System 7.5

System 7.5 — The TidBITS-243 article about upgrading to System 7.5 provoked commentary from several readers. Carsten Klapp <[email protected]> wrote, "I for one am not going to rush out and buy System 7.5 right away, as I did when System 7.1 came out, because Apple does not yet recognize the importance of the people who are the first to buy a new product. The early purchasers often dictate how well software will sell, because they tell the rest of the market whether to buy now, later, or not at all. Ideally I would like to see discounts for early purchasers of system software along with the discounts for people who purchase the software late. Those in the middle pay the full price – they did not support the development of the software by buying into it early, nor did they wait for the next version."

People outside the U.S. weren’t helped much by the article, since I could find little information about how they can upgrade. It almost seems that Apple doesn’t want anyone outside of the U.S. to upgrade. Andrew Pitts <[email protected]> had this to say, "I just rang the U.K. System 7.5 upgrade line (0181-730-2828). My pleasure at finding Apple U.K. sufficiently connected to home base to have already set up a dedicated phone line for System 7.5 info was short lived. I was informed that despite having bought a PowerBook 540 a few weeks ago (one of the lucky few, it seems), Apple U.K. is charging 30 pounds plus shipping and VAT (coming to a grand total of 41.13 pounds, (about U.S. $66) to obtain System 7.5." [TJE]