Garageband that gets updated annually and comes with every Macintosh machine you buy?
This creative suite has been touted as one of the reasons why people get a Mac, as it makes photo management, movie editing, web publishing and music making a breeze.
So while I was reviewing iLife ‘09, I kept wondering if Apple would make a Windows version of iLife. I mean, the success of iPod, iPhone and iTunes Store owes very much to the porting of iTunes to Windows. If there were no Windows iTunes, we wouldn’t be seeing the phenomenal success enjoyed by Apple today.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m a Mac OS X user. I just feel that such a good software suite should be enjoyed by a larger audience.
Porting the suite should not be a tumultuous task for Apple since it already has applications like Safari and Quicktime available in its friendly competitor’s operating system. Perhaps the only reason why Apple hasn’t ported the suite is because iLife is an integral part of the Mac OS X experience.
If Apple thinks that having Windows iLife might prevent Windows users from switch to Mac, I think its worries are unfounded. In fact, the contrary might happen. We have already seen Windows users switching to Mac on account of their experiences with the “it just works” iTunes. Having Windows iLife might be another “trojan horse” (if I may paraphrase Walt Mossberg) that compels Windows users to switch.
Ultimately, it’s about giving consumers choice.
