Went out and got the updater for Mac OS X (10.1) this morning. It was a bit of an ordeal, but thankfully not excessively so.
I figured I'd head on over to MicroCenter since it is large and nearby my house and upon arrival (at about 10:20am) was told "Don't have any. FedEx didn't bring any. Should have some later today." I didn't even have to open my mouth. The staff there must recognize me (I don't even go there that often) and knew the reason I was in the store -- much like all the other Mac geeks who walked in moments behind me and were greeted with the same news. The predictable look of patience-worn-thin and hopes-dashed-upon-rocks masked by the struggle to maintain an outward appearance of the opposite of such feelings was sadly humorous. I lingered for a bit, mulling over how badly I wanted the upgrade -- was it worth driving to the Mall of America Apple Store and risk having them be out of stock or driving over to CompUSA (which I normally do not patronize) and chance a replay of recent events ("don't have any...").
I decided to drive over to CompUSA and see what was up...

Plus, it was quite a bit closer to my house than MOA. There were a few people in the department, one fellow and his son I recognized from MicroCenter, and an "Apple Rep" on hand. There were full versions of 10.1 on the shelf. People were looking confused and befuddled. Some were walking away in disappointment. CompUSA, in their decision-making process, somehow decided that this FREE upgrade directly from Apple would carry the stipulation that you had to have proof of purchase to receive the discs --- even though the Apple Store itself (and all other authorized resellers) were just handing them out to anybody who needed it ('cuz it don't work so good if you don't already have the full version installed!)
AUGH! I was stunned into surprise at this requirement as the news of the upgrade was all over the web and there was no mention of proof-of-purchase. I talked firmly to the Apple Rep and informed him of the lack of public information regarding any such policy and he went off into the back of the store to check things with his manager.
To his great credit (what a nice guy!) he came back and said, "You were right about there not being any stipulations published. I'd rather have my boss get mad at me than have all you Mac users mad at me. Here you go, have fun." I smiled broadly, thanked him heartily, and tried not to sprint out of the store and drive recklessly back to my house while trying to read the documentation enclosed in the upgrade packet.
The upgrade seems to have gone smoothly and it took about an hour of complete time to get the entire upgrade process done (this is on an older beige G3 with a G4 upgrade so it's not the fastest machine). Should've probably taken about 15-20 minutes on a new machine. The system does run quite a bit faster and better than before. IE5 used to take about 20 bounces before it would run, now it takes 6. Right on. That's about how much more responsive the system performs.
Thanks, Apple! Thanks CompUSA Apple Rep!