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Do I need Snow Leopard to upgrade to Lion?

T

thr2506

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I currently have OS X Leopard on my iMac, wanting to upgrade to OS X Lion when it is released. It says on the Apple website that you must have OS X Snow Leopard in order to upgrade to Lion via the App Store. There really isn't any point in spending £25 on Snow Leopard and then a further £20 upgrading to Lion. Any way around this?

The other thing is, my friend has a retail version of OS X Snow Leopard. I've heard it's technically possible to install the retail version on multiple machines, but it's not legal due to licensing, which is fair enough.

Surely other people are having this problem? Or can you actually upgrade from Tiger and Leopard to Lion.
 
We can't know yet. Apple has stated that to upgrade on day one, you'll need the App Store. Apple also hasn't stated if they will or won't release a physical copy at some point. Most likely the physical copy won't require SL to be installed first, as none of Apple's previous OS install discs have such a requirement.
 
nuckinfutz said:
You need Snow Leopard to upgrade to Lion. Period.
Click to expand...

And you know this how? Did Apple come out and say that when they release a physical medium install it will require it or that it will never be released outside the App Store? I am not aware that Apple has made any such statements.
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
And you know this how? Did Apple come out and say that when they release a physical medium install it will require it or that it will never be released outside the App Store? I am not aware that Apple has made any such statements.
Click to expand...

He knows that because apple stated that the only way to purchase Lion is through the app store and the only way to have the app store is with 10.6

Yes apple did come out and say its only going to be available through the Mac App Store.
 
Also when upgrading to Snow Leopard for £20 you needed Leopard. Or pay the full price of about £120.

There should be no reason why Lion wont install on a Mac with the required hardware. It just might cost more than £20.99.

As for needing the App Store. At the moment you will need to to download it. You dont need the App Store to INSTAL Lion. Thats just rediculous.
 
"You need Snow Leopard to upgrade to Lion. Period."

Nope.

Let's just say this:
One needs Snow Leopard to _legitimately_ follow the Apple-prescribed update path to Lion, at least on its first release date.

But if you're willing to pursue non-Apple-approved paths to obtain and install Lion, those pathways are available and they DO work (as they currently work with the developer previews). I am not recommending that you do so, just making you aware that "alternative pathways" are available.

As speculation, I believe that _many_ more folks will choose such alternate pathways in their quest for Lion.

The reason: Apple has chosen to arbitrarily restrict how Lion is to be distributed.

As always, "the market" will overcome such restrictions.

Just sayin'.....
 
Nope. Lion is a major OS release, independent from all other.

If you're more familiar with windows, think of it as Windows 7, which doesn't need anything else.
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
We can't know yet. Apple has stated that to upgrade on day one, you'll need the App Store. Apple also hasn't stated if they will or won't release a physical copy at some point. Most likely the physical copy won't require SL to be installed first, as none of Apple's previous OS install discs have such a requirement.
Click to expand...

And if so, it will probably cost at least £45.
 
mjsmke said:
Thats what i said.... you just have to buy the full version. not the upgrade.
Click to expand...

You're making a distinction that Apple never made. The $29 disc is the full version, not an "upgrade"(sic). You actually meant an update, only for a price. So that would really be an upgrate. But since such a thing doesn't even exist, we don't have to worry about splitting hairs.
 
thr2506 said:
I currently have OS X Leopard on my iMac, wanting to upgrade to OS X Lion when it is released. It says on the Apple website that you must have OS X Snow Leopard in order to upgrade to Lion via the App Store. There really isn't any point in spending £25 on Snow Leopard and then a further £20 upgrading to Lion. Any way around this?

The other thing is, my friend has a retail version of OS X Snow Leopard. I've heard it's technically possible to install the retail version on multiple machines, but it's not legal due to licensing, which is fair enough.

Surely other people are having this problem? Or can you actually upgrade from Tiger and Leopard to Lion.
Click to expand...

Upgrade: no. You could buy Lion with your iTunes account on your friends mac, then use the app to make a bootdisk to do a clean install though. Not sure if this is permitted under the EULA, but who reads that anyway.

About the retail version thing, yes you can install on multiple macs without checks, this is frowned upon obviously 🙄
 
maflynn said:
He knows that because apple stated that the only way to purchase Lion is through the app store and the only way to have the app store is with 10.6

Yes apple did come out and say its only going to be available through the Mac App Store.
Click to expand...

No it hasn't. If you look at Apple's website, it very clearly states that to upgrade on day one, you'll need the Mac App Store. I doubt Apple would make that distinction if it wasn't going to change later on. Unless someone can show me where Apple has said "We will only offer Lion on the App Store, never on physical media" then I hold on to the (logical) idea that Apple will release it on physical media at some point. It only makes sense for Apple to do this.
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
Unless someone can show me where Apple has said "We will only offer Lion on the App Store, never on physical media" then I hold on to the (logical) idea that Apple will release it on physical media at some point. It only makes sense for Apple to do this.
Click to expand...

Exactly. You still need an emergency disk to boot from.
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
No it hasn't. If you look at Apple's website, it very clearly states that to upgrade on day one, you'll need the Mac App Store. I doubt Apple would make that distinction if it wasn't going to change later on. Unless someone can show me where Apple has said "We will only offer Lion on the App Store, never on physical media" then I hold on to the (logical) idea that Apple will release it on physical media at some point. It only makes sense for Apple to do this.
Click to expand...

Watch/Rewatch the WWDC '11 keynote. They say exactly that. That Lion will only be available exclusively through the App Store.
 
Cranch said:
As I understand it, Lion installs a separate small boot partition which can be used to run a clean install, disk utility, etc.
Click to expand...

This is probably at its most important, not to mention convenient, when your HDD crashes and no data on it or any of its partitions are there anymore.
 
maflynn said:
No you don't the 29 dollar version works fine with Tiger to SL.
Click to expand...

While it definitely works Apple has definitely strongly implied that only the Box Set is legitimate for Tiger systems.

e.g. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDAzOA&mco=MTM3NDgwNzM

Snow Leopard is an upgrade for Leopard users and requires a Mac with an Intel processor.
Click to expand...

However, it's no worse than a Hackintosh or using Windows OEM license on your home machine... Practically impossible to enforce.

B
 
balamw said:
While it definitely works Apple has definitely strongly implied that only the Box Set is legitimate for Tiger systems.
Click to expand...
Agreed, but does the EULA specifically forbids this, or just that the wording on the apple store site indicate that its for Leopard to Snow Leopard.
 
Thanks guys,

I guess I should have RTFM 😱 before providing solutions or at least highlight what the EULA says about such actions.
 
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