just bought Snow leopard 10.6.3 and upgraded my 2008 iMAC; now want to use the free upgrade to Maverick... is that possible? I read compatibility requirement of 10.6.8 or later...

Before installation you should back up all your data.

When you have installed it, run Software Update to download and install the latest updates for Snow Leopard to bring it up to 10.6.8, or download the combo update from here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399

Check via Software Update whether any further updates are required, particularly to iTunes (you will need the latest version in order to synch with mobile devices).

You should now see the App Store icon in iTunes, and you now need to set up your account:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4479

You can now upgrade to Mavericks OS 10.9 for free IF you have one of the following Macs, with not less than 2GB of RAM, and at least 8GB of available space on your hard drive:

iMac (Mid-2007 or later)

MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)

MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)

Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)

Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)

Xserve (Early 2009)

iCloud system requirements:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4759

If you cannot run Mavericks you can purchase the code to use to download Lion from the App Store (Lion requires an Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7 or Xeon processor and 2GB of RAM, running the latest version of Snow Leopard):

http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6106Z/A/os-x-lion

or Mountain Lion:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion

Be sure you max out the Ram (6GB will work) before installing Mavericks.

If you have been using Leopard on this 2008 iMac all of these years, it is most probable that you are continuing to use PowerPC applications. These applications will not run on Mavericks, primarily due to the lack of Rosetta.

While many PowerPC apps have upgrades to Intel versions available; for example Microsoft Office 2004 to 2008 or 2011; most of these will require a paid upgrade. So there is a potential cost to the "free" upgrade to Mavericks.

Also, I would strongly advise you follow this upgrade path:

Backup or clone your existing Mac.

Partition your hard drive or add an external drive and install Mavericks there. DO NOT install Mavericks over Snow Leopard, as that will destroy your Snow Leoaprd environment.

Use the dual-boot method (System Preferences:Startup Disk) to determine which flavor of OS X you boot and run: Snow Leopard or Mavericks.

Experiment with your exisiting applications in Mavericks. Those that do not run, see if upgrades are available. Those that do not run and do not have available upgrades, can still be run in Snow Leopard on a reboot.

Yes, it is possible. I have a 2008 iMac and there was no problem. I did install additional RAM from OWC.

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