Apple has confirmed that they will be giving away a free upgrade to the latest version of OS X (10.9) or codename Mavericks for those who have been following it by its codename. The news isn’t without a catch as the free downloadable upgrade which will arrive via the Mac App Store is only available to Mac users who are running at least Snow Leopard or above.

In addition Apple made another significant and rather stunning announcement. Going forward Apple intends to no longer charge for OS X point releases of the operating system going forward. Previously, Apple charged for point releases of its OS X operating system. The decision could have a far reaching impact in the Microsoft camp after the dust settles.

Mavericks is hailed as a very significant release of OS X for the Mac. Version 10.9 comes with new apps and features as well as significant performance and battery life improvements over previous versions of OS X according to Apple.

Mac users running OS X and are at least on Snow Leopard from 2007 onward will be able to download the upgrade starting today.