Roger Kay, analyst at research firm IDC, said the release of Mac OS X 10.3 Panther raises a question as to whether Apple is asking too much of its small customer base to buy four upgrades in three years. “There may not be that many people who take every upgrade,” Kay said. “Not everybody is going to want to take something like Jaguar and turn it into Panther. Jaguar is pretty good. Just a few months ago, they were saying it’s the best thing in the world.” But Ken Bereskin, director of Mac OS X product marketing at Apple, said he thinks the new features of Panther are worth it. “We’re just convinced there’s never been more value in these software upgrades,” said Bereskin. “For a small amount of money, it’s like having a new Mac all over again.”