14 DAY TRIAL // To be honest, I don't think that Apple is in the position of introducing small fees for minor things, because they don't need such a thing. After all, software development costs should be included in the hardware's price, isn't it? Well, this is not always true, but if you get a Mac, then you also pay for the Mac OS X that comes with it and all the applications bundled, right?
Previously, it was supposed that Boot Camp and the new 802.11n wireless technologies should be available for free, but it seems that we were wrong, and despite the fact that these fees are small, it seems they will have to be paid to get the goodies. Let's see what we're talking about here...
IEEE 802.11 is also known as Wi-Fi and is a set of Wireless LAN/WLAN standards, and while the legacy standard, released in 1997, specified a typical data rate of 1 Mbit/s and a maximum data rate of 2 Mbit/s, the 802.11n protocol, present in latest Core 2 Duo Macs, has a typical data rate of 200 Mbit/s, a maximum of 540 Mbit/s and improved range (about 50 meteres indoors and 125 meters outdoors, but these depend on a lot of many factors).
Now, the funny part about the AirPort Extreme - that is able to work according to 802.11n specifications and is present in all Intel Core 2 Duo and Xeon Macs, as well as the Apple TV - is that according to Apple, you need an "enabler software" to make them work, and this application is included with the new AirPort Extreme or priced at 1.99$ separately. So... why not available as a free download? Come on!
At last, we have the Boot Camp. So far, the Boot Camp software was available as a beta product for Mac OS X 10.4 users, enabling the "Mactel" users to install and run Windows in a separate partition without any additional costs. Now, it seems that although Leopard users will get it bundled into the OS, "Apple may offer a version of the final build of its Boot Camp software as a fee-based product for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger users", according to Macworld's Jonny Evans. That doesn't seem fair to me, but business is business. We shall see what happens pretty soon, since the countdown to Leopard is on...