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Apple Retail Stores Receive Golden Master Copies of OS X Lion

AidenShaw said:
So, Apple is admitting that the Icloud is a failure - otherwise they would have had each store download an image into a new directory for 10.7.

There's a basic contradiction between 1 and 2:
  1. Our millions of customers need to each download a multi-GB 10.7 install image
  2. We will put 10.7 install images on a hard drive and FedEx them to our retail stores
Click to expand...
You're not listening.

It might be cheaper/easier to clone the drives in one place and include them with other marketing collaterals that can't be downloaded (signage, staff apparel, etc.). Each store is getting a ground delivery anyhow.

It's probably cheaper to have one summer intern build the store drives than pay a bunch of Geniuses to requisition a hard drive and do the copying themselves.
 
derekamoss said:
And those that need to install on 20+ computers will do the same as the have. Download once. Make an image and put it on the computers. Not download 20 copies of an OS.



I don't really see why there is anyone upset about Apple going to digital distribution. If you need a copy of lion on cd i would assume you are "tech swavy" enough to do a google search on how to burn a dvd copy. People are saying they don't have an option to burn a disc image when installing and they are dumbing down everything. All it proofs is how many so called Tech "Swavy" people are actually dumb.
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Is it too much to ask for people to proof read their posts?
 
Frankly, I don't like the dulled-down appearance either. Sure it's more "mature", but what initially drew me to Macs all those years ago was their appearance-so much less dull and so much more fun than Windows! And I'm also going to miss the shiny buttons, like "Install" on any new disc-based software (right, they won't have that anymore) or "Submit Reply" here on MacRumors. Anyway, the anticipation itself is killing me-I'm not even super-pumped-up for the OS, but after reading all this crap I'm just waiting for it to finally come out! *sigh* Sorry about that. Needed to vent a little. I feel better now. Fingers crossed for Wednesday! :D
 
finally a more creditable rumor instead of the good old "insiders say it will be released on THIS wednesday" that we've been seeing since the beginning of this month...
 
cvaldes said:
You're not listening.
Click to expand...

You're not thinking differently.


cvaldes said:
It might be cheaper/easier to clone the drives in one place and include them with other marketing collaterals that can't be downloaded (signage, staff apparel, etc.). Each store is getting a ground delivery anyhow.
Click to expand...

But, the installation images are volatile until the last minute, whereas signage and print material and clothing needs to be created weeks before the event.

It's much more flexible to keep the floor model images on a network server so that the physical marketing package isn't tied to the product bits. If there's a last minute software problem (which some rumours suggest), you don't have to rebuild the marketing shipments and re-clone hundreds of hard drives.


cvaldes said:
It's probably cheaper to have one summer intern build the store drives than pay a bunch of Geniuses to requisition a hard drive and do the copying themselves.
Click to expand...

I assumed that all it would take is for the pointy-haired store manager to launch an AppleScript.

Cheers! ;)
 
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i'm sure glad im goin to by buying a new air with lion preinstalled so i dont have to deal with a download :)
 
AidenShaw said:
Isn't this tantamount to admitting that the Icloud and the Apple Application Store is a failure?

Why would Apple insist that customers download 10.7 from the network, but send physical copies to their own stores?

The mind boggles at the duplicity.
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It is obviously sensible to equip your support staff with a physical copy of any software they support, especially at a store where they are your main point of interaction with the customer.

Some people will find a way to pick that apart for whatever ridiculous motivations. And claiming the App store distribution is failed before it has even launched is also ridiculous. Thus all the negative votes per your comment, but I assume that was your initial intention.

Anyway enough troll drama, moving along. LOL

I'm definitely excited about the upcoming release :D
 
RawKurd said:
why is lion 10.7 and not 11.0?
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I suspect that the major version number of Mac OS will only change once the OS is based on a different foundation than Darwin.

Or, at least not until some sort of major revision occurs with Darwin.
 
cvaldes said:
Oh, I'm sure the network is fine.

It's probably easier cloning a bunch of drives and shipping them from a marketing staging area along with other materials (e.g., signage, training materials, Lion t-shirts for staff) than having the local Geniuses at each retail location provision a drive from inventory and copying the downloaded image. There's probably a clean copy of the retail version of Lion on the drive, too.

After all, the Geniuses would need an external drive with various images anyhow to service their in-house systems as well as those of customers.

Apple probably has the store image available online anyhow, just in case the shipped hard drive fails, etc.

It's also possible that the shipped drives are OEM parts in inexpensive enclosures purchased in bulk, rather than a retail box version. After all, such a drive would not be really used in a customer facing situation, you can use a cheapo drive enclosure that gets the job done without looking all that purty.

Just grab a few cases of drives, a pallet of drive enclosures, a cloning station and tell the intern to get to work.
Click to expand...

Anyone who's ever worked with large software deployments knows that you DON'T leave image building up to the local employees, mistakes can an will be made, and things are not uniform. Apple, of course, will want every machine throughout the nation to have the exact same files and the exact same settings. Send the standardized HD of images to the local management so the untrustworthy local employees don't leak out some app store promo code, mark with an embargo date, and say "your job is on the line if this gets out". Things go smoothly.
 
munkery said:
I suspect that the major version number of Mac OS will only change once the OS is based on a different foundation than Darwin.

Or, at least not until some sort of major revision occurs with Darwin.
Click to expand...

They'll call it OS 11 when they're bored with OS X branding, simple as that.
 
AidenShaw said:
But, the installation images are volatile until the last minute, whereas signage and print material and clothing needs to be created weeks before the event.

It's much more flexible to keep the floor model images on a network server so that the physical marketing package isn't tied to the product bits. If there's a last minute software problem (which some rumours suggest), you don't have to rebuild the marketing shipments and re-clone hundreds of hard drives.
Click to expand...
It shouldn't take an intern more than a day to clone a few hundred drives and slap them into enclosures. If there was a last-minute change after the marketing drives shipped, there could be a downloadable patch. The demo software, approved sample content, etc. has probably been determined for weeks.

The floor model images would probably be transferred over from the marketing drive to a network for the existing demo systems, however in certain cases (e.g., new models), it might be easier to work on setting these up with a local drive.
 
Stok3 said:
It is obviously sensible to equip your support staff with a physical copy of any software they support, especially at a store where they are your main point of interaction with the customer.
Click to expand...

And what's the difference between having a .DMG on the store server that you've downloaded from Apple's servers - and having a .DMG on the store server that you've copied from a USB drive that the cute FedEx guy delivered to your Apple store?

Answer: *NONE*

Except that the former assumes that you trust the network as a delivery mechanism, and the latter assumes that you do not trust the network.

So, why wouldn't one assume that Apple doesn't believe in the network?
 
AidenShaw said:
So, Apple is admitting that the Icloud is a failure - otherwise they would have had each store download an image into a new directory for 10.7.

There's a basic contradiction between 1 and 2:
  1. Our millions of customers need to each download a multi-GB 10.7 install image
  2. We will put 10.7 install images on a hard drive and FedEx them to our retail stores
Click to expand...

Dude, fix the needle on your record. You keep saying the same thing over-and-over. It's getting old. Or is it you're just coughing up a hair-ball? ;)
 
The Mad Hatter said:
Dude, fix the needle on your record. You keep saying the same thing over-and-over. It's getting old. Or is it you're just coughing up a hair-ball? ;)
Click to expand...

He does make sense. What is the difference between bits sent over the wire and bits sent in a FedEx truck ?

The ultimate irony in this whole release.
 
KnightWRX said:
He does make sense. What is the difference between bits sent over the wire and bits sent in a FedEx truck ?

The ultimate irony in this whole release.
Click to expand...
Reading is a good thing. Answer to your question in this post:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/12964942/
... which sadly happens to be 4 posts above yours, and includes a more detailed post it is replying to.

I'm sure you'd rather make a big deal out of it, though.

Edit: I'll also add that the way Lion is deployed (App Store) does not preclude distribution via pre-built drive images at all. Carbon Copy Cloner will do just fine.
 
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