Apple was victorious against Microsoft last week, after CNET ran a Windows XP versus Mac OS X death match, and eventually awarded Mac the trophy.
The punch-up was actually a dead heat but Apple won when the judges ruled its upgrade/licensing deal gave it the edge. However, Apple's victory was shortlived, as a quick rethink saw the battle royal reduced to a draw - apparently the Mac OS X upgrade/licensing path is only better value than WinXP's if you pirate the software.
In the revised version, the 2-2 draw (with one round tied) remains the same, but the motivation behind the winner is altered, as this correction states:
- "Some of you may have noticed that in an earlier version of this story, we gave a slight edge to OS X. One of the primary factors behind this decision was the cost of each upgrade as it relates to licensing requirements.
Although it is true that OS X lacks a feature like Windows XP's product activation that would bar you from installing it on more than on system, it is still a violation of Apple's end-user licensing agreement to install the upgrade on multiple systems.
We regret any misleading information in the initial version, which has now been updated to clarify this issue.