

Apple Just Ended the Era of Paid Operating Systems - oBeLx
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/apple-ends-paid-oses/

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pedalpete
I love how Apple ended the era, when Microsoft just offered their last update
for free starting last week. But enough of the Apple sensationalism, in fact,
this is just not true.

The OSs are only now free as upgrades, sure this seems free from the end-user
point of view, the real money is made (by Microsoft) on the licenses
manufacturers and businesses pay for the OS. I suspect the 'upgrade' fees were
always just a nice icing on the cake.

Furthermore, with the free upgrades, OS companies get to decide when you are
forced to update your hardware. Automatically stripping the availability for
hardware more than two years old (as I believe Apple have done with iOS7)
means that those devices now feel ages older. Both Microsoft and Apple can
play this game where devices runnning an older chip are not allowed to upgrade
and possibly not allowed to run newer programs, suggesting/forcing the user to
purchase new hardware.

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charliekubal
Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, but weren't old versions of OS 9 free back in
the day?

Also, what's with the headline followed by this in the second paragraph: "And
just last week, Microsoft announced that, much like Apple, it would not charge
consumers who upgrade their machines to the latest version of Windows, version
8.1."

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serf
MAN!

Apple is first to do everything.

First to free, first tablet, first rounded rectangle.

Amazing.

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collyw
Hmm, I haven't paid for a Linux distribution since I started using it over ten
years ago.

