This year, Microsoft has been working hard to make its Office productivity suite more widely accessible, and Apple has responded by doing likewise with iWork. The iOS and Mac versions of iWork – which comprises of Pages, Keynote and Numbers – are now essentially free of charge, to those who recently bought a new iOS device or a Mac. But now, it has emerged that thanks to a bug with the Mac App Store, many of those running the trial version have been able to upgrade to the full, no-holds-barred version for absolutely nothing, and the same goes for iLife and Aperture.
It first emerged earlier on this week that iWork and iLife users downloading the trial version were able to readily upgrade to the fully licensed offering, and now, it looks as though the Mac App Store, or specifically, a bug therein, is the culprit, as reported by 9to5Mac. Apparently, the Mac App Store is incapable of determining whether a user’s copy of iWork / iLife is full or trial, and so when updating, those using the trial are being fed the full version. Not that anybody is complaining, mind.
Apple has yet to comment on the issue, but certainly, many will be trying their luck at updating to the full version from trial, considering each individual app costs big bucks if you were to buy them separately. iWork and iLife does come as a free installation with all new Macs, but for those rocking an older machine, a purchase is necessary to enjoy the productive prowess of Keynote, Numbers and Pages and the creative amazingness of iPhoto, GarageBand and iMovie.
We wouldn’t necessarily encourage it, but if you have a trial version of iWork, iLife or Aperture on your machine, updating now would probably be an appealing step. Of course, Apple may well have a way of rectifying the issue and pushing those on the trial back to their original position, but with iWork’s sales generating very little revenue compared with some of the fruit company’s other products, it may well be that Apple allows users to keep their free upgrades.
We’ll keep you posted on the outcome of the Mac App Store bug, so stay tuned!
(Source: 9to5Mac)
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