The Eight Technologies That Steve Jobs Killed Yesterday

Buster Heine (4:00 am PDT, Oct 21 2010)

Steve Jobs has a penchant for ruthlessly killing off old technology. Throughout his career, Jobs has been celebrated for ditching dying technologies in favor of new: the command line (first Mac), the Floppy Disk (first iMac), SCSI drives, serial ports, dial-up modems, and FireWire on hard drives and iPods.

With Apple’s event yesterday Steve Jobs, went on a killing spree. Here’s eight technologies he gave the kiss of death to:

Hard Drives – The technology has advanced far enough to where Hard Drives are no longer relevant in comparison to the benefits of Solid State Drives. SSD’s or “Flash Storage” as Steve referred to them, are twice as fast, more compact, lighter, and have a higher storage to size ratio when compared to Hard Disk Drives. If the Macbook Air is the future of the Mac like Steve said, then Hard Drives are about to become extinct.

Shrink-Wrap Software - The days when you get software in a shrink-wrap box will soon be over. In fact, the word “applications” itself is in danger of extinction. With the rise of the iOS, “applications” have now become “apps.” And now there’s an App Store for the Mac, it’s only a matter of time before people forget that “apps” were “applications” that used to be stocked on store shelves.

MacBook Pro – The MacBook Air is the future of the venerable MacBook line: Steve Jobs said so himself at Wednesday’s event: “We think all notebooks are going to be like these someday.”

Online Software Portals – With the announcement of the Mac App Store, websites like Bodega, Download.com, and MacUpdate, will likely struggle as developers move over to Apple’s curated Mac App Store. While users will still have the option to install apps the old-fashioned way, the Mac App Store provides Mac users with a centralized location to find and install new software as well as keep track on updates for current apps. It’s going to be hard for those websites to provide better value than Apple’s homegrown product.

DVD Install Disks - Every new MacBook Air comes with a read-only OS X and iLife memory stick — not an old-fashioned DVD or CD. The new memory stick can not be reformatted, erased, or reused. With the addition of a centralized app store, the USB install drive is the only thing users need to get started with their Mac.

The iSight Camera – The original iSight started as an external camera before Apple started putting internal cameras in every Mac. When introducing the new MacBook Air Steve referred to the iSight camera as “The FaceTime Camera.” Taking a look at Apple’s website you can see they’ve changed the nomenclature there as well. The MacBook Air pages lists the FaceTime Camera among the product’s features. It’s only a matter of time before the terminology is adopted across all platforms.

iChat – If they’re touting the FaceTime Camera so heavily, it makes little sense to have to use your FaceTime Camera to video chat inside of iChat. We expect there to be a full integration of iChat into FaceTime sometime in the near future, thus ending the life of iChat.

Mouse Buttons – Apple is the company that brought the mouse into the mainstream when it released the first Mac, so it’s only fitting that they’re also the ones that kill it off. The MacBook Air was the last MacBook to feature a clickable button on the mouse pad. Now that it’s been replaced with a beautiful multitouch trackpad you can’t find any mouse buttons to use with a Mac. In fact, with the Magic Trackpad taking over for the Magic Mouse, mice will be inevitably exterminated as well.

Adobe Flash – Oh wait, Steve killed that already.

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58 comments »

seth
Macbook pros ain’t going anywhere soon

clivexNYC
You’re right, the MacBook Pro is not a ‘notebook’ computer, it’s a laptop.
Much as I’d love one of the new MacBook Air’s, for the kind of software I run then I need a new MacBook Pro.

JerseyMike
I own both a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air. The Pro is a far superior machine. At least on my older Air, the Pro has a bigger, better screen, more HD space and a faster processor. The Air is great for limited use – such as when I travel or have a meeting out of the office. However, I would not want to use the MB Air as my day to day machine. It is way underpowered when compared to a MB Pro.
RB
“We think all notebooks are going to be like these someday.”
True. Some day all notebook computers will be uber-sleek, thin, no-moving-parts computers but PRO computers/laptops/notebooks are not going away. Photographers, designers, engineers, architects are not going to be satisfied with a notebook that is out powered by their smartphone.

Danney
You’re right…. I have less than a year with my macbook and I would be really angry if they release a new macbook line… hope they wait at least three years.

Vorsos
Again, there are certain digital tasks that trackpads are very ill-suited for, the most significant being gaming. The precision mouse is going nowhere.
Adam
Hard Drives: Agree.
Shrink-Wrap Software: Somewhat agree.
MacBook Pro: Disagree. It’ll take some time before the Pros will become Airs. The MacBooks will be the first notebooks to morph into Airs.
Online Software Portals: Agree.
DVD Install Disks: Somewhat agree. This heading should actually read Optical Drives. We know Steve won’t go Blu-Ray, and DVDs had their time. I predicted “Software on a Stick” almost 3 years ago. And once the data center is up and running (cloud computing), together with all the App Stores, having an optical drive has become obsolete…
iSight Camera: Somewhat disagree. Call it what you want, it’s still a camera. But we won’t see the external device anymore.
iChat: Agree.
Mouse Buttons: Somewhat disagree. Removing buttons does not mean killing tech. And removing the mouse itself won’t happen anytime soon, unless they can come up with a really smart way for creative people to manipulate artwork.
Adobe Flash: Agree.
http://onfrozenblog.com joey
great article. I agree about the mouse buttons, I really like my ‘invisible button’ on my mbp. How long until CD/DVD drives are going to be extinct from laptops?

http://bust3r.com Buster Heine
i wouldn’t be surprised if they stopped including optical drives with macbooks in the next year and then discontinued them in iMacs a year after that. Optical drives themselves will be dead within the next 2-3 years. Apple hasn’t updated the optical drives on Macbooks or iMacs in years. They didn’t upgrade to BluRay drives because the future is in streaming media and downloading apps, and when you need a physical format, a flash drive is smaller, and more durable than a DVD.

iSpark
Adobe Flash ROFLLMAO!!!! Sooo true xD
I don’t think MacBook Pro Line will disappear, rather, it will retain the higher specifications of a premium performance laptop while its aesthetics becoming more and more alike MacBook Air; thinner, slimmer, lighter and with more battery duration.
And think about this : Who needs plugins and 3rd party roundabouts such as Flash, when HTML5 is just around the corner, already proving its might and prowess?
Just have a look at THIS : QUAKE II Game engine, realized in HTML5. http://j.mp/HTML5Quake
The era of installing plugins just to run certain contents are disappearing.
jack bauer
i’ve become the sort of tech support for my friends and family through the years and for the past 2 years have been saying some of the same things. you can see where apple is going by what they’ve done in the past. they always shoot things before the rest of the tech world catches up and that’s the right thing to do. not sure on timing, but i’m in my 40′s and before too long, people will be like-hey, remember when music and movies were sold on a disc? my sons were all born in the 90′s and are now late highschoolers and 2 in college and they haven’t bought a cd or dvd in years. years. right now, they buy xbox games, that’s it. everything will be ‘private cloud’, heck, i have that already. my mac pro is in 1 state and i work in another. using apps and other sw, i stream my music/movies to my iphone and ipad and grab files using 2 different apps. seamless. cloud. that’s the next word even everyday people will know very soon.
Fen Tiger
The only problem with software-on-a-stick is that it’s relatively expensive compared to a DVD you can chop out for pennies. I gues the MBA has one, becuase a DVD wouldn’t be appropriate (I guess it was on the older models tho’). Can’t see getting a OSX stick with a mac mini anytime soon.

http://bust3r.com Buster Heine
are you kidding me? You can get a Mac Mini without an optical drive. The Mac Mini will be the first in the Mac line to get an OSX stick

CAR
Typo – Mackbook Pro. Whoops!
Ictus75
BTW, Steve killed off the floppy disc before the iMac with his ill-fated NEXT computer in 1988. That was ahead of it’s time (and technology) with an magneto-optical drive only. He just re-killed it when he went back to Apple with better tech and a better machine in the iMac.
Dunepilot
You forgot Java. The state of Apple’s Java implementation is looking very very uncertain after yesterday’s announcements.

http://bust3r.com Buster Heine
they just came out with a Java update yesterday.

http://misterron.libsyn.com Mister Ron
Of course, most of this has no bearing at all on Mac Pro users. As long as Apple makes super-powerful professional machines that can be easily opened up and customized, that will be my choice for a main machine. When SSD or “Flash” drives start hitting the 1.5 and 2 Terabyte sizes at reasonable prices, then they can make slots for them in Mac Pros. I don’t see this happening for years to come, and when it does, the age of six or ten Terabyte hard drives will be on us. If I want, I can toss in a Blu-Ray Player/Recorder in one of the two Optical Drive slots (currently I have two Dual-Layer DVD burners in them) and use Toast to create Blu-Ray disks.
With a Mac Pro, if Apple doesn’t make the peripherals or internal equipment you want, you can get it from other manufacturers.
It’s probably going to be a long, long time before Adobe Creative Suite or Quark Express comes on memory sticks, or can be sold via download on the App store.
http://twitter.com/lmoliva_ Leandro
Don’t agree on the death of the mouse. Try doing heavy Photoshop/Illustrator/Flash or anything in that vein with a trackpad. Granted, that’s not every consumer, so perhaps the mouse will become an additional peripheral, such as the stylus.

Andy
Actually I use a tablet for my CS4. Haven’t used a mouse in years…

http://cultofmac.com Ron Massaro
How does this bode for the back-lit keyboard (no longer included on the “new” MBA) ?

http://bust3r.com Buster Heine
back-lit keyboard isn’t going away. Probably wasn’t enough room for the LED’s

observer
No doubt, maybe they should have just used the old fashioned glow-in-the-dark ink on the MBA’s keyboard’s keys. lol

http://jstereo.blogspot.com Jasoco
I hope not. The one in my 13″ Pro is so useful. I hope it was just left out because of the space limit. I’m all for thin, but give me my backlit keyboard.

http://www.hoggworks.com/ Brian Hogg
Apple killed shrink-wrapped software by announcing the Mac App Store on the day it announced a brand new version of its super-popular iLife software, which is available *only in shrink-wrapped packages unless you get it on a new computer?*

BrianM
Well, “only in shrink-wrapped packages” until the Mac App Store is up and running, you can be sure that iLife will be available as a launch product in 90 days when the store is up and running.

Booo booo
Yes Steve jobs did all this. Not the endless dev’s, techs, etc.. who invented all this technology years ago.
Steve jobs did not invent solid state drives, cameras, etc..And my netbook will run just as well as that Mac Air and costs half the price

observer
Oh booo booo, where did you read in the article that Jobs invented those technologies? Oh right, you didn’t even read the article.

Steve K.
Mac App Store and as OPTION is fine. I can’t really see buying the Adobe Suite (or large installer type software) through it. What about plug-ins? Scripts? There are a lot of issues with the current App Store. I’ve found that sometimes developers make an app worse with an update. There’s lots of that in the App Store, just read the reviews. Well if you buy through the Mac App Store, how are you going to downgrade? Currently you can always roll back yourself, if this happens with regular installers. Not so much with a Mac App Store. They never make older versions of software available. This has burned me a couple of times. I’ve found it’s best to update on the iPhone NOT the Mac. That way, if the update sucks, you can delete it and re-sync with your Mac and get your older version back onto the iPhone.
Was it just me, or was the guy demoing Lion “struggling” with trying to do gestures on the “Magic Mouse” ?? It’s an absolutely terrible mouse. I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with using a mouse in general, but the whole idea of “swiping” on something that is meant to sit in your hand is ridiculous. The “Magic Track Pad” makes more sense for this. It’s not meant to slide around – it’s more stable and has a much larger surface to use. Personally, for a computer, I prefer almost any non-Apple mouse. I love Macs, but HATE Apple mice!!!
As far as shrink wrapped software, I just purchased iLife ’11 from the Apple Store in a shrink wrapped box. I guess Steve didn’t exactly kill the shrink wrap just yet. ;) But most software I buy is online anyway. For somethings to me it’s preferable to actually have a hard copy somewhere.

observer
It’s been awhile since I looked but aren’t all app install “Packages” stored on the hard drive somewhere? If so, we could just save a copy of them as backup. Just a thought.
Also about loading large size apps over the internet, I’ve done this numberous times when reinstalling our family version OS X (usually .0 or .1 version) from the retail DVDs and then running the updates from Software Update. There are MANY and some large size items that have to be updated when doing this and I have not had any issues. I like the idea of being able to have my apps sitting on Apple’s servers ready to install, update or even reinstall. It’s tiresome digging through all my app disks trying to find the right version and the correct serial numbers.
Back in the OS9 days I had an app that kept track of ALL my 3-rd party software titles (even down to little utilities) and the company would store all the updates on their servers ready for me to just hit one button to run the ones I checked off. I think it was made by InsiderSoftware or something like that. I miss that.

JMD
If you update an iOS app from iTunes it puts the old version in the trash. If you want to use the old version just drag it back onto iTunes. I assume the mac app store will be the same.

Viswakarma
I think that the next version of Mac OS X Lion has most probably a technology that will replace Adobe’s Flash and will be OPEN!!!

http://bust3r.com Buster Heine
ummm you mean HTML 5?

John Pierce
I love the look of the MBA, but I can’t replace any of my devices with it as long as Apple persists in using a slow-ass 2005 CPU. Good grief.
dt
Call me when 2TB SSDs sell for $100 and I’ll swap you my 20TB HD. This “solid state memory will replace hard drives” prediction is as old as the semiconductor industry.
MacBook Pro, iSight and iChat are not a technologies, they are product names
All of Apple’s new glass trackpads have a button, it’s just hidden in plain view: The button is the entire trackpad surface. The mouse will be with us as an alternative input device for a long time.
That leaves three.
http://Haztea.com Tyson
I find this post silly. Most of the technologies mentioned aren’t even ‘Killed’, they’re just merely renamed. And they weren’t all ‘Killed’ yesterday, some of them are yet to be ‘Killed’
bregalad
- I’m not convinced that hard drives are going anywhere. I recently purchased a 2TB HD for significantly less than the price of 64GB of flash.
I know the media distribution companies want to eliminate the entire concept of “owning” a copy of a song, TV show, movie, etc. and move exclusively to streaming, but they have a fight ahead of them. Additionally the libraries of stuff created by users: photos, iMovies, Garage Band songs; continues to grow. The entry level MacBook Air barely has enough storage for the OS and my iPhoto library.
- Shrink wrapped software cannot completely disappear until we all have fibre optic cables to our houses. Can you honestly imagine downloading Adobe Creative Suite over DSL?
- As most others have said the MBP is here to stay. Sure it’ll get thinner and lighter, but it’s a desktop replacement and cannot lose it’s horsepower, screen size or local storage. Flash still costs 20-30 times as much as hard disk storage.
- Software portals will, in the short term at least, continue to provide information on obscure and abandoned products, but that won’t be enough to keep them alive.
- Much as Apple seems to think we all want to multi-touch and swipe around our computers I find a cheap Microsoft optical mouse with physical buttons vastly better than any mouse or trackpad from Apple.
- Flash can’t die soon enough. It’s ridiculous for a Core i5 to ramp up to 120% processor usage to play simple games with crappy graphics. There are games out there with superior graphics and responsiveness that run on the iPod touch!
janey
Online software portals? Good. So many websites end up turning into “sponsored link” crap anyway. VersionTracker went down the tubes, and while MacUpdate is still ok, I like the App Store style a bit better.
Also, this isn’t going to be the only way to install applications. I think that people claiming that Apple is going to close everything off are way off base.
Hel10s
I can disagree with pretty much every point made in this article.
Hard drives are not going anywhere. They will most likely only replace primary storage in notebooks and be used to hold the OS and applications in desktops. You cannot beat the storage per dollar of a hard drive. Just try to construct an affordable Flash-based SAN. The other half to that is that computers will not have to tote around all your data on them, but be able to access them from mass storage at home/work/etc.
Shrink-wrapped software isn’t going anywhere for a while. The App Store is really targeted at small to medium developers; apps that you wouldn’t know about unless you knew the right sites to search like MacUpdate, UsingMac, and so forth. Microsoft, Adobe, and other big-box developers will still use their own distribution methods.
The Macbook Pro isn’t going anywhere. There are far too many people who rely upon the power and versatility for it to be replaced. The unit that will most likely be replaced is the MacBook. The Air will eventually become the MacBook and the plastic unit will go away.
DVDs will eventually give way to other forms of media, but that has been a fact for a while now. Steve didn’t kill this, the industry has been moving a way for some time. Plus, right now, you still can’t beat the cost of a DVD for mass distribution.
The camera is different only in name and thinness. There is no special feature in it that makes it a “FaceTime” camera. The “special feature” is software that existing “iSight” cameras can use.
More than likely, FaceTime is going to be integrated into iChat. Even if the name changes, All the functionality of iChat will carry forward. To kill iChat for a simplistic audio/video conferencing-only application would be a rather poor move.
All mice still have buttons. Apple has done a good job of removing the outward appearance of one, but every new trackpad and magic mouse still have a physical, mechanical component. That is not going to change anytime soon. And yes, you can turn on full touch-only on the trackpad, but it will be a long, long time before that mechanical component is completely removed.
Flash is not dead. And Apple isn’t killing it. Apple is choosing not to support it because it’s implementation in OS X is poor. Now, I don’t like Flash on websites any more than the next guy, but Apple can’t kill it. Flash will eventually be replaced when industry standards, like HTML5, are more widely adopted that do things like video playback and some animations. And even then, Flash will still be a viable and widely used programming language. It will just be relegated to what it does well.
pfk3
Why can’t we just get a MacBook Pro where the optical drive has been removed and some more battery has been added as well as a 4G WWAN module? Oh and save some of that space for air, venting and COOLING of my MacBook Pro!!
Carl
Hard Drives: Maybe when they have bigger capacity
Shrink-Wrap Software: True, but it died in the 90′s
MacBook Pro: Disagree. I need power and lots of it. My i7 MBP just wont fit in an Air body yet.
Online Software Portals: we call them bittorrent sites
DVD Install Disks: Somewhat agree. I used the DVD drive once on all my Macs. To install the OS, maybe burned a few discs, but I can send video to the TV. I do buy movies on DVD though, I just dont use them on a computer.
iSight Camera: I dont get the camera on a computer thing. I dont want to see you and I dont want you seeing me. I use the camera on the iPhone, but rarely. It takes bad pictures,
iChat: Isn’t that the same as facetime. Again, I dont want to see you.
Mouse Buttons: I disagree. Photoshop, CAD stuff. Lots of buttons for different things.
Adobe Flash: Not really. It drives a huge segment of online games. iPad users get their fix using an app, but the rest of the world chained to a PC at work, play flash games. If flash is dead, where is the alternative? Show me.

http://bust3r.com Buster Heine
Last time I played a Flash game on the internet to cure boredom I was in high school and Coffee Break Arcade was going strong. 10 years later, Flash games feel a bit niche now compared to the mainstream appeal a decade ago. When I want to play a game I pull out my iPhone, but I guess I’m out of touch with the world.

May
Flash.
Remember you needed a plugin (Quicktime) to view the recent presentation on apple.com.
Why wasn’t that HTML5? Even though Safari is one of the most advanced browsers?
Seems there’s a need for plugins.

Jared
I believe that the presentation was ran using HTML5, hence it worked seamlessly on my iPad and iPhone… they just used a little code that only allowed people using iOS devices and Snow Leopard to have access…no plugin was needed…. So yes FLASH is DEAD!!! i hate flash with a passion!

mbaDad
Great roundup! Although the complete changeover to air type laptops will take awhile, as we wait for performance to catch up, and dvd drives to go away.
Mark
I think the reason FaceTime is a separate from iChat is because they will release a Windows version to further their FaceTime effort.
deathspiral
What a mess. The MacBook Air is a low-level overpriced netbook, not for much serious work. MacBook Pro blows it away. Where are the 1 and 2 TB SS Drives? You have to be nuts to store data in the “cloud” if you live in the US where there broadband is limited in much of the country, unless you’re a hermit in tech paradise. iChat? Who cares? AIM and Addium work. FaceTime is too little too late. My phone could do that five years ago. Don’t need a limited iPhone app on my giant iMac anyway. Are giant iMacs going away too? They’re sealed. They’re disposable like the MBA.
As a Mac user since 1987, this is the first time I’ve seriously considered looking at something else, probably Linux on a PC. I like OS X as it is, but the “improvements”–hardware and software–will only make my creative work harder and slower. If OS 11 has only full screen apps like the iPad, I’m done with Apple. I think Steve is going to break the company. It’s all about flashy toys instead of work machines any more. He’s done enough. I’ve had it. Gotta get back to work.
nik
Add Java to the list – it wasn’t announced but the new Java update says that Java on the Mac is now deprecated and likely won’t be in Lion.
As for MacBook Pros – these new MBAs can’t replace my MacBook Pro 17. However, if they made a 15″ version with the same tech, probably half the weight of the current MBP 15, I’d get it instantly. The main thing that annoys me about the MBP is how much space is wasted on the CD/DVD drive – a completely useless device. I have replaced it with a SSD so the space is used – but with on board Flash storage, the machine would be way smaller and way faster. I believe that Apple has so many ways of making the on-board Flash fast, it’s going to be much better than any SSD.
The next computer I buy will have no spinning disks of any kind.
Russ
ehhh.. for toys I think macs are great. However for serious computing power nothing beats a pc. Just look at how easy it is to instal 3rd party hardware/software if anyone has any doubts.

ReasonableGuy
PCs are great for employment too.
You need more people to support them and deal with the problems. ;)

John
Saw you on CNBC’s Street Signs!! Godd interview, very funny how you rep’d cult of mac ;)
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1622249085&play=1
http://www.mattinglydesign.net xmattingly
You stand corrected, Buster: It was the LISA that killed the command line, not the MAC.
Anyway, “Eight technologies that were killed” makes for a more attention-grabbing headline, but ultimately your list can be boiled down to tech that has been deprecated or is dying a slow death. But none that were outright murdered by Apple’s presentation on Wednesday.
ReasonableGuy
iChat isn’t being killed, just getting married and taking on the new name – Facetime. (Of course iChat does more than video calls, so it will be interesting to see if Apple moves its text, audio, and screen sharing to Facetime, or . . ..
Same with iSight camera, not being killed, just a name change, so I don’t think it compares to the other items.
Stevan
I’m a computer engineering and I may disagree with you right in the 1st topic:
Solid State Disks aren’t really faster than HDD. They have faster seek time (while the HDD have to phisically move the head to an other position, ssds don’t). But they are slower in sequencial reads.
Plus, SSDs have a limited cycle of erase/write operations. Depending on the way you use the disk, It may be dead soon.
The other topics are more apple-related, and as I’m not an apple enthusiast, I can’t say much.
But, I notice that people (specially the ones with few hardware knowledgement) think their apple came from other world. One day, I was going to play on night club and bring my vaio (one of top models with intel chipset, with azalia hd audio, and the owner of club said me that the audio on these notebooks are crappy… The only one with good audio is the macbook.
Plus, he forgot this audio equipment was so crappy that a generic mp3 player would make no difference.
OK, macbook is a good quality computer, well made, but people forget that internally, they are just the same thing as other notebooks. Apple, as I know, don’t made processors, chipsets, memories, video processors, well, nothing. What they do is some changes to prevent your macbook to run other OS.
At least, my vaio’s display has bravia technology, that is truly made by sony..
jack
Even if Apple has given the Flash Runtime a huge bashing (after it’s “death” it’ll probably just find itself a new niche), the rest of the Flash Platform will not necessarily becoming less important – the opposite could be true. With the recent tech preview of Adobe Wallaby it’s quite possible that Flash developers will in the future be able to leverage their existing skills to build HTML5 apps using Actionscript 3 and the Flash Professional or Flash Builder IDE…without directly coding HTML or Javascript. And then Adobe once again dominates online multimedia :-) Then again, who knows? Wait and see I suppose :-)
Oh and I’m using a Macbook Pro right now but refuse to use the Magic Mouse :-) Instead I prefer Logitech 3 button mice. I find the Magic Mouse is so uncomfortable and unergonomic to use I’m afraid I might get carpal tunnel syndrome from it :-P
jack
Oh almost forgot: The Flash Platform already allows developers to package their Android apps and games into the native APK file. And with the Apple regime loosening its reigns on Adobe, it developers should also be able to deploy native iOS applications using the iPhone packager. So Adobe’s trying to make it easier for developers by allowing us to write once, and deploy to as many places as possible. Nothing wrong with that.

http://twitter.com/Kiljoy616 Alexander Cardosa
Reason not to want that on my iPhone is that when programmers don’t optimize for the hardware then you get slow buggy applications. Mediocre rules that world. I for one don’t want to be buying applications not optimized for the hardware I am on just so that a programmer can get the most exposure. Some do other don’t. I rather pay those that specific build quality applications for what I use. To me way to many applications are under prized or programmers use to the Android market where people want free all the time have forgotten that on the Mac side people do tend to have more disposable capital.

Cloze One
So, so much wrong with this article. Despite anything your overlords might have told you, these technologies either are being substituted regardless of what Apple does, or are simply not dead and in fact more in use than ever, as is the case of Flash.