Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!
If you don't want to pay for it, then dont... And keep your mouth shut. They charge for it, because people are willing to pay. Simple business. A lot of manpower and funds went into the OS development, would be stupid to give it out for free.
I bet that if you physically went to an apple store, they would sell you the brand new OS for $30. Nio fees for Leopard involved.
In respect to your comment that they neglect loyal users, that is far from the truth. I walk in and they do everything to help me if I am having issues with any of their products, as they can see my history in that I am a Mac person. They go above and beyond, normally just swapping me out with the most brand new model, fully upgraded with no complaints on their part. That's corporate responsibility.
Just show them your puppy dog face