[mikeash]

As long as it's possible to install the technical apps, I don't really care whether they ship with the system. I don't imagine many technical users would care, although I could be wrong. You never got a compiler with Mac OS X without downloading and installing one separately, and many other tools people like to use have to be downloaded separately too.

[neverm0re]

It actually always came on the install media up until very recently.

[Someone]

Also until very recently, users bought the OS on DVD and installed it on gigantic hard disks.

Now, Apple optimizes for distribution over the Internet and installation on SSDs. That is also why Mac OS X no longer ships with that printer driver DVD.

[neverm0re]

You don't say.

[mikeash]

True, forgot about that, since it was almost always out of date and not worth using. In any case, it didn't get installed by default, so I think the point still stands.