Cost to Upgrade to Panther

bill combs

I was wondering if anyone would have any idea if Apple will offer a free upgrade to Panther, or an upgrade at a reduced cost for someone who buys a new Mac a few months before Pather is released. Did Apple do that when Jaguar came out. If such a free or reduced price upgrade is offered, how many months before Panther comes out would such an offer be good for. In other words, when should one buy a new Mac if he wants to try for such a free or reduced price upgrade: May, June, July?

hmurchison

Jaguar Shipped last August 24th. I wouldn't shell out for Jaguar until at least a month from that anniversary.



Apple will probably offer some upgrades but a majority of Mac user running Jaguar will have to spend full pop most likely.



We might not have fast moving Hardware but our OS moves at the speed of light

jared

Upgrade: Non



SRP: 129.00

paul

buy your comp after MWNY03 (after they preview it to the masses) and chances are you will get an upgrade price ($19 or $69 not sure)

overhope

My impression after the "wah, don't want to pay for 10.2" conversations (which we shan't go into here) is that you pay for .x revisions, but .x.x updates are free via Software Update, though I still think Apple should allow magazines to stick these on their cover CDs for those of us who aren't blessed with broadband connections.

stunned

My guess is 10.3 will be cheaper than $129. Maybe $100...

cubedude

That sounds more reasonable. I'd like to see them give a discount to .Mac users.



Does anyone remember if Apple gave Jaguar out to teachers free?

fred_lj

Yep, they did give out Jag free to K-12 teachers (and at discount to profs.).

paul

i believe they still do...

shawnpatrickjoyce

Quote:

Originally posted by fred_lj

Yep, they did give out Jag free to K-12 teachers (and at discount to profs.).

My dad's a high school teacher. Yay for me. Did they offer Jaguar free to K-12 teachers right after release or after that?

overhope

No, that was announced in October, 3 months after Jag's release, and it's only running until March 31st.



I beleive it was more a "let's get teachers onto X" special than a regular deal.

nebagakid

It would have been nice if it came out earlier, and for the Keynote deal, both of which i bought at full price (Jaguar for a Family Pack) before those deals became avaliable to teachers (which my mother is)



It will cost $129, and there will be no whining about "I just upgraded a year ago and now they want another 130 bucks from me? I am a l33t HaxXor!!!!!!!!!"

alexis

Quote:

Originally posted by Bill Combs

I was wondering if anyone would have any idea if Apple will offer a free upgrade to Panther, or an upgrade at a reduced cost for someone who buys a new Mac a few months before Pather is released. Did Apple do that when Jaguar came out. If such a free or reduced price upgrade is offered, how many months before Panther comes out would such an offer be good for. In other words, when should one buy a new Mac if he wants to try for such a free or reduced price upgrade: May, June, July?

I just paid 130 dollars for a new upgrade to my Operating System. Keep in mind Jaguar was the FIRST upgrade that OS X users had to pay since March of 2000 when OS X was first released. Mac OS X version 10.3 should be free and I think Apple is smart enough to realize this. A way to get around people jumping from 10.0 or 10.1 to 10.3 is to only make the upgrade available to 10.2 users.



--Alexis

hmurchison

Quote:

Mac OS X version 10.3 should be free and I think Apple is smart enough to realize this.

Or better yet just charge $129 for Everybody and be done with the hassle.

trumptman

Apple had better not charge for 10.3 or else they are the world's biggest hypocrites.



I remember all the screaming that went on when 10.2 was released. We were patiently reminded that Apple's release schedule goes like this. Release major update for cost, release bug fixes every 6 months or so. Releas .1 increase in system for free one year from initial major release. Release bug fixes every 6 months or so. Finally 2 years after last major release, charge for brand new major release.



We were told this was the pattern followed before..



8.0

8.1

8.5

8.6

9.0

9.1



The reason people got mad is because 9.5 was really 10.0, but 10.0 was by most measures beta quality. 10.0 was charged for and 10.1 was free. Most people considered Jaguar the first really usable version of Mac OSX. By the old numbering system it would have been called 10.5. However Apple called it 10.2 which in most people's minds was fair because it was really just getting the 10.0/10.1 usable. So the argument was that 10.2 was just really bugfixes/minor enhancements, not a major release.



So if Apple follows their past, which they claimed they were following with the release of 10.2, then 10.3 should be a free release that will only load on 10.2 machines.



Nick

rogue27

Quote:

Originally posted by trumptman

Apple had better not charge for 10.3 or else they are the world's biggest hypocrites.



I remember all the screaming that went on when 10.2 was released. We were patiently reminded that Apple's release schedule goes like this. Release major update for cost, release bug fixes every 6 months or so. Releas .1 increase in system for free one year from initial major release. Release bug fixes every 6 months or so. Finally 2 years after last major release, charge for brand new major release.



We were told this was the pattern followed before..



8.0

8.1

8.5

8.6

9.0

9.1



The reason people got mad is because 9.5 was really 10.0, but 10.0 was by most measures beta quality. 10.0 was charged for and 10.1 was free. Most people considered Jaguar the first really usable version of Mac OSX. By the old numbering system it would have been called 10.5. However Apple called it 10.2 which in most people's minds was fair because it was really just getting the 10.0/10.1 usable. So the argument was that 10.2 was just really bugfixes/minor enhancements, not a major release.



So if Apple follows their past, which they claimed they were following with the release of 10.2, then 10.3 should be a free release that will only load on 10.2 machines.



Nick

Wake up! They changed their numbering scheme if you didn't notice.



Now 10.x updates are paid, and 10.x.x updates are the free ones. 10.1 was the exception because that one was the major bug-fixer and feature booster. 10.3 will be a paid upgrade.



Where does this "9.5 was 10.0" stuff come from? OS X could not have been called 9.5 by any stretch of the imagination because they aren't even remotely related.

ziploc

Quote:

Originally posted by Alexis

I just paid 130 dollars for a new upgrade to my Operating System. Keep in mind Jaguar was the FIRST upgrade that OS X users had to pay since March of 2000 when OS X was first released. Mac OS X version 10.3 should be free and I think Apple is smart enough to realize this. A way to get around people jumping from 10.0 or 10.1 to 10.3 is to only make the upgrade available to 10.2 users.



--Alexis

ummm...not quite. OS X (non-Beta) was released in March 2001, not 2000. That puts them only 1 year 5 months apart.



For the rest of the whiners who think that we are being charged too often all of the sudden, based purlely on the numbering system, take a look at the history:



July 1997 - Mac OS 8.0 - $99

Oct. 1998 - Mac OS 8.5 - $99

Oct. 1999 - Mac OS 9.0 - $99

Sept. 2000 - Mac OS X (beta) $30(?)

March 2001 - Mac OS X 10.0 - $129

Sept. 2001 - Mac OS X 10.1 - $20(mail), Free(stores)

August 2002 - Mac OS X 10.2 - $129



Releasing Panther officially in August would be on the early end but not unusual. They may hold off until November or December which would be right on track.



-zip

bill combs

Quote:

Originally posted by rogue27

Wake up! They changed their numbering scheme if you didn't notice.



Now 10.x updates are paid, and 10.x.x updates are the free ones. 10.1 was the exception because that one was the major bug-fixer and feature booster. 10.3 will be a paid upgrade.



Where does this "9.5 was 10.0" stuff come from? OS X could not have been called 9.5 by any stretch of the imagination because they aren't even remotely related.

I am afraid this is correct. From what I have learned 10.3 will definitely be a full-priced upgrade. That is the reason I started this thread with the question about a reduced price for those who buy a new Mac shortly before 10.3 comes out. Our school is going to buy some new Powerbooks in a couple months, and was hoping we would be buying close enough to the release of 10.3 to be elligible for a less than full-price upgrade.

adpowers

My Uncle even refuses to install 10.2 on one of my relatives' computers. He is angry because he has to pay for an upgrade to 'unusuable' software. In my opinion it is like this: Computers pre-10.2 included 10.1 or 10.0 as a Beta of sorts. 9.x was intended to be used for production, X was meant as a preview. You can relate this to if M$ included Windows 2003 Server beta with every computer shipped with Windows 2000 Server. Windows 2003 Server is just used as an example of what to come, not meant for production. When it is released, however, if you want to use it, you have to fork over the money.



Nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

dogcow

Quote:

Originally posted by Bill Combs

I am afraid this is correct. From what I have learned 10.3 will definitely be a full-priced upgrade. That is the reason I started this thread with the question about a reduced price for those who buy a new Mac shortly before 10.3 comes out. Our school is going to buy some new Powerbooks in a couple months, and was hoping we would be buying close enough to the release of 10.3 to be elligible for a less than full-price upgrade.

To answer your orginal question: Typicaly the free upgrade ($19.95 S&H) is only for those who bought the computer AFTER the OS is announced but BEFORE they were able to preload it on. So for example, if Panther is announced at MWNY as shipping, then any computer bought after MWNY that dosnt have 10.3 loaded on it will get be able to get the upgrade for free. So when is the right time to buy? As soon as it's released.

overhope

Looking at the latter days of OS 9 releases, I remember running:



9.0.4 (the version that came with my Cube)

9.1

9.2

9.2.1

9.2.2



And all the upgrades were free...



Point being, once we got to a version of 9 that would work under Classic, (and most of those later .x.x upgrades were really tweaking Classic compatibility), 9 stopped being chargeable. In fact, you can't even buy it any more...