ElDiabloConCaca has it right. In past upgrades systems eligible for a free upgrades had to have been purchased after the firm release date is announced. There was an exception made for the G5 Macs when Panther was released, but that was a one time good deal. The downside of the free upgrades has been they are upgrade only installers and if it ever becomes necessary to reinstall the OS you have to go back and reinstall the original OS and then upgrade to the new OS version. A real PITA.