Apple Starts Selling $69 OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive

[dannywaugh1]

they can keep it for that price!

 

[jfanning]

Read my edit : This might be the result of the same copy/paste botch jobs they did of the requirements (10.6.6 doesn't make sense unless you need the MAS).

Unless you have access to the license provided with the USB thumb drive, we won't know for sure if Snow Leopard is truely a requirement or not.

I have access to the APPLE web site stating what the requirements are. Surely that is enough to indicate that they want you to own SL first. If it is a mistake they are taking their time to fix it.

And it makes perfect sense, you require that version of SL to perform an upgrade from the USB stick.

 

[KnightWRX]

I have access to the APPLE web site stating what the requirements are. Surely that is enough to indicate that they want you to own SL first. If it is a mistake they are taking their time to fix it.

And it makes perfect sense, you require that version of SL to perform an upgrade from the USB stick.

Yes, but you can wipe the computer and install clean from the same USB stick. So it's not a technical requirement of the stick. As you say, they might have made it a licensing issue, or like I say, it could all be a big copy/paste botch job because frankly they don't care about the USB option as much as an after-thought as it seems to be.

We'll know once someone gets their hand on one and reads the included license. Then we'll be 100% sure. That is what I am saying and you are failing to grasp it seems. I'm not saying the web site doesn't say what you say it says. I'm saying we'll confirm with the actual stick.

And if it is a licensing issue, then who gives a crap. With their crippling of the licensing of OS X this round to promote the MAS, I'd be happy to install it from said USB stick unto a Tiger system if I had one without installing Snow Leopard first.

 

[jfanning]

Yes, but you can wipe the computer and install clean from the same USB stick. So it's not a technical requirement of the stick. As you say, they might have made it a licensing issue, or like I say, it could all be a big copy/paste botch job because frankly they don't care about the USB option as much as an after-thought as it seems to be.

Also according to the Apple Lion Page

OS X Lion Software License Agreement
The OS X Lion Software License Agreement allows you to install and use the software for your personal, non-commercial use on all the Macs you own or control that are running Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Snow Leopard Server (a Mac Computer). Commercial enterprises or educational institutions can install and use one copy of the software for use either a) by a single individual on each Mac Computer that the enterprise or educational institution owns or controls, or b) by multiple individuals on a single shared Mac Computer that the enterprise or educational institution owns or controls (for example, in a resource center or library). You can also use the software in accordance with the terms of a volume or maintenance license (purchased separately). Full license terms can be found at http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/.

Apple says you must own SL, and as for who gives a crap, that would be Apple, and if you bother to read all the other articles around, Apple has no problem taking legal action against people violating their licences.

I don't understand why you have trouble accepting the fact that Apple wants people to upgrade from SL only, it is a simple concept to understand.

Also, if you have a machine that came with Tiger, it probably won't run Lion without some hacking anyway.

 

[KnightWRX]

Also according to the Apple Lion Page

The Lion page is not the USB option. Again, we'll know once someone has the stick in hand and reads the license included therein. Why do you keep pushing this aside ?

Again for people that are dense (not pointing fingers) : I'm not saying the website isn't saying what you are saying it is. I'm saying the website might provide wrong info for the USB stick and that we'll know for certain once we get said USB stick.

Apple says you must own SL, and as for who gives a crap, that would be Apple, and if you bother to read all the other articles around, Apple has no problem taking legal action against people violating their licences.

Link to Apple suing or taking measures against individuals who break the license agreement to install the OS on their own personal machine.

 

[jfanning]

The Lion page is not the USB option. Again, we'll know once someone has the stick in hand and reads the license included therein. Why do you keep pushing this aside ?

Actually Apple has all their licences online

2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.
A. Standard and Preinstalled Apple Software License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License,
unless you obtained the Apple Software from the Mac App Store or under a volume license, maintenance or
other written agreement from Apple, you are granted a limited, non-exclusive license to install, use and run
one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer at any one time. For example, these
standard single-copy license terms apply to you if you obtained the Apple Software preinstalled on Apple branded hardware.

That bit reads quite interesting, and makes the USB a real over priced piece of equipment.

They don't list upgrade requirements on it, but they don't in their Leopard document either

Again for people that are dense (not pointing fingers) : I'm not saying the website isn't saying what you are saying it is. I'm saying the website might provide wrong info for the USB stick and that we'll know for certain once we get said USB stick.

Apple makes and sells Lion, why wouldn't you believe them?

Link to Apple suing or taking measures against individuals who break the license agreement to install the OS on their own personal machine.

So what you are saying is, anyone is allowed to violate Apple's licences as they don't care?

I would think the recent and past legal actions are an indication that Apple is happy to take legal action against others.

 

[AmbiguousNinja]

Can someone tell me how big the drive is? I'm assuming it's 4gb but it seems that most 4gb flash drives hold 3.6 gb while the installer is 3.7 gb. If it's 8gb I'd definitely buy it and find a way to wipe it and use it as a sleek USB drive. There are only so many USB drives that match my macbook

 

[KnightWRX]

So what you are saying is, anyone is allowed to violate Apple's licences as they don't care?

I'm not saying they are allowed, I'm saying I'm past the point of caring and will do it since they borked the pricing for me. Why do you infer I'm saying something I'm not ?

I would think the recent and past legal actions are an indication that Apple is happy to take legal action against others.

Again, link to Apple suing individuals for breaking the licensing agreement or it didn't happen.

 

[1BadMac]

Can someone tell me how big the drive is? I'm assuming it's 4gb but it seems that most 4gb flash drives hold 3.6 gb while the installer is 3.7 gb. If it's 8gb I'd definitely buy it and find a way to wipe it and use it as a sleek USB drive. There are only so many USB drives that match my macbook

Looks like there are some generic Sandisk ones showing up on eBay. Silver in color at least and cheaper.

 

[spikeyjac]

Can someone tell me how big the drive is? I'm assuming it's 4gb but it seems that most 4gb flash drives hold 3.6 gb while the installer is 3.7 gb. If it's 8gb I'd definitely buy it and find a way to wipe it and use it as a sleek USB drive. There are only so many USB drives that match my macbook

Yep 4GB!
Just received mine from Apple

 

[jfanning]

I'm not saying they are allowed, I'm saying I'm past the point of caring and will do it since they borked the pricing for me. Why do you infer I'm saying something I'm not ?

what?

 

[AidenShaw]

Can someone tell me how big the drive is? I'm assuming it's 4gb but it seems that most 4gb flash drives hold 3.6 gb while the installer is 3.7 gb. If it's 8gb I'd definitely buy it and find a way to wipe it and use it as a sleek USB drive. There are only so many USB drives that match my macbook

I thought that Apple OSX switched to the correct SI numbering system, so that a 4 GB drive is 4,000,000,000 bytes and a 3.7 GB file is 3,700,000,000 bytes. So it should fit easily.

If a system uses the deprecated binary multipliers, a 3.7 GiB file would be 3,972,844,748 so it just might fit depending on the actual filesystem metadata size. (A 4 GB drive is 3.73 GiB.)

 

[Deefuzz]

I have to be honest, I am a little tempted by this. Anyone out there who actually got the thumb drive happy with their decision over just buying from the App store?

 

[samroberto]

beware compatibility.

Hey everyone, just wanted to add my experience to the chorus..

Does NOT WORK with 2011 MBA or Mac Mini. After repeatedly being told by Apple service reps that it WOULD work... I ordered it- and it does not. Says Lion cannot be installed from this (usb) disc.

I installed an OWC 480GB stick into my 2011 MBA, booted, did not work- error message, even when the drive was appropriately formatted.

The only way I got Lion to work was creating the Lion USB recovery suggested on Apple's website, and of course this involved downloading it from the internet... which I had wanted to avoid in the first place.

(ended up returning the MBA for other reasons anyways).

Enjoy the Lion USB stick. But it will NOT WORK if you want to swap drives or do a clean install to the NEW MBA's or minis.

Is there anyone with contrasting experience?? I would be interested if this is the consensus...

 

[gnasher729]

Talk about retarded exchange rate!

$69 != £55

$69 = £42

Gotta love Apple Tax. Especially since you were able to buy a Snow Leopard DVD for £25.

Since I'm living in that country, it really pains me every time I see evidence how bad school education is in Britain, especially economics and maths. Could you please think very, very hard to yourself what the three letters V, A and T stand for? Hint: It is not "Vicious Apple Tax", or "Victorious Apple Tax", or "Vexatious Apple Tax" or anything ending in "Apple Tax".

That bit reads quite interesting, and makes the USB a real over priced piece of equipment.

Well, yes. On the other hand, Apple doesn't _want_ you to buy the USB stick, that's why the App Store version is less than half the price. And I think it is an obvious fact that although the license requires that you only install Lion on a Mac that has Snow Leopard installed, you _can_ install it from the USB stick without having Snow Leopard, or probably even Leopard, so people _are_ going to do this. And it is an obvious fact that it is easier to install from the USB stick on multiple computers where the license doesn't allow it (like various friends living in various places), so people _are_ going to do this. (Not saying it is _very_ much more difficult with the App Store version, but I bet plenty of people wouldn't know how to install that on someone else's Mac).

Again, link to Apple suing individuals for breaking the licensing agreement or it didn't happen.

I can only remember Psystar being sued, and these guys practically forced Apple to sue them by their behaviour by making very loud public claims that their breach of the licensing agreement was actually legal.