> If Apple is in fact punishing Tiger users for skipping Leopard and gouging them by forcing them (by not offering a stand alone 10.6 upgrade) to buy a $169 box instead of the usual $129,

'Punishing', 'Gouging' -- at $40? This is your issue? (and you conveniently neglect to state that the box includes iLife & iWork)

> If that's the road Apple is taking, I'll be getting out and warning others to avoid Mac lock-in.

If? The SL upgrade path is clear. (...and why would you need to warn anyone? They can decide for themselves.)

> Resolving what the actual licensing situation is will speak volumes about what type of company the Apple of today is and will factor in whether people want to do business with them.

Nothing to resolve. The SLA is clear.

"To be clear, installing the $29 upgrade to Snow Leopard on a system not already running a properly licensed copy of Leopard is a violation of the end-user license agreement that comes with the product. But Apple's decision is a refreshing change: rewarding honest people with a hassle-free product rather than trying to punish dishonest people by treating everyone like a criminal. This "honor system" upgrade enforcement policy partially explains the big jump to $169 for the Mac Box Set, which ends up re-framed as an honest person's way to get iLife and iWork at their usual prices, plus Snow Leopard for $11 more." -- http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2009/08/mac-os-x-10-6.ars/2