Is there someone here that might be able to make an ISO of their Airport Extreme Windows install CD? I lost my disc, and in their great wisdom Apple doesn't offer the Airport utility for download. The very impatient woman on Apple's help line basically implied that this was valuable software that was included in my purchase price.

Tell me, what good is that program without an Airport router?

Anyway, I apologize, but I had to rant. I'd really appreciate some assistance here...

Isn't this what you're looking for?

I believe that's just an update...

Could you use this method for extracting what you need?

EDIT: I forgot you said you need Windows stuff. The Windows installer is available on a popular swedish bittorrent site. Just search for Apple Airport. It's the first 2 hits.

My buddy works at the apple store, i'll see if he can grab a copy today.

Shido was very helpful in getting me some files. I'll see if they work for me.

And thanks, Rob, I might give that a shot too. Can anyone explain to me why it is necessary to pirate this software at all? It makes no sense! What good is the Airport utility if you don't have an Airport router?

Thanks to you too, Oliver. But hold off on that for now until I find out if these other two routes work. I appreciate the offer, though.

Is this for the N based Airport Extreme?

Yes. But I think they all use the same utility.

I'm up and running, folks. Thanks for all the help! Actually, I'm happy with the outcome because now I have a standalone utility instead of one that needs to be installed. I can store it on my USB drive with all my other portable apps.

Isn't there an enabler app that you have to pay for normally but comes with the airport?

Correct. And that is why the software is not downloadable. Apple sold several models of computers without N capabilities, but the hardware could do it. They also didn't advertise this feature, nor did they put the sales of the computers on their books as a "subscription with deferred income". Apple then released a firmware upgrade to add in the N capabilities, but had to charge for it due to Sarbanes Oxley. The Airport Extreme N comes with the enabler in the software, thus falls under the same rules that it needs to be sold.

Same reason they had to charge something for the iPod touch update recently.

Okay, I can see that now. But I don't see why the enabler has to come with the software. I would think they could easily offer the utility separately.

This is the third time I've heard this. Can anyone explain in plain English why a law intended to help prevent corporate fraud has forced Apple to charge for what should have been free upgrades and utilities?

I think you've confused 'bug fixes' with 'upgrades'.
Bug fixes should be free, upgrades not so much.

At least, that's my understanding of the situation.
I always want everything free, though.

(Disclaimer, I am not an attorney, nor fully versed in the laws. What I am about to say is my opinion of why this happens based on research of my own.)

Because it's corporate fraud to hide sales results, or list them improperly on the books. SOx holds companies to much stricter accounting practices, and thus exactly what money came from where to fund what must be clearly documented.

Take these two examples:

John buys an iPod touch on October 1st for $299. This is during Q4. John bought a device that can play music, browse the web, and play videos. Apple puts this on the books as $299 income for Q4. January rolls around (Q1), Apple releases a free update, and it adds mail, weather and other features to John's iPod, features John didn't pay for, nor was told about existing prior to January. Apple has nothing on the books to represent this new feature for free, and thus it seems like an accounting error has occurred. Why? Well software development time was spent on these new features, adding cost to Apple for the product, however they did not properly account for this cost in the sale of the device on the books. Any preproduction research and development costs specifically attributed to the iPod Touch would have been on the books only up till the product was released in Q4. Any further research and development needs to be funded from somewhere. Bug fixes are exempt from this type of accounting, as it is considered post sale support, fixing problems similar to fixing defective products under warranty.

Now lets look at the same situation with the Apple TV instead. John buys it in Q4 for $299, and in Q1 Apple releases an update adding new features. This time, there isn't a problem with it, as the AppleTV revenue is not put on the books in Q4 as $299. Instead, Apple chose to spread the income reporting across a few quarters, thus meaning that the income from each sale in effect amortizes the software development costs after the product is released.

(disclaimer - also not an accountant or in possession of any knowledge about this!)

I suspect the AppleTV is different as the upgrade *enables* a new revenue stream, i.e. rentals, which could be said to pay for the additional software effort put into the new update.

The iPod touch update doesn't provide any additional income (the iTunes store was a free update previously).

Hugo

Even assuming all of this is true, why $5? Why not $0.01? Okay, I'm sure that charging less than some amount on a credit card is likely to cost Apple money, but still. $5 seems expensive for a driver update, especially given the fact that they're strongly implying that they would give it away for free if it weren't for SOx. Seems to me that they're using it as an excuse for an additional, if small, revenue stream.

I believe the cost has to be reasonable and in line to also avoid an accounting issue. Odds are, the $20 price is a preview of what future app bundles might cost as well for the iPhone and iPod Touch once the SDK is out. If they had priced it too low, it would have devalued future efforts that do demand proper revenue streams.

As for the AppleTV and iPhone, all have been sold under a "subscription model" based on the public information in Apple's financial filings and comments by the CFO. This was done with the specific intent to allow for free updates like these, and I think they are both spread out over 24 months. So instead of Apple getting $400 right off the bat in their financial reports for my iPhone, they report $50 every quarter. The iPod touch, as well as all other iPods, and computers the company sells are not sold under such a model, and hence the need for charging.

I still think it's an excuse more than anything. I haven't seen Apple charging any money for new versions of Safari, nor iTunes (yes, iTunes does allow access to the iTunes store which will earn them money from some users).

With regards to the accounting, it might have something to do with the new software being an integral part/feature of a new version of the product. I'm sure they could find some other way to be compliant without having to charge for the programs.

Seriously? I've never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. Does this apply to "software" (as in, only purchasing software like "photoshop" - not via some hardware like an iPod) or just "hardware".

And if it's just hardware, then why is that different to software? (because all you're doing with hardware is updating software)

I'm not sure how the differences apply to hardware vs software. It seems mostly centered around how it is all reported in the financial filings with the SEC, and considering Apple already was investigated for other issues, they are probably erring on the side of caution. All that I have posted here is based on my own research and comments I have heard through various tech news areas. I can't really say much more then what I have here, because I've only scratched the surface. I haven't dedicated my life to accounting or being an attorney, so I quickly get lost when reading the raw text of the act, or of the SEC filings.

In a way, it doesn't really matter; if Apple are stiffing their users just because they can, and are happy to let people think it's for legal reasons, happy even for non-accountant, non-lawyer customers to defend this theory on forums, then I won't buy their product. If there genuinely are legal reasons for it, whether directly or as an unintended "chilling effect", then I won't buy a product made by a US company. But, as the only other MP3 player made by a US company is the Zune, which I wasn't going to buy anyway, it amounts to the same thing.

Not that I'm any sort of huge fraction of Apple's intended market, of course, but the Ipod Touch is kind-of cool, and before all this happened it had occurred to me that if both my current and backup Trekstor (GmBH) units failed, Ipod Touch might be the next best thing.

Peter

I'm not really defending it, mostly trying to answer the why, as it puzzled me as well. I've already been soured with Apple a bit on the whole iPhone price drop fiasco, and the situations like the enabler and iPod touch $20 update also make me wonder what is going on over there at times. I have to agree with Bruno that they probably could find another way to be complaint, and I hope they do. I just generally haven't found proof of pure foul malice on the side of Apple in regards to the iPod Touch and Airport update costs.

I think what would help is finding another example of this issue coming up for another company. After all, SOX has been in effect for over 5 years now, this situation can't be unique to only one company. Apple's time in the spotlight definitely helps searching for things like this, as lots of people have discussed it.

The Zune I bought in 2006 recently got Podcast support for $0.

I sold it to a friend a few months ago before the version 2 software was released. I hear the v2 PC software is awful, but the v2 Zune software is actually not bad and it added features. This appears to be a valid example and it's even a similar product to iPod.

I was pretty surprised by Apple charging for the January iPod Touch update considering the iPhone seems to get so many updates. I just figured it was because Apple is getting a piece of the action from AT&T through phone service fees.

I can't find if the Zune is listed as a subscription sold product yet. It's lumped under the whole entertainment group together with the XBox. I do now remember that the first version Zune devices did get the new v2 upgrade for free, something I was impressed to see, considering how poor Apple is about backporting features on the iPods, with or without a fee.