OS X Mavericks vs. Windows 8.1: Which is really free?

Last week’s post on how operating systems want to be free sparked a very interesting discussion and apparently caused InfoWorld’s J. Peter Bruzzese to agree (somewhat) in his column, “There’s no free lunch, but there could be a ‘free’ Windows.” One of Peter’s main points was that Apple giving away OS X Mavericks for free was analogous to Microsoft “giving away” the Windows 8.1 upgrade. He followed up with the claim that by also giving away iWork with iOS and Mac OS X, Apple was showing some desperation, given that nobody wants or uses iWork. In addition, he made hay about the $2,999 price tag for the new Mac Pro, and he concluded by saying that Windows would only be “free” when offered as part of a subscription.

Whether or not Microsoft ever offers Windows for free, I think I need to clarify a few things. I’m not heavily invested in either side of this debate, and I truly could not care less about the OS wars, but facts are facts.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Deathmatch review: Windows 8.1 vs. OS X Mavericks | Operating systems want to be free | For quick, smart takes on the news you’ll be talking about, check out the InfoWorld TechBrief — subscribe today. ]

First off, offering OS X Mavericks for free is not the same as a free Windows 8.1 upgrade. It would be the same if Microsoft offered Windows 8 as a free upgrade from Windows 7, which is clearly not the case. Of course, the way that Windows 8 adoption is going, Microsoft may have to resort to a giveaway to get more people on board. Sticking a start menu icon in Windows 8.1 that merely opens to Metro isn’t going to impress most of us.

Upgrades to point releases have long been complimentary for for-cost operating systems, but moving to full releases has usually been attached to a dollar figure. This was true for just about every monetized OS out there. Now, it’s a different ballgame. The upgrade from Mac OS X 10.8 to Mac OS X 10.9 is free; the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 is not.

As far as iWork goes, I must agree to a point. I don’t think it was truly desperation, but an effort to gain mind share about these applications. The iWork suite is more than capable of providing for all the word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation needs of the vast majority of Mac owners. However, those business users who have mind-melded to Excel won’t be using Numbers anytime soon.

Most of us can float between different word processors and even presentation software relatively easily, but spreadsheets are a different beast. I’ve seen things done in Excel that violate the laws of physics and number theory, and usually, those responsible for creating and maintaining those “spreadsheets” would rather jump into a lava pit than try to replicate their abomination in anything else. Frankly, the lava pit would be the better end of the bargain. But I digress.

For balancing a checkbook or doing simple sales data analysis, writing a letter, or even preparing a business presentation, iWork will, well, work. If it shows up for free on every Apple device, it will get used more often, and possibly even make a dent in Microsoft’s Office for Mac sales. I don’t expect it to make a dent in Office for Windows sales, other than those who are moving from Windows to Mac anyway.

Apple has clearly determined that the cost of development and maintenance for iWork is a reasonable price to pay for sweetening the Mac offering by giving away these tools for free. The proof of that is in the pudding.

Now, as to the claim that OS X isn’t really free because you have to buy a Mac to use it — well, unless you’re building a PC from scratch, you’ll have to buy Windows when you buy a PC anyway. Sure, if you say that you need to buy a $2,999 computer just to run Mac OS X, it sounds ridiculous. But of course, you don’t. You can buy a $599 Mac Mini or a $1,199 MacBook Pro. You could buy a used Mac and upgrade it for free. If you want to get freaky, build a Hackintosh. You obviously won’t get support from Apple, but you can run OS X on the right PC hardware if you have the desire.

And can we please dispense with the ridiculous comparisons of Apple workstations to general-purpose PCs in terms of cost? Head over to HP or Dell and spec out a workstation-class system with the same specs as the new Mac Pro, such as an HP Z420. You won’t be able to match it exactly because you’ll have a hard time getting six Thunderbolt ports in the HP. Oh, and don’t forget about adding the dual GPUs with 2GB GDDR5 VRAM each and the 12GB of 1866MHz DDR3 ECC RAM that come standard with the Mac Pro.

Even if you leave out the Thunderbolt ports and you match the CPU, RAM, video, and disk options as close as you can, you’ll find that the same — or lesser spec — system at HP or Dell costs at least as much, and usually more, than the Mac Pro. A workstation is a workstation, and a desktop is a desktop. If you want to compare like systems, compare a standard HP desktop system to an iMac.

As far as Windows being “free” as a component of a software subscription, that might be workable in the corporate world, but I don’t see it working reliably with respect to the general computing public. I think we’re going to see Windows become a commodity to be included in the build cost of a PC for every vendor, not unlike the cost of an Ethernet controller, power supply, or hard drive. Sure, the cost of Windows is incorporated into the overall cost of a PC now, but in the future, upgrades for that version are going to have to be free, just as Apple has done with Mac OS X.

If you buy a new PC with Windows 8 on it, Windows 9 will need to be delivered free of charge. Windows 10? Same thing. To do this, the upgrade will have to be delivered over the wire — nobody’s expecting to get a DVD in the mail — but the perpetual for-cost Windows upgrade days are numbered, if not already over, for the general user.

Businesses will continue to pay for site licenses or whatnot due to support concerns and other corporation-centric requirements, but for nonbusiness use, Microsoft will have to match Apple’s move — soon. After all, if we ignore build quality and an identical-spec PC costs within a few hundred dollars of a Mac, and the Mac brings free upgrades, an office suite, and iLife with the bundle, well, it’s not hard to see which is the better deal.

This story, “OS X Mavericks vs. Windows 8.1: Which is really free?,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Paul Venezia’s The Deep End blog at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.