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.

Comments

Very Minor Changes

[tbmaddux]

For regular MacOS X, all that has changed is the $19.95 (which is "free" in Apple terms) upgrade to 10.2 for people who purchase retail copies of MacOS X 10.1.x between the MWNY keynote and when Jaguar comes out. This makes sense, since otherwise nobody would bother to purchase existing on-shelf copies of MacOS X between then and now.

It's the same for MacOS X Server, with the notable exception that all owners of XServe machines can get the "free" upgrade, no matter when they bought their machine.

For everyone else, the full pricetag applies. Before MacOS X, Apple used to provide upgrade rebates of $20 or $30. You sent in one of those "software coupons" and got a check in the mail. Those days appear to be gone since the advent of MacOS X.

Re:Very Minor Changes

[foobar104]

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.

50 bucks off.

[iomud]

Amazon is offering a $50 mail in rebate for jaguar as part of a back to school promotion. Looks legit to me *shrug*

Re:Not up to snuff

[pi radians]

I think Apple customers are used to getting their bug fixes for free.

They are getting them for free. Jaguar isn't a bug fix.

Re:50 bucks off, still less for students

[johnpaul191]

the news of this was around a few days ago, though it takes effect today. i would think a $50 rebate has Apple's hand in it, right? if that's true, i wonder if we will be seeing more 10.2 rebates pop up. i guess right now i'll buy from amazon. might be a good excuse to pick up some DVDs and books since it'll hit the free shipping price break.
though the student price is still the best if you are associated with a university, they can get it for $69 through the edu store at Apple.com or i guess through their campus bookstore.

Re:Question:

[foobar104]

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.

Re:Save $50 on Jaguar

[Paradise Pete]

It's through Amazom but hey, $50 is $50.

"I've got principles...hang on, what's that? $50? Sold!"

Re:Not up to snuff

[foobar104]

If that's the case, then why isn't it version 1.2 instead of 10.2?

Because there was never a version 1.0 of Mac OS X. The first version of Mac OS X was version 10.0. That's easy to understand: the previous version of Mac OS (actually an entirely different product) was 9.0, so the next version (a new product) was called 10.0.

The branding ("Mac OS X") is separate from the version number ("10.2").

Expensive?

[h0tblack]

"This is good news to people who just bought an expensive XServe with expensive Mac OS X Server "

OS X 10.2 is quite an expensive upgrade and the server version even moreso, especially when extras which bring out the most of 10.2 like QuicktimePro and .mac are included. That said, saying that the Xserve and OS X Server are expensive is ridiculous. The Xserve is an extremely well priced server for what it does, especially compared to competing servers. Also the version of OS X server included with the Xserve gives you unlimited clients, unlike say Windows 2k. If you don't believe Appl'es comments on this, there's always LinuxWorld's take on the subject: http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/0724.m acx.html
It's great news that Apple are taking note of criticism and opening up the up-to-date program, but don't confuse this argument by saying that the initial products themselves are expensive.