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Apple Offers Cheap Jaguar Server Upgrade for XServe
MaxVlast writes "Macintouch is reporting that Apple is extending the Mac OS X Up-to-Date and Mac OS X Server Up-to-Date programs to include Jaguar Server upgrades for just $19.95 in response to intense criticism. This is good news to people who just bought an expensive XServe with expensive Mac OS X Server who don't very much want to pay the full upgrade price." Apple also added that people who bought Mac OS X 10.1 retail, by itself, can get an upgrade if purchased July 17 or later.
It's important to distinguish between "OS X" and "10.n." The name of the operating system is "Mac OS X," pronounced "Mac oh-ess ten." That's the name, just "Solaris" is the name of the operating system.
The version number is (currently) 10.1.5. So it's Mac OS X 10.1.5. In a month, it'll be Mac OS X 10.2. A year from now, it may (but probably won't, by then) be Mac OS X 11.0. There will never be a Mac OS XI, unless Apple decides to change the name of the OS.
Sorry to be so pedantic about this, but I'm just tired of seeing references to "OS X.1.5" and "OS X.2" and "OS XI."
Since you're posting as an AC, I have no idea who you are or what your background is. So I'll assume that you're just ignorant, and not stupid.
Free or super-cheap software upgrades are kind of a myth. For example, Microsoft offers upgrades to Windows XP for owners of '98, ME, NT4, and 2000 only, and that price is $199. If you're still running '95, you can only upgrade to XP by buying the full $299 retail package, or by buying a new computer.
At the high end, you typically only get upgrades on operating systems if you buy a support contract. I don't know about Sun or HP or IBM, specifically, but with SGI you have to pay $500 for each point release of the OS, unless you stay under a support contract. (Until recently, it was $2,000 per release.) So to go from 6.5.15f to 6.5.16f, it's $500, and from 6.5.16f to 6.5.17f, it's another $500. And these are minor feature releases, sent out every quarter. They're tiny in comparison to Apple's mostly-annual major feature releases. (SGI has two OS branches: feature [f] and maintenance [m]. You get bug fixes for free within the same major release, but you have to pay for new features. The maintenance releases have replaced the old patch system, where each bug fix was packaged separately and could be downloaded individually.)
So the idea that you should get OS X 10.2 for free or almost for free is out of line with the way the industry works. Bug fixes are free: 10.0.[1-4] and 10.1.[1-5] were free downloads to all users, whether they were under AppleCare or not. Hell, Apple didn't even check to see if you had a pirated copy of OS X; the OS has no serial number mechanism in it at all, so everybody gets bug fixes for free, even if they didn't buy the OS.
And as new feature releases goes, $129 is the lowest price in the industry, as far as I know.
So no, you're wrong. Pricing 10.2 as a for-sale upgrade only (except for specific price-protection situations) won't "sour anyone who bought 10.1 server." Unless they're pretty unreasonable and unrealistic people with no knowledge of how this sort of thing usually works, they won't be "soured" at all.
While I would feel like a cheap-skate, I would feel vindicated at this outrageous racketeering - $129 for an OS update. I thought only Microsoft (Win98 SE) pulled crap like that.
Read this post. Microsoft and every other OS vendor in the industry charge for feature releases. And all of them charge more for their feature releases than Apple is charging for Jaguar.
The fact that you bought the OS once doesn't mean you're entitled to a free copy of every release of the OS forever. That's a nice idea on its face and all, but it's not in line with industry practices.
For example, Microsoft offers upgrades to Windows XP for owners of '98, ME, NT4, and 2000 only, and that price is $199. If you're still running '95, you can only upgrade to XP by buying the full $299 retail package, or by buying a new computer.
Read all the above as "Professional." For "Home," decrease all prices by $100. Mind you, OS X is more comparable to Windows XP Professional than to any other MS operating system . . .
With SGI you have to pay $500 for each point release of the OS, unless you stay under a support contract.
While this is a far comparandum for Mac OS X Server, it is not reasonable to compare SGI to a consumer home computer operating system like OS X standard.
So the idea that you should get OS X 10.2 for free or almost for free is out of line with the way the industry works. Bug fixes are free: 10.0.[1-4] and 10.1.[1-5] were free downloads to all users, whether they were under AppleCare or not.
Basically, one comparing to Windows or the old MacOS - the only relevant OSes here, as they are the only true home consumer OSes for desktop and laptop machines - would expect all three kinds of upgrade: bug fixes (10.1.5 is a bugfix), for free; minor upgrades (10.1 and e.g. Windows 98 Second Edition) which are basically stable versions of an operating system that still needed work when it came out, for a relatively low upgrade price (say $30), and major upgrades (Windows 98 relative to Windows 95, or OS X 10.2 relative to OS X 10.[0-1]) for a steeper price, but still cheaper than buying the OS separately (around $100 or so). Also, one would expect from MS's pricing policy that a fresh install disk would cost about $100 more than a major upgrade; but Apple don't play that game.
And as new feature releases goes, $129 is the lowest price in the industry, as far as I know.
Well, I don't know; Linuxes are cheaper (e.g., RedHat 7.3 is cheaper), but we all know that the model is completely different for OSOSen.
The thing is, it never really sank inthat Apple was going to an odd-number-minor-upgrade / even-number-major-upgrade release number system until now. Once you think of OS X 10.2 as the Windows 98 to OS X's Windows 95, the pricing makes a lot more sense. (And after all, Windows 98 was just Windows 4.1, and Windows 95 was Windows 4.0).
So no, you're wrong. Pricing 10.2 as a for-sale upgrade only (except for specific price-protection situations) won't "sour anyone who bought 10.1 server." Unless they're pretty unreasonable and unrealistic people with no knowledge of how this sort of thing usually works, they won't be "soured" at all.Although it is often a little late Apple does seem to respond to criticism more so than other companies in their field. When they had that trouble providing faster G4s and had to rejigger their offering and cancel orders after the screaming they did the right thing by the people who had already ordered. My issue would be that frequently they flop on both accounts: 1. They don't seem to think about the strength of the negative reactions before they do something boneheaded 2. After the bonehead move they react too slowly to get any real goodwill in return for their "corrections."
What the hell are you talking about?
If you owned Windows 3.1x you could buy Windows 95 at an upgrade price. If you didn't, it was full price.
If you owned Windows NT 3.x you could buy Windows NT 4.0 at an upgrade price. If you didn't, it was full price.
If you owned Windows 3.1x, or 95 you could buy Windows 98 at an upgrade price. If you didn't, it was full price.
If you owned Windows 98, you could order a free (postage and handling) upgrade CD to get 98SE (just like OS X 10.0->10.1).
If you owned Windows NT 4.0 you could buy Windows 2000 at an upgrade price. If you didn't, it was full price.
If you owned Windows 95, 98, or 98SE you could buy Windows Ne at an upgrade price. If you didn't, it was full price.
If you owned Windows 2000 you could buy Windows XP Professional at an upgrade price. If you didn't, it was full price.
If you owned Windows 98, 98SE, or Me you could buy Windows XP Hope at an upgrade price. If you didn't, it was full price.
That is what it annoying people. No one is saying that Jaguar should be free; we're saying it should have an upgrade price just like Microsoft offers for Windows. In theory, you could still be paying upgrade pricing on Windows in a chain that started at Windows 3.x. A bit better then Apple, huh?
Upgrade pricing. That is what Jaguar doesn't have. Someone that bought 10.0 is being charged the same price to upgrade to Jaguar as someone that hasn't paid for a Mac OS since 9.0 (or hell, even 8). We don't want to pay the same amount as someone that hasn't already bought it!
People don't want Jaguar to be free. People that have already paid full price for a copy of OS X want a fair upgrade price.
The problem with this is it STILL punishes the people that bought 10.0, the early adopters that worked to grow the platform.
Sure, lots of people rushed and bought 10.1, because it was the first version that was really usable. And all of those people got to take advantage of the apps written by the early adopters.
Apple should cough it up and let people that paid for 10.0 retail box get a $20 upgrade this time around. Return the favor!
Question to you: how to you expect to return it without a reciept?
Quit whining...
Disclaimer: This comment was generated by a Flock of Trained Microsoft Programmers for Aqua_Geek.