Much has been made of some missing features for the final release of Mac OS X scheduled to hit on March 24th. DVD playback, iTunes, iMovie, and iDVD support will all be missing from that release, but C|Net is reporting that at least two of those items will be included via software downloads on or near Match 24th.
C|Netis Joe Wilcox spoke with Appleis vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, about these issues after a very critical report was published by C|Net on these issues earlier this week. Mr. Schiller told Mr. Wilcox that iTunes and iMovie will both be available for download on March 24th, or very soon thereafter. According to the C|Net report:
Mac enthusiasts looking for video streaming will find the final version of QuickTime 5 in the box, Schiller said. Apple had been beta testing the competitor to Realis RealPlayer Plus 8 and Microsoft Media Player 7 since autumn.
Apple also plans to offer its iTunes digital music-authoring package and iMovie video-editing software, although neither will come in the box with Mac OS X.
"Weire working really hard to make it available for download at intro," Schiller said. "Weire trying to make that day. If not, really close."
QuickTime 5 final will be released in the Mac OS X box. On the other hand, DVD playback and iDVD support will not ship anytime soon, something some analysts find inexplicable. The full article has a lot of other very useful information and we recommend it.