This is part of a bigger company wide strategy to offer software updates for free for their products, a strategy they pioneered with iOs. There's also a huge d

This is part of a bigger company wide strategy to offer software updates for free for their products, a strategy they pioneered with iOs. There's also a huge difference in what each update adds when compared to 8.1 . Where 8.1 tries to fix all the initial issues with W8 (missing start button anyone?), Maverick adds serious new features (1+ hour of battery, compressed RAM). The free iWork suite is a direct attack to MSFT Office. Giving it away for free will pay long term in decreasing market share for Office. Office H&O is $220. Buy a Mac/iPhone/iPad and you get that for free.