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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

#301

Post by rogerbinns »

Geee wrote: post #145
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.

It also helps developers. It would be a reasonable position to take to only support the latest MacOS release and features. (People who don't want to upgrade their MacOS version for free are also less likely to want to try your software or upgrade to new versions of it.)

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

#302

Post by yaddayadda »

3825 wrote: post #256
willimholte wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC it was not legal to install on multiple machines (perhaps it was legal for multiple personal machines?).

No, but there was no technological measure preventing you (serial number or phoning home) that would stop you as far as I can recall. You can buy a single copy or a family pack for five computers. http://www.amazon.com/Mac-10-4-Tiger-Family-Pack/dp/B0007LW1... http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Mac-10-4-Tiger-VERSION/dp/B0002G...

Apple has taken measures to technologically limit your ability to do so. When I bought my most recent MacBook Pro it came with Lion. Because of network issues at work I could't use Lion (still can't), so I tried to put Snow Leopard in a VM (using the copy I had previously put on my now defunct MacBook Pro) but Apple and VMWare had put in technological blockers to prevent putting SL on a Lion VM or Lion on a SL VM. So, I repartitioned and copied my old MacBook over and am still living happily with SL.

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

#303

Post by sahaskatta »

byuu wrote: post #25
joekrill wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 8.1 upgrade is free. How is this any different?

Well, a much smaller percentage of Windows users are on 8.0 than OS X users are on Snow Leopard or later. If Blue allowed upgrades from Windows 7 for free, that'd be a more equal comparison.

That would be incorrect. There are more Windows 8 users than ever version of OS X combined.

Sources: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/02/windows-8-jumps-pa...

http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share....

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

#304

Post by yaddayadda »

sarreph wrote: post #205
midgetjones wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that it's most likely they want everyone on the latest OSX for the same reasons that it's good to have everyone on the latest iOS. Whatever they're planning, getting everyone on board is obviously an important part of that. I think the biggest thing over the last two keynotes is the iWork update - MS have been ridicuslously slow in the one area they could have won, which was bringing Office to iOS. I'm pretty…

>Whatever they're planning You just wait...

Wait for it ... [1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqkYnfAhgy0

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

#305

Post by FreezerburnV »

epmatsw wrote: post #300
avn2109 wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. Mission control was a major productivity drop down from spaces.

Yep. I was pretty dumbfounded by how much less functional it was in Lion. I basically went from using Spaces constantly to probably not having used it in the past 2 years. I ended up completely replacing it with a bunch of keyboard and gesture shortcuts in BetterTouchTool.

I discovered http://totalspaces.binaryage.com recently. I haven't tried it yet because I didn't want to buy it when Mavericks was so close, but it certainly looks like it brings back the original Spaces functionally. And now it's compatible with Mavericks, so I'm gonna be grabbing the trial when I get it installed. Hopefully it'll help you get your original productivity back. (and mine as well)

(and here's hoping that the download doesn't take TOO long. almost 2 days estimated right now :( )

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

#306

Post by bsimpson »

microtonal wrote: post #113
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.

This has been coming a long time. The updates were already very cheap (20something Euros) compared to the old days (> 100 Euro if I remember correctly) and it fits in with the iOS strategy of having the latest version on every device. OS X upgrade revenue is now such a minuscule piece of the pie that it probably doesn't matter anymore.

Apple's policy until System 7 was that you paid for the hardware and you should be able to expect software updates free for the life of the product. Nice to see them coming home, on this point anyway.

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

#307

Post by Udo »

csense wrote: post #201

I haven't used any Apple machine since 2004. Some HN'ers like Apple, so I've been kind of interested to see what Apple machines do that PC's don't. But I don't want to pay premium prices for iGoods. Does this mean I can run the new OS in a VM to check out the Apple ecosystem? Or is this only free (as in beer) to people who have an existing paid license for a previous Apple operating system?

I've switched to OS X exclusively about ten years ago. The reasons for choosing tech platforms are always personal, based on a combination of perception and actual benefits, and how those benefits are subjectively weighed against the drawbacks. So I can only answer that from a personal point of view.

> so I've been kind of interested to see what Apple machines do that PC's don't.

They run OS X. The hardware is nice, too, but if that was the only selling point I would probably buy cheaper and more powerful PCs.

> But I don't want to pay premium prices for iGoods.

Then don't. We don't all have the same preferences and usage patterns. If using Apple stuff doesn't hold any benefits for you, that's totally fine and reasonable. Contrary to many Apple users, I do believe their hardware is quite expensive. The question is if it's worth it. For me, that answer is "yes" at the moment, though that may change.

> Does this mean I can run the new OS in a VM to check out the Apple ecosystem?

I'm not sure if you can legally check out OS X in a VM, but technically that option has been available for some time. However, I don't see why anyone would. Doing actual work inside a VM is bound to be painful.

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

#308

Post by infinii »

csense wrote: post #249
PilateDeGuerre wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your laptop is huge, hot, and feels cheap. The MacBook Air is svelt, runs cool, and not only feels but is solid.

None of that matters to me enough to make me spend hundreds of dollars more and be content with a laptop that does less. > hot Only when you're actually running a game or using all the CPU cores. > feels cheap I don't like spending money unnecessarily. I regard my laptop with pride. Not just because it's a practical tool for day-to-day work and play. Not just because the specs give me bragging rights. But also becaus…

Just because your use of a computer is 'basic' enough to be serviced with bargain spec machines, doesn't make the Apple stuff "overpriced" as you are trying to imply.

To those of you saying Apple h/w is overpriced, find comparable spec'd machines to compare with and you'll find it's not as horrific as you claim. i.e. weight, battery, screen, power

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

#309

Post by matasar »

3825 wrote: post #256
willimholte wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC it was not legal to install on multiple machines (perhaps it was legal for multiple personal machines?).

No, but there was no technological measure preventing you (serial number or phoning home) that would stop you as far as I can recall. You can buy a single copy or a family pack for five computers. http://www.amazon.com/Mac-10-4-Tiger-Family-Pack/dp/B0007LW1... http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Mac-10-4-Tiger-VERSION/dp/B0002G...

A funny thing about the family pack is that for at least one version of OS X, the only differences between the family pack and the single user version were a sticker that said "Family pack" on the front, and the price. The contents of the box were identical.

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

#310

Post by lostlogin »

nraynaud wrote: post #191
te_chris wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* if you live in a country where apple has such things (not New Zealand).

It was Frodo or Apple. Stop bitching :)

My (NZ) taxes paid for you to see Frodo. Bitching may continue!
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