Jaguar --> Panther "free" upgrade?

[shecky]

Historically, what is the timeline for Apple to give you a free (or $20) upgrade to a new OS when you just bought a machine with a current OS? In other words, i buy a new powerbook next week, they release Panther september 16th, am i likely to be qualified for the free/cheap upgrade to Panther? what if they release it in January at MWSF?

i seem to vaguely remember about a 3 month window on 10.1 to 10.2 for a $20 upgrade?

[Chaszmyr]

To put it simply, I think it is very unlikely that if you buy a computer now you will qualify for a Panther upgrade. My reason for this is because they havent said anything about people ordering G5s getting upgrades, and Panther has already been announced.... I could ofcourse be wrong though

[shecky]

Panther has not been announced. I cannot go buy Panther yet. Whatever policy Apple puts in place regarding upgrades will not be written until Panther is on sale.

[GeeYouEye]

You remember incorrectly in regards to Puma --> Jaguar. In that situation, it was announced on July 17 (as was iCal, which is why the icon reverts to then if you restart your computer, but I digress), with availability on August 24. Anyone who bought a Mac after July 17 qualified for the "free" (read: $20 S&H) upgrade. Anyone who bought a Mac after August 24 that didn't have Jaguar got it for free (no S&H)

In this case, (assuming everything's the same) assuming Panther is announced on Sept. 16 to be shipping, say, October 23, then you would need to buy a Mac after Sept. 16 to get Panther for $20. To get Panther for free, you would need to buy a Mac after Oct. 23.