Replies

Thanks for the article Sudetenland. $29 for an upgrade “sounds” like a good deal till you read the fine print. Again, this is the kind of sneaky behavior where it seems Apple it trying to hoodwink it’s own users.

Shouldn't be hard to do...look how much they hooked 'em for in buying their computers in the first place. :)

Old P.T. Barnum would be proud.

Thanks for the article Sudetenland. $29 for an upgrade “sounds” like a good deal till you read the fine print. Again, this is the kind of sneaky behavior where it seems Apple it trying to hoodwink it’s own users.

What's the problem? There is nothing sneaky going on. It IS a good deal.

Itsahoot is right. You both suffer from Apple Derangement Syndrome. It is the author of that article who is hoodwinking you—and also suffers from ADS.

Coming September 2009 with every new Mac.
Upgrade from Mac OS X Leopard for just $29.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard requires an Intel-based Mac.
How to get Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard will be available in September 2009. Here’s how to get it.
With every new Mac.
When it’s released, every new Mac computer will come with Mac OS X Snow Leopard already installed. You won’t need to do anything.
Snow Leopard Up-to-Date Program.
If you purchased a qualifying Mac on or after June 8, 2009, that does not include Mac OS X Snow Leopard, you can upgrade for $9.95.
Upgrading from Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard.
If your Intel-based Mac is running Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, just purchase Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard when it’s available and follow the simple installation instructions.
Upgrading from Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger.
If your Intel-based Mac is running Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger, purchase the Mac Box Set (when available), which is a single, affordable package that includes Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard; iLife ’09, with the latest versions of iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD; and iWork ’09, Apple’s productivity suite for home and office including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.
[The $169 Mac Box Set includes:

iLife'09 upgrade, sold separately for $79
iWork'09 package, sold separately for $79
OS X.6 Snow Leopard, cost to the user just $11
—Swordmaker]
Source: Apple's Snow Leopard pages

The upgrade for ANY Mac user who already has ANY version of the Intel based OS X.5 Leopard to OS X.6 Snow Leopard is only $29. According to Apple, that includes over 80% of the early buyers of the original Intel Macs that came with Tiger.

No one is being cheated. It's an upgrade to LEOPARD... not to any other previous version of the OS. If a Mac user doesn't have the Intel version of Leopard, then Snow Leopard is not an option—unless they either buy an Intel Mac, or If they have an early Intel Mac, and are still using OS X.4 Tiger, then they need to buy Leopard so it can be updated.

The fact people who upgraded from OS X.4 Tiger to Leopard paid $129 (for a single license) is irrelevant to the upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard. I upgraded from Tiger to Leopard (five license package - $189 = $37.80 per Mac) 20 months ago.

I did not upgrade because I wanted to eventually upgrade to Snow Leopard. I upgraded because I wanted what Leopard could do... that Tiger could not. I have had 20 months of use trouble-free, productive use of Leopard. It is fully amortized; I have gotten my money's worth already. My cost to upgrade my machines would be $29 each, however, I will buy a five license package for $49.

Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard: How much do upgrades really cost? 421 posted on 07/04/2009 5:06:28 PM PDT by Sudetenland

Thanks for the article Sudetenland. $29 for an upgrade “sounds” like a good deal till you read the fine print. Again, this is the kind of sneaky behavior where it seems Apple it trying to hoodwink it’s own users.

I thought it was patent in their announcement that you get Snow Leopard for $29 only if you already have Leopard - and that Snow Leopard announces the phaseout of support for the PowerPC. I would be seriously disappointed if I were the last guy to by a PowerPC Mac. But Apple had to drop the PowerPC because the imposture that the "industry standard" Intel wasn't good enough for Apple just became absurd.
Jobs came back to Apple and he cleared the decks by transitioning the Apple platform to Unix (which Jobs was committed to at the time he initially left Apple) and by abandoning Apple's quixotic aversion to Intel. At this point you have two competing software platforms, both running on similar hardware. You buy "Wintel" and you get backwards compatibility to old PC aps - and a history of egregious vulnerability to relatively crude hacks. You buy "Mactel" and you get compatibility with Unix apps (I claim no expertise other than that OS X has a Unix certificate Leopard gets UNIX 03 certification), and you get a history of no viruses in the wild. You still have to have your wits about you if someone targets a phishing attack at you - but the lack of a credible virus threat makes you less vulnerable to phishing attacks which exploit paranoia about viruses.
But it cost something to get to this place - it cost the burning of bridges behind, which means customers who bought products which became obsolescent rather quickly. But it is not clear that there are any more of those bullets to have to bite, unless it is the 4GB barrier. It appears that Snow Leopard is the road map forward, and the one thing that figures to threaten the modernity of recently purchased Macs it the likely development of software which wants more than 4GB of RAM. But I assume that 4GB-limited hardware will be quite useful for some years to come.

The next version is $29 if you have the current version. This is not rocket science, and it’s not “fine print” — it’s what Apple announced.