Why give away OS X Mavericks for free? Because it makes Apple more money

One of the biggest changes to OS X Mavericks from the previous version of Apple's operating system is its price -- it’s free.

Sure, it’s not entirely unheard of for operating systems to be free. Windows 8.1 was a free upgrade for Windows 8 users, for example. And Linux has always been free. But Apple has historically charged money for its new operating systems, ranging from $129 (for the original OS X 10.0) to $29 (OS X 10.7 Lion) to $19.99 (OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion). Given that smartphone OS upgrades (for both Android and iOS) have always been free, are we seeing the end of paid OS upgrades? It sure seems likely, at least for Apple, and perhaps even Microsoft will follow, too. Mavericks' pricing further confirms what we’ve seen in recent years: traditional PC sales are on the wane, and Apple is a company that makes money off hardware devices and online services rather than its operating systems. It appears that Apple now wants to encourage upgrades as a way to push users not only to buy new hardware, but also to spend more money on iCloud, iTunes Match, and making App Store purchases.