Yesterday’s launch of Apple Creator Studio (ACS) created a certain amount of confusion for Mac users not planning to subscribe.
Some users of Apple’s productivity apps – Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Freeform – were left wondering whether or not they should accept an invitation to update …
When you open one of Apple’s productivity apps on a Mac, you are prompted to update it to the freemium ACS version. The wording seems reasonably insistent that you should do so.
This version will no longer be updated. To get the latest features, download
This is what it looks like for Keynote, for example:
But some users are concerned
Some users have expressed concerns that this might put them at risk of later being forced to subscribe in order to keep using the apps. While Apple has said that core functionality will remain free forever, not everybody trusts this proclamation.
“They could say anything and change tune when they think the market penetration of MacOS is high enough.” “IKR? These threads are full of people who say ‘Apple said this’ and ‘Apple said that’ as if they actually believe it. Companies say all kinds of stuff to get their way and who will hold them accountable when they (with historical precedent and evidence based on common place corporate business practices) unilaterally decide that they are going to do something else?”
These fears were heightened when installing the new versions prompts you to delete the originals:
Additionally, the original versions appear to have disappeared from the App Store, so there would seem to be no way of changing your mind and reinstalling the originals if you do delete them.
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