Do you really have to pay for point releases?

Hi.

I'm currently a windows/Linux user looking to make the change, I'm really close, but there are a few things that make me step back and have another think about it before getting the credit card out.

Perhaps I don't fully understand what I've read from a selection of web sites, if so, please correct me.

From what I understand, each version of OS X carries a full price. There may be upgrade prices, I've not really checked, to be honest I had imagined that each X.x release would be just something you downloaded, much similar to the SP1 & SP2 of Windows.

I now belive that should I buy a MacBook now with 10.5 on it, then in a few months, 10.6 is released, I would have to pay for this upgrade.

I understand the Windows SPs tend to be fixes rather than innovations, but still, it does seem a little better economic sense to only buy an OS upgrade once every 5 years (maybe XP has been out a little longer than planned...)

Do I understand things correctly?

Thanks for any info here.

Dave

Each release is few and far between. Within each release they have revisions like the current version is 10.4.7. It is not just like a service pack in XP, each version of OS X carries loads of new features. If you bought a macbook now it would have 10.4 on it, Leopard will be 10.5.

OK, right now the most recent version is 10.4.7 To upgrade to 10.4.8 would be like windows releasing their free upgrades. To upgrade to 10.5 would be like upgrading from windows xp to vista: you have to pay for this upgrade. OS 10.5 is projected to be released in Spring of '07. They won't release 10.6 within a few months, most likely it will be a few years after 10.5 before that is released.