OS and Software > All Things Macintosh > Apple to charge to unlock 802.11n

Apple to charge to unlock 802.11n

Pretty ballsy, and how convenient to blame the government. Why not charge 99 cents and make it a download in iTunes?
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You're so vain... I bet you think this post is about you.

reply to leXicon5
considering many who complain about an apple product and fill out class suits because, "days later, the better and newer came out and we were not told", I can understand the charge.
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Have you considered the value of an enema?

At least they have a valid reason.

"I’m not going to claim to understand this next part, which really just makes no sense to me at all, but the claim Apple’s making is that it _can’t_ give you the 802.11n-unlocking software for free. The reason: the Core 2 Duo Macs weren’t advertised as 802.11n-ready, and a little law called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act supposedly prohibits Apple from giving away an unadvertised new feature for one of its products. Hence, said the Apple rep, the company’s not distributing new _features_ in Software Update any more, just _bug fixes._ Because of Sarbanes-Oxley. If this is an accurate statement of Apple’s position, which as an attorney (but not one with any Sarbanes background) I find at least plausible, this is really crazy."

»backstage.ilounge.com/index.php/···c2d-mac/

reply to leXicon5
Meh, its only $4.99, dunno what people are getting so freaked out about.

reply to MacWin
I call BS on the SO excuse. I've downloaded plenty of software from Software Update that has enabled features that were not there before.

quote:

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According to the editor, the fee stems from a law called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which supposedly prohibits Apple from giving away an unadvertised new feature of an already sold product without enduring some onerous accounting measures.

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"Unfortunately I deal with SOX at work and it is a PITA."

Makes me glad I'm with a private company.

reply to leXicon5
Lame garbage...

its coming from appleinsider ....

reply to zeromips

reply to leXicon5
If it's a choice between not giving away any more new features and risking Federal "pound me in the ass" prison, management will kill or charge for the features every time.

Time to hoist the Jolly Roger for third party 'n' users, I think.

reply to MacWin
I'm in the software business. I can see the reasoning here. It could very well stem not so much from SOX (as it's called), but also existing contracts with gov't pricing schedules. This is a legitimate concern.

SOX rules prohibit you from selling "future features" with an existing sale. For example, if I were to sell you a piece of software, I have to represent what it does TODAY. I cannot give you "future" features. Most Software companies work around this with maintenance fees. You basically cannot sell what you do not have.

So, my guess is Apple is going to sell this as a new feature. Therefore, they can't give it away.

Stupid, but blame the accountants, Enron, MCI, and all the others that SOX came from.

reply to bbarrera
Advertising unavailable features is ALSO a violation.

"Advertising unavailable features is ALSO a violation."

Shhh the people on the front page thread might hear you and then what would they be able to bash Apple about.

What's that???

Easy enough

tell Application Airport

{give me my draft N}

end tell

Someone will find a way.
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It's a SYN, not to ACK your packets.

reply to leXicon5
I'm sure there will be third party apps that do this in no time. Apple just needs to charge to cover their asses. Look at the iBook G3/G4s for example. They were not advertised to have Extended Desktop, but a OpenFirmware hack was released that enabled it without any problems.
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University of Southern California - Class of 2010. Fight On!

reply to leXicon5
Bah im sure the day the new AEBS hits the market, that enabler will be spread via Bit Torrent in a flash.
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I ignore all ignorant posts.

reply to russotto
then how did directv get away with sellng its hr-20 hddvr that had the connections for ota,network,ect... but did not work because they needed to be enabled via software updates once they got the outher bugs fixed.