Just off the phone with Apple, which says Mac owners with 802.11n-capable hardware will be charged a $1.99 fee: A spokesperson with Apple provided me with a response that explains that the updater will be available for purchase from their online store at a "nominal fee" in order "to comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for revenue recognition, which generally require that we charge for significant feature enhancements, such as 802.11n, when added to previously purchased products."
The company will eventually fully enable 802.11n on all Macs with appropriate hardware that they ship. The spokesperson couldn't yet provide a timetable for when that switchover would happen. If you purchase a Mac with Draft N chips between now and then, it's possible you would need to pay the $1.99, but, frankly, you'll just find someone with the enabler, won't you?
The enabler will be included on the new AirPort Extreme Base Station's CD.
So... you're suggesting software piracy?
[Editor's note: Tricky question. I'm not advocating distributing the software, which would be piracy. But if I buy the software, use it, and then give it to you, deleting my copies, that should conform to the principles of software sales, which are generally allowed in the US, even if the sale is for zero dollars.--gf]
I'm an accountant, and am not aware that GAAP requires a vendor to charge for updates. Apple is just being greedy.
[Editor's note: There's been coverage elsewhere that Apple is being tendentious in saying GAAP requires this. What GAAP requires, other reports indicate, is that significant deliverable items have their revenue accounted for at the appropriate time. Apple is playing the game that they delivered the entire system (the computer without N functionality) at the time they sold the computers to people, and thus booking revenue then. They want to establish a separate revenue event to account for providing a substantive new feature. If they charged nothing, they would have to restate revenue to either move the revenue to when the feature was released (the product being then complete), or split out revenue and restate earnings for it based on the value of the feature. By using a small fee, they are apparently adhering to the letter of GAAP regulations, but GAAP doesn't per se require a fee to be charged. There are many other options.-gf]