I’ll be surprised if iWeb and iDVD are still around in 12 months. When MobileMe is discontinued on June 30, 2012, some of its features will be rolled into Apple’s iCloud, but iWeb hosting won’t be one of them.
With iWeb you can move a site published to MobileMe to another web hosting service (read how to do this at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4686), but that doesn’t sound good for Apple’s web site creation tool. I’ve tried to get a comment from Apple’s PR department about iWeb’s fate, but no answer so far. Heck, I even wrote Steve Jobs hoping to get a terse answer sent from his iPhone, but — again — no dice.
The fact that, unlike the other iLife apps, iWeb isn’t available for download or purchase at the Mac App Store probably says it all, however. iWeb users should probably be eyeing RapidWeaver (http://www.realmacsoftware.com), Sandvox (http://www.karelia.com) or, for the slightly more adventurous, Freeway (http://www.softpress.com).
Actually, I lied. iDVD is also missing from the Mac App Store, and I suspect it’s days are likewise numbered. I think that’s a mistake, but I suspect that, rather than burning DVDs, Apple wants us to send movies to the cloud from which they can be accessed almost anywhere.
Apple — or at least Steve Jobs — seems determined to phase out CD and DVD support, hoping Apple users will go completely digital. Heck, I suspect all Macs released in late 2012 or early 2013 will lack built-in optical drives — though Apple will be happy to sell you external SuperDrives a la those available for the MacBook Air.
On the bright side, when iDVD disappears, Roxio (http://www.roxio.com) should seen increased sells for Toast.
— Dennis Sellers
