Legal downloads of legacy OS X?

[rickvanr]

I could be very wrong but it was under the impression that once you buy something you own it. Since you've already bought 10.5, you own it. Downloading something you own shouldn't be illegal. Apple already has your money. Go to pirate bay and grab a copy.

 

[weckart]

I could be very wrong but it was under the impression that once you buy something you own it.

Legally speaking you own nothing, really. You own the media it came on but not copyright to the software on the media. Apple retains that and the distribution rights. As far as purchasing software is concerned, you buy a licence to use the software that comes on the data carrier used.

If you still have a copy of that licence, you would be entitled to buy another copy of the software for the cost of distributing that software IF the copyright owner chooses to offer that. For example, when businesses purchase Windows, they pay on the basis of licences required. The actual software comes on media at a much reduced price. This cuts the cost of puchasing software on a larger scale. Businesses do not need a separate installation disk for each licence purchased.

Apple only used to offer the option of purchasing machine specific installation disks at a token price if you could prove you owned a certain machine as you would thereby have acquired a licence to use the software that was distributed with that machine. Since Apple has moved to online distribution of software linked to an actual machine, this service is history.

Short answer, if you lose your copy of Leopard or earlier, your only legal recourse is to eBay/Craigslist etc.

 

[davidg4781]

I could be very wrong but it was under the impression that once you buy something you own it. Since you've already bought 10.5, you own it. Downloading something you own shouldn't be illegal. Apple already has your money. Go to pirate bay and grab a copy.

Why not just walk into a pawn shop or theft store, grab the Leopard discs, and walk out the door?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I could be very wrong but it was under the impression that once you buy something you own it. Since you've already bought 10.5, you own it. Downloading something you own shouldn't be illegal. Apple already has your money. Go to pirate bay and grab a copy.

Not quite.

If you went to a store and purchased a boxed copy of 10.5 when it was brand new, here is what you got, in the manner you have it:

1. You own, and can physically do whatever you want with, the box and everything in it. You can sell the disc to another person, you can microwave it, you can use it as a coaster, you can even put it in a computer.

2. You receive a LICENSE to use the software that is included on the disc. To use said software, you must agree to the terms of this license. Among the items in the license is that you are granted the right to "...install, use, and run..." one (or 5 if you bought the family pack,) copy on a single Apple-labeled computer. ("Apple-labeled" has a legal meaning - slapping a sticker on a Dell does not qualify it.) This license also has the rather damning statement:

You may not and you agree not to, or to enable others to, copy (except as expressly permitted by this License), decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of, decrypt, modify, or create derivative works of the Apple Software

The terms of the license specifically exclude placing the software for download on a website. And they forbid you from downloading it. So by having a legal license, and having agreed to the terms of the legal license, you are forbidden from simply downloading a new copy.

Ah, isn't United States contract law grand? While you have a legal license to run the software, to acquire a copy other than via Apple would be a violation of said license.

The latest version of a Mac OS Apple has released as a free download on their website is Mac OS 9.2.2, via the NetBoot disk image. Prior to that, the latest version available free from Apple as an installer to install on a machine was Mac OS 7.5.3, which seem to have gotten lost in a website reorganization.

No version of OS X prior to Mavericks was ever "free for download", although 10.1 was available for free on disc to 10.0 purchasers. (You did have to already have 10.0; if your computer only came with Mac OS 9 or earlier, and not 10.0, you still had to pay for 10.1.)

 

[weckart]

I remember getting that 10.1 update disk gratis although I didn't have Cheetah at the time. Got me into OSX on my Wallstreet. You also got a full retail MacOS 9.2.1 install disk with the Puma updater.

Still have the Puma disk to hand but need to dig in my extensive storage collection for the OS9 disk.

 

[rickvanr]

Why not just walk into a pawn shop or theft store, grab the Leopard discs, and walk out the door?

That's a ridiculous comparison, then you're physically stealing a physical object from someone else and that's completely wrong.

 

[MrPilot]

Legally speaking you own nothing

Yeah, in same way as you don't own a nike t-shirt because the logotype is Nike's...

Let's not get into unnecessary arguments over semantics It is still your T-shirt and it's still YOUR copy of OSX. Move along!

 

[weckart]

Yeah, in same way as you don't own a nike t-shirt because the logotype is Nike's...

Let's not get into unnecessary arguments over semantics It is still your T-shirt and it's still YOUR copy of OSX. Move along!

And how does what you have written contradict in any way what I wrote?

See the title of this thread? Semantics is what keeps you out of prison.

 

[nemesiswar]

Have anyone emalied Apple and told about these terrible moral issues PPC fanatics are exepriencing and that there is a small PPC fan base that really need OS X 10.5 and earlier to get thier machines working and that they are vary rare and expensive to buy?

 

[bse5150]

Have anyone emalied Apple and told about these terrible moral issues PPC fanatics are exepriencing and that there is a small PPC fan base that really need OS X 10.5 and earlier to get thier machines working and that they are vary rare and expensive to buy?

Instead of asking others if they have sent an email, why don't you go ahead and send an email?

 

[nemesiswar]

Instead of asking others if they have sent an email, why don't you go ahead and send an email?

Sent.

 

[nemesiswar]

My bad all emails returned. Whats the proper aress to send such a thought?

 

[bse5150]

Don't know what the proper email address is but you could start by looking here:

http://www.apple.com/contact/

 

[bobreborn]

Didn't they have a special page to send feedback on things like this? I remember doing it before but can't find it either. Personally I got really lucky and found my old backup image but I'd be great if they would just host the file. They'd probably hike up prices though so..who knows.

 

[grockk]

Did you figure out how to install using target disk mode.

The trick is to make the install partition on your macbook like was said as an apple partition map, and then put your macbook into target disk mode.

So instead of trying to get the macbook to install on a external partition (the powermac) you are just using the macbook as an external drive.

Connect the powermac and boot holding option.

Also if you do have a DVD of Leopard or can burn one with the macbook, target disk mode will also share the dvd drive so you could boot directly off the leopard DVD on the powermac using the macbooks dvd drive.

I've done this in multiple configurations. the big thing is the macbook can only boot GUID partition map and the powermac can only boot APM. So the install partition must match your target computer.