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Apple Says New OS X ‘Mavericks’ Will Be Offered for Free

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Re: Apple Says New OS X ‘Mavericks’ Will Be Offered for Free

#31

Post by scarmig »

uptown wrote: post #26
smaili wrote: post #18

This is very significant because it has signaled a shift from a time where Operating Systems was once a major revenue stream. Very interested to see if Microsoft will follow suit.

"Very interested to see if Microsoft will follow suit." And what? Make it up in volume? Unless Microsoft's Surface sales take-off, they can't afford to give Windows away for free apart from what are essentially service-packs like the 8.1 update they just released.

I thought Office, Exchange, etc. products actually formed the bulk of their revenue.

Re: Apple Says New OS X ‘Mavericks’ Will Be Offered for Free

#32

Post by Macha »

guywithabike wrote: post #21
camus2 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OsX is not free, you still need to buy a Mac. As for MSFT , they are a software company,not sure what they can do about Windows price ,which will never be free. Want free stuff? use Linux.

Linux is not free, you still need to buy a computer.

Any computer. Including the one you already own, and none of which are produced by the Linux Foundation.

I will give that driver support for wifi cards may make some computers more awkward than others. It's very rare these days that any common device other than a wifi card or a just this week released graphics card causes problems any more.

(As an aside, how do you escape asterisks here?)

Re: Apple Says New OS X ‘Mavericks’ Will Be Offered for Free

#34

Post by vdaniuk »

uptown wrote: post #26
smaili wrote: post #18

This is very significant because it has signaled a shift from a time where Operating Systems was once a major revenue stream. Very interested to see if Microsoft will follow suit.

"Very interested to see if Microsoft will follow suit." And what? Make it up in volume? Unless Microsoft's Surface sales take-off, they can't afford to give Windows away for free apart from what are essentially service-packs like the 8.1 update they just released.

Make it up in Windows Store sales commissions? However, you are right, Windows is a cash cow that generates immense revenue to Microsoft.

Re: Apple Says New OS X ‘Mavericks’ Will Be Offered for Free

#36

Post by durin42 »

bluedino wrote: post #15
ics wrote: post #3

If you're too busy to read the whole article or watch the keynote, also note that you can upgrade directly from Snow Leopard or later. They listed the hardware models which will take it as well– the 2007 Mac Minis and MacBook Pros are supposedly good to go.

I wonder what the technical reason is for not letting Leopard users upgrade. It seems like everyone I know with a 2008/2009 is still on 10.5.8

No app store in Leopard? If the MAS is the only distribution vector, there's a bootstrapping problem from 10.5 IIRC.

Re: Apple Says New OS X ‘Mavericks’ Will Be Offered for Free

#37

Post by uptown »

scarmig wrote: post #31
uptown wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Very interested to see if Microsoft will follow suit." And what? Make it up in volume? Unless Microsoft's Surface sales take-off, they can't afford to give Windows away for free apart from what are essentially service-packs like the 8.1 update they just released.

I thought Office, Exchange, etc. products actually formed the bulk of their revenue.

Windows is still a major component of their revenue:

http://www.tannerhelland.com/4273/microsoft-money-updated-20...

Re: Apple Says New OS X ‘Mavericks’ Will Be Offered for Free

#39

Post by lukifer »

arrrg wrote: post #4
ics wrote: post #3

If you're too busy to read the whole article or watch the keynote, also note that you can upgrade directly from Snow Leopard or later. They listed the hardware models which will take it as well– the 2007 Mac Minis and MacBook Pros are supposedly good to go.

Apple is all about that planned obsolescence, right!

It can still be planned obsolescence even if the plan is a good one. ;)

Apple has always attempted to strike a balance between longevity and progress, especially on Macs (5-7 year lifespan, usually). iOS is faster-moving, and gets the shaft more often (2-3 years, sometimes less). The latter will hopefully get better as the mobile hardware catches up to desktops; most of the forced upgrades have been due to low RAM or other hardware deficiencies.

Re: Apple Says New OS X ‘Mavericks’ Will Be Offered for Free

#40

Post by brymaster »

arrrg wrote: post #4
ics wrote: post #3

If you're too busy to read the whole article or watch the keynote, also note that you can upgrade directly from Snow Leopard or later. They listed the hardware models which will take it as well– the 2007 Mac Minis and MacBook Pros are supposedly good to go.

Apple is all about that planned obsolescence, right!

Since you're being credulous, I'll bite:

Just because it's "free" and you can update systems that are on Snow Leopard, doesn't mean it'll update all systems on Snow Leopard. For those paying attention, Apple killed off quite a bit of hardware with 10.8. Those certainly aren't upgradable to Mavericks.

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