Apple also offer a very clear cut-off date where purchasers of the current OS, or machines with the current OS, qualify for free upgrades (pay for shipping) to the new OS. I can't remember off hand how they pick the date, but it's always announced when the new OS is officially announced/priced/dated.

Microsoft has made even that, extremely confusing and difficult. I really don't see myself ever paying for any portion of another MS OS in any way, shape or form. I also don't ever see myself moving my two only Windows systems away from XP, unless it's one of them to Linux.

I do see running Linux full-time, perhaps on one of those two systems or on a new system to replace one or both of them at some point. However, I can't imagine recommending Linux to a friend who isn't already extremely computer savvy. Unless of course it was a system I knew would be dedicated to very specific tasks ahead of time. BUt that really depends on the tasks and of course the users. Not great for the crowd that loves to double-click exe's from emails for instance.