Apple Computer has been turned into an unwitting Santa Claus after some Mac diehards discovered a way to turn a complimentary Mac OS X upgrade CD into a free copy of the operating system itself.
In October, Apple gave away thousands of free CDs that offered owners of Mac OS X a free upgrade to version 10.1--the first major update to the new OS and a key enabler for tasks such as playing DVD movies and burning files onto DVDs. However, what was designed to be a nice perk for early adopters of the new OS turned out to be a way for holdouts to get a free version of Mac OS X, which normally costs US$129.
Last week, Mac site Macfixit.com posted details that could be used to provide a complete installation of Mac OS X, even for those who did not have a copy of an earlier version. Macfixit later took down the posting after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Apple.