MacOS X.1 is out. Kinda. The update to OSX will turn Apple's next-gen operating system into something genuinely functional, as opposed to a penance that the Mac faithful endure in the service of getting involved with the new new thing.
The update is free. As it should be. X.0 – X.0.4 aren't even betas (a beta is feature-complete — the previous OSXs are missing key features that are provided in X.1), and the Mac faithful paid cash for them. We have a right to expect our faith to be rewarded.
Free it may be, available it ain't. There are currently three ways of getting the update. You can go to Seybold, you can give Apple $20 and wait an unspecified number of weeks for them to ship you the CDs, or you can get it free from a Mac dealer on Saturday (except that what few Mac dealers remain after Apple squeezed their retail channel dry have no idea how they're expected to get the free discs to distribute).
You can't download it. Granted, it's a big, big file — 500MB! — but isn't that why Apple bought such a huge stake in Akamai? Apple's not even permitting its faithful users to redistribute the file. If Apple has its way, no one, anywhere, will be allowed to distribute the update over the Internet.
Computers got valuable about 15 years ago when they got really good at converting bits (page layouts) to atoms (paper). Apple led that charge. Now, the real value of computers comes in their ability to move bits from one place to another — to exploit the Internet and live on it like a real peer. Apple usually understands this: That's why we've got a new MacOS built around Unix, and why Apple brought 802.11 networking to the world. So why is it that Apple has been so clueless on the distribution of the OSX update? Even if Apple opted not to make the update available online, keeping their users from doing so — bearing the costs on Apple's behalf — seems like sheer mailice.
I'm stymied. And I want my update, dammit.
Here's a MacSlash discussion of the issue:
