Apple Says New OS X ‘Mavericks’ Will Be Offered for Free • Hacker News Board

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

#141

Post by xenonite » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:22 PM UTC

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

The most technical reason for not offering an upgrade to all 10.5 users is: PowerPC-Architecture! 10.6 was the first Intel-Only OS X, and 10.5 the last one for PowerPCs.

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

#142

Post by ucha » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:22 PM UTC

It's definitely a great incentive for users to update their hardware. If you could still use iOS3 on your iPhone 3GS, it would be reasonably fast and responsive but because the upgrade to iOS6 is free, you go for it only to discover that it is now unusable. Same logic goes now for Macs.

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

#143

Post by beagle3 » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:23 PM UTC

As a recent Mac convert, who plans to do Mac software development but hasn't started yet - is there a way to copy the existing mountain lion install on my Mac to a VM image so I can test on ML after I upgrade to Mavericks?

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

#144

Post by untog » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:24 PM UTC

devx wrote: post #134

ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #100

Some would say that Mavericks was launched for free because Windows 8.1 did the same. Those same people might also say that Apple did one better by offering the update for computers running older than the most recent version of their software.

I think the bigger hit to Microsoft, or just as big, is the free and much improved iWorks. Now there are 2 office suites from 2 big companies being offered for free (Docs and iWorks), which are becoming increasingly more popular not just with consumers, but a lot of enterprise customers, too. Microsoft should be terrified. Both of their cash cows are getting rapidly commoditized.

Wait and see if iWorks makes it into corporate environments. I'm not sure it will. Google Docs has a better chance.

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

#145

Post by Geee » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:24 PM UTC

ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #100

Some would say that Mavericks was launched for free because Windows 8.1 did the same. Those same people might also say that Apple did one better by offering the update for computers running older than the most recent version of their software.

I think it just pays Apple more in customer satisfaction to have everyone on the same boat. Simple economics. They make the money on the hardware after all. Same thing for free iLife and iWork, customers pay for the complete experience in the price of the device.

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

#146

Post by heartbreak » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:24 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #136

heartbreak wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple still makes money selling the computers that are running free OS X Mavericks. Microsoft makes no money by giving away Windows 8.1 for free to consumers.

> Apple still makes money selling the computers that are running free OS X Mavericks. Well you can install Mavericks on machines from 2007, that's money from quite a long time ago.

Money from quite a long time ago is worth more than no money at all.

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

#147

Post by jameshart » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:25 PM UTC

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.

Microsoft has a history of giving away free updates to the operating system when you buy their hardware: I never had to pay for any OS updates on my Xbox 360.

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

#148

Post by lazerwalker » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:27 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #136

heartbreak wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple still makes money selling the computers that are running free OS X Mavericks. Microsoft makes no money by giving away Windows 8.1 for free to consumers.

> Apple still makes money selling the computers that are running free OS X Mavericks. Well you can install Mavericks on machines from 2007, that's money from quite a long time ago.

When you need to finally replace that 2007 machine, Apple obviously wants you to buy another Mac. Screwing over people with perfectly good hardware wouldn't do a whole lot for customer goodwill.

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

#149

Post by alexgaribay » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:29 PM UTC

beagle3 wrote: post #143

As a recent Mac convert, who plans to do Mac software development but hasn't started yet - is there a way to copy the existing mountain lion install on my Mac to a VM image so I can test on ML after I upgrade to Mavericks?

With the latest version of VMWare fusion, you could probably do that.

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

#150

Post by k-mcgrady » Tue, Oct 22, 2013, 7:30 PM UTC

beagle3 wrote: post #143

As a recent Mac convert, who plans to do Mac software development but hasn't started yet - is there a way to copy the existing mountain lion install on my Mac to a VM image so I can test on ML after I upgrade to Mavericks?

I haven't used it but I believe an app like SuperDuper can clone your drive and let you do that.