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Apple Targeting Mac App Store as 'Preferred' Mac OS X Lion Distribution Mechanism

I think I still prefer a hard copy. If I download then I still have to burn a DVD for backup and emergency boot. I'd rather have a professionally burned copy that is going to be reliable long term.

Also I don't have a big pipe to quickly download a 3GB package. I'm living in the slow lane here w/ 2mbps DSL.
 
Daveoc64 said:
The licence is only for one computer.

If you want to install it on a different machine you must uninstall the original copy first.

The Mac App Store says:

"You can install apps on every Mac you use and even download them again."

That implies that if I go on a friend's computer for 5 minutes once a year I could install Lion on it for no charge.
Click to expand...

Obviously Lion will not follow App Store conventions seeing as it isn't an app.
 
I dont think its going to be though the App Store. The only reason its thought he app store now is the minimise abuse.

Anyway, what happens if you whole hard drive dies?
What if you want to reinstall everything from scratch?
There is just too many what ifs

I think the should use USB flash drives rather then DVDs IF the flash drives are faster then the DVD

The app store is for apps and not for a whole OS
 
Wasn't there some talk about Lion having a recovery partition? I would wager, if it did, that is how you would reinstall it without burning a disc.
 
Why is everyone freaking out about re-installing the OS? Lion creates a recovery partition as part of the install process. If you need to reinstall, just reboot and hold down option...pick the recovery partition and voila.
 
Great...until you need to do a reinstall. While you could go 10.6 >10.7, going straight to 10.7 is so much better.


diamond.g said:
Wasn't there some talk about Lion having a recovery partition? I would wager, if it did, that is how you would reinstall it without burning a disc.
Click to expand...

Except when your HD becomes toast...
 
diamond.g said:
Wasn't there some talk about Lion having a recovery partition? I would wager, if it did, that is how you would reinstall it without burning a disc.
Click to expand...

Correct, but people are still reaonably concerned with total drive-failures where you have to pull the whole thing out.

griz said:
Not as often as you like. You buy one copy of Snow Leopard and it is good for one Mac. Family pack gets you 5.
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Nope, there's no restriction.

Look, I'm not talking about what's allowed. I'm talking about what's possible. The post I'm replying to specifically said "abuse" in it. If we're talking about people breaking the rules, the question is: What's going to stop them?

With Snow Leopard the answer is nothing, really.
 
I think the interesting question is whether they'll do away with "Software Update" as well. And if so, how are they handling stuff like printer driver updates.


Also: Combo updates vs. downloading the whole thing. As the MAS is working right now, it would have to work similarly to XCode, which is just very unefficient.
 
roland.g said:
I would get a new iMac now if I knew that Lion would run SL pricing at $29. Otherwise I will wait for a preload. But obviously pricing and a release date won't be forthcoming prior to WWDC at the earliest. Guess we will know more in about 5 weeks.
Click to expand...


On yesterday's MacBreak Weekly they were talking about this. The consensus was that the d/l version will be ultra cheap similar to SL b/c Apple wants people to migrate quickly. And then there will be a retail box that will sell for more for those who either can't or don't want to d/l. There is a patter of this in iLife, iWork, Aperture, etc., where the d/l version is much less expensive than the retail box.
 
jayhawk11 said:
Why is everyone freaking out about re-installing the OS? Lion creates a recovery partition as part of the install process. If you need to reinstall, just reboot and hold down option...pick the recovery partition and voila.
Click to expand...

Does that work if the hard drive tanks and fumbles, crashes, burns, and is a useless pile of crap?
 
...

No thanks, that would use a bunch of my 30gb monthly limit (no other options for broadband where i live). I definately would prefer a usb stick or a dvd. At least if its download only I hope they make it easy for me to burn to a standard size disc
 
Small White Car said:
It's only Macs you've logged into using your iTunes account. In theory this is MORE restrictive. In the past I could buy 1 Tiger disk and put it anywhere and everywhere. No one would know

With now with Lion and this app-store method, I've gotta be logged in to my friend's computer, giving him access to download apps using my name...and using my gift-card money I've inputted. Hmm...doesn't sound like such a good deal anymore.
Click to expand...

You only have to enter your username/password when you download or update the App.

In the case of Mac OS X that should only be once - not a particularly big risk.

As for being more restrictive, you're choosing to break the terms of the licence if you install it on more than one machine.

With the App Store, Apple not only allows you to install thing on any computer you use (multiple times) they make it incredibly easy to do so.
 
They need to allow for updates via App Store that don't require full redownload of the software before they can make it exclusive. Especially in today's age of capping home internet usage (biggest croc ever conceived), smaller updates need to be possible. Perfect example: XCode.
 
That's great that it installs a partition.
So my warranty is out and I want to install a brand new SSD.
I've upgraded only about a dozen friends' MacBooks to SSD and w/o the grey disc that came with the computer you're screwed. Retail copy won't work.

again, I'm completely fine with having any app in the world as download only. Great, it's faster.
Some never do a full reinstall, that's the majority, but you do still have those that work on these machines and some times you need the physical media.
 
IMPMAC said:
Anyway, what happens if you whole hard drive dies?
What if you want to reinstall everything from scratch?
There is just too many what ifs
Click to expand...

I thought about this and while I think having a CD is better for these reasons, I don't think it would leave you up a creek without a paddle.

Either you have an OS that supports Mac App store so you'd have a CD that would at least install that OS (and therefore you could install old OS and go back to Mac app store and reinstall Lion) or you'd have to buy the Lion CD anyways (but in this case if you lose the Lion CD you may be w/out Lion).

So, while the app store does have the advantage that if you buy through them, long as you have the CD from the previous OS (and probably not too expensive to buy a CD off of ebay, don't know, haven't checked) you can re install Lion. WHere as if you buy the CD and lose it, you'll have to buy Lion all over again (and I am betting Lion won't be as "cheap" as Snow Leopard as it isn't considered an incremental upgrade).

But... it also means more hassle if your hard drive does crash cause you'll have to install an OS twice.
 
As long as there's a way to burn a physical disc for emergencies, this is completely fine by me. I can set it to download when I go to work or bed, and finish the install when I get home or wake up.
 
Daveoc64 said:
As for being more restrictive, you're choosing to break the terms of the licence if you install it on more than one machine.
Click to expand...

For rule-breakers it's more restrictive.
For rule-followers it's less restrictive.

I thought we were talking about rule-breakers which is why I'm going on and on about how it's more restrictive.
 
Small White Car said:
Look, I'm not talking about what's allowed. I'm talking about what's possible. The post I'm replying to specifically said "abuse" in it. If we're talking about people breaking the rules, the question is: What's going to stop them?

With Snow Leopard the answer is nothing, really.
Click to expand...

I said "abuse" because I think there's a clear difference between installing the same App (regardless of what it is) on computers that I own and installing that App on a computer that I don't own.

While Apple's rules allow it, I don't think that it was their intention to allow one copy of the OS to be installed on virtually any machine.
 
Full of Win said:
Great...until you need to do a reinstall. While you could go 10.6 >10.7, going straight to 10.7 is so much better.




Except when your HD becomes toast...
Click to expand...

Small White Car said:
Correct, but people are still reaonably concerned with total drive-failures where you have to pull the whole thing out.



Nope, there's no restriction.

Look, I'm not talking about what's allowed. I'm talking about what's possible. The post I'm replying to specifically said "abuse" in it. If we're talking about people breaking the rules, the question is: What's going to stop them?

With Snow Leopard the answer is nothing, really.
Click to expand...
So true, I suppose you would need to reinstall at least 10.6.6.

That is the process now right? I wonder if they will make TM more like the Windows backup, in the respect that it can take an image of your system for the purpose of a "bare metal" restore...
 
If 10.7 contains the ability to create a recovery partition, wouldn't it be simple enough to also have the feature of creating that same partition on a USB drive (or burn to disk)?

In theory it seems like that could have the potential to be even better than a commercially burned DVD since it could be updated as 10.7.x updates come out. They'd just need to include a user option for updating the recovery partition or not (or best case, have the recovery partition include all the 10.7.x revisions and let power users choose which version is restored).

We don't know specifics yet, but many people seem to be assuming that Apple wouldn't include any way to recover and reinstall, which seems extremely unlikely.
 
Full of Win said:
Great...until you need to do a reinstall. While you could go 10.6 >10.7, going straight to 10.7 is so much better.




Except when your HD becomes toast...
Click to expand...

Currently I can create a DVD from the developer preview of Lion. The installation program is provided as a DMG file, so it is relatively easy to create the DVD. Of course an average user wouldn't find the whole thing that easy, so I suppose Apple will provide some other solution. The option to buy the DVD will of course be available.
 
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