Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

wh2332

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 15, 2009
49
0
I just called apple tech support, and was told explicitly that the Snow Leopard upgrade disk doesn't check for leopard and is installable on a new hard drive etc.:) I hope this answers many of the questions posed by other posters.
 
as for the $29 one, the entire os will be on it, but it will still check for leopard.
it wont check with the mac box set version. how would a tech support person know even tho its not released yet?
 
as for the $29 one, the entire os will be on it, but it will still check for leopard.
it wont check with the mac box set version. how would a tech support person know even tho they dont have their hands on it?

No, that is what the OP is talking about. It wont check for Leopard.

Excuse me while I do my "I was right" dance.
 
No the tech support guy explicitly said that the 29$ upgrade disk will not check for leopard. However, I can't vouch for whether or not he's right
 
as for the $29 one, the entire os will be on it, but it will still check for leopard.
it wont check with the mac box set version. how would a tech support person know even tho its not released yet?

How would you know? I wish all the people who tell others with absolute certainty that the $29 version of SL will check for Leopard would shut their trap.

I'm thinking it'll be a full blown retail copy.

I'll wait for my own experience to confirm it.
 
How would you know? I wish all the people who tell others with absolute certainty that the $29 version of SL will check for Leopard would shut their trap.

I'm thinking it'll be a full blown retail copy.

I'll wait for my own experience to confirm it.

Exactly. We probably won't find out for sure until Snow Leopard is released.

\\Will wait for others to confirm it.
 
I'm almost certain it will be a full blown retail copy. The "for Leopard users" is just a clause so that Tiger users who bought Leopard, will not feel annoyed that they could have just waited a couple of years and paid $29 for something better (you know what idiot consumers are like).

I feel like I'm on a stuck record but I will say it one more time. Apple trusts it's (Mac) users. No serials, activation or genuine (dis)advantage. Those Tiger users that are dishonest will pay $29, those that are honest will pay $169. If they included some software on the disk that checked for Leopard, there would be a crack on a torrent website within 1 day. All DRM does is hurt honest users.
 
I wonder if it will check hardware. If you are using X computer that came pre-installed with Leopard based on the model it will work, otherwise you must have Leopard installed on older systems in order to put Snow Leopard on top of it.
 
I wonder if it will check hardware. If you are using X computer that came pre-installed with Leopard based on the model it will work, otherwise you must have Leopard installed on older systems in order to put Snow Leopard on top of it.

I don't think that would work, because, IIRC, the mid-'07 mini came with Tiger originally, then Leopard later. I don't think there was a model identifier or code change; it seems like too much work.
 
I don't think that would work, because, IIRC, the mid-'07 mini came with Tiger originally, then Leopard later. I don't think there was a model identifier or code change; it seems like too much work.
Same for the iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro (and for a few days the MacBook as well).
 
I feel like I'm on a stuck record but I will say it one more time. Apple trusts it's (Mac) users. No serials, activation or genuine (dis)advantage.

I'd trust my users too if they could only run my software after they paid me $1,500 for $600 in parts.
 
I'd trust my users too if they could only run my software after they paid me $1,500 for $600 in parts.
35% approx profit margin source which by the way, that quarter does not take into account Apple slashing profit margins on it's notebooks (to around 15-20%).

So a $1499 MacBook Pro

(1499/120)*100 = $1250. Minus marketing, R&D etc. A grand at the least.

Tell me again where you got $600 from?
 
I just called apple tech support, and was told explicitly that the Snow Leopard upgrade disk doesn't check for leopard and is installable on a new hard drive etc.:) I hope this answers many of the questions posed by other posters.

I still think Apple said Leopard users price only for a reason. We don't know, but I wouldn't bank on it.

In any case, assume Snow Leopard is a full blown copy. If the machine has Tiger, it will just do a fresh install from zero and disable the upgrade option. If the machine has Leopard, then you have the choice of updating or fresh start.

That's how I picture Apple will handle this.
 
I still think Apple said Leopard users price only for a reason. We don't know, but I wouldn't bank on it.

In any case, assume Snow Leopard is a full blown copy. If the machine has Tiger, it will just do a fresh install from zero and disable the upgrade option. If the machine has Leopard, then you have the choice of updating or fresh start.

That's how I picture Apple will handle this.

Thats an interesting POV... i like it. Tiger can't upgrade to 10.6... only fresh install, whereas leopard can do a clean install OR upgrade..
 
lol. Tech support (especially for unreleased products) is not a valid source and certainly not a confirmation. This thread is useless.
 
I still think it is an upgrade copy. They made the distinction that the Mac Box Set would have a full copy of Snow Leopard, so it seems silly that they would clarify that the $29 copy was upgrade and the MBS would be a full copy.

Look at it this way:
going from Tiger to Leopard: $129 for all of those features
going from Leopard to Snow Leopard: $29 for a few under the hood features
going from Tiger to Snow Leopard: $168 for Leopards features plus SL's upgrades

If you go from Tiger to SL, you're not paying for all of the features that were developed for Leopard
 
I don't think it will be "Confirmed" until someone actually has the disc and tries it.

Anyways... I think the most logical thing Apple could do is put the full version of Mac OS X on the install disc, but have it hidden.

When you go to install the OS, you can do an erase and install but, before you are able to continue, the installer will ask the user to insert a valid Leopard disc to continue. It will read the disc for a second to confirm that it's Leopard, then spit it back out and ask for the Snow Leopard disc again.

If you don't have the original Leopard disc, you'll HAVE to do an upgrade-install or you'll have to go and buy a full version of Snow Leopard.

That wouldn't bother me at all. I've actually got 2 copies of Leopard. The reason?... I bought 10.5.0 on launch day, then when I upgraded my graphics card to the Nvidia 8800GT, I could no longer boot from the 10.5.0 disc. I then had to buy a 10.5.4 disc to get it to boot properly. Now I have a Radeon 4870 that does indeed boot from the original 10.5.0 disc using generic ATI drivers provided in Mac OS X.
 
If you go from Tiger to SL, you're not paying for all of the features that were developed for Leopard
You are if you're dishonest, that's my point. If you're dishonest then you will just pay the $29 and use a crack, or torrent SL anyway. There is no point in implementing disk checking, because all it will do is frustrate honest users. Apple builds its reputation on great user experience, and if you have a new hard drive and need to hunt around for your Leopard disk to install SL, then that takes away from the experience, even if just a little. Cheats will cheat, honest users will pay.
 
You are if you're dishonest, that's my point. If you're dishonest then you will just pay the $29 and use a crack, or torrent SL anyway. There is no point in implementing disk checking, because all it will do is frustrate honest users. Apple builds its reputation on great user experience, and if you have a new hard drive and need to hunt around for your Leopard disk to install SL, then that takes away from the experience, even if just a little. Cheats will cheat, honest users will pay.

That reminds me...

Back in the day, I pirated a version of Panther to try out a developer build. When I installed it, I filled out all of my personal information (name, address, phone number, etc) and I hit next (thinking I could just skip the registration process)... well anyway, I forgot to disconnect my internet and it sent all of my info to Apple. Oops. Well, they never contacted me about it and I don't really think they care.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.