question for Mac owners

[cellio]

I've searched Apple's site for this and done some googling, and near as I can tell Apple hasn't published an answer to my question and it's all speculation. But I might not be looking in the right places -- and certainly don't know the relevant history -- so I'll appeal to my friends for insight.

A relative has Jaguar and is eyeing Panther. He's also eyeing Tiger, which (officially) is being released in the first half of 2005 (but some people seem to be skeptical about that). It costs $129 to upgrade from Jaguar to Panther. No Panther-to-Tiger price has been published.

My question: would an upgrade path that goes through Panther cost appreciably more than a direct upgrade from Jaguar to Tiger when it comes out? Or, by buying Panther, does one get a better price toward Tiger later? If we spend $129 to get him an upgrade now, are we just buying six months' worth of joy or are we doing more for him?

Comments

Re: Max OS X 10.x versions

[jslove.livejournal.com]

Just signed up today. Previously I'd been reading over persistalismum's shoulder.

I am running 10.3.6 on this machine. Given 10.x.y, all the 'y' upgrades are free. My server is running 10.2.8 because I didn't want to shell out another $500 for it, but I'll spend the money for Tiger Server.

I think the family pack explicitly allows kids who move away to college to continue on that license. I recommend you read the terms rather than relying on me for this, though. I think the key word is family, but if you have unrelated people living under one roof then it would be living in the same home.

There was a Family Pack on iLife as well, 5 users for $80 instead of one for $50. Server uses serial numbers, but the regular OS license and iLife are all on the honor system.

Re: Max OS X 10.x versions

[cellio]

I think the family pack explicitly allows kids who move away to college to continue on that license. I recommend you read the terms rather than relying on me for this, though.

It was a hypothetical thought; my father, niece, and nephew are all computer-savvy, but the trait skipped my sister. While the kids spend lots of time at my father's house, they don't count as living there. :-)