Apple blames Enron for 802.11n card charges

According to Ilounge, the Duo ships with a card capable of the jolly nice 802.11b,g, wireless standards and Apple will distribute software to let you unlock it.

But while it does not cost Apple to give away the software to unlock the standard on your card, the outfit is going to charge its punters to access the hardware that you have already paid for.

But Apple is not saying that it is being a skinflint company which is trying to screw its punters for every penny it can. It is blaming an obscure interpretation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) designed in the wake of the Enron scandal to keep companies financially honest.

Apple thinks that SOX prohibits it from giving away an unadvertised new feature for one of its products. This is apparently why Apple does not give away new features in its Software Updates these days and just calls them bug fixes.

Actually Apple admits that it is not the law itself which is causing the problem. Apparently there's a lot of paperwork involved to make such free software legal in the eyes of the Act.

It means that Apple can release a new range of hardware to provide you with the access to the hardware that you have already bought.

The irony.

More here. µ