Mac OS X Lion Set for July Debut Priced at $29.99, Mac App Store Exclusive

[gkarris]

Sorry if I'm being slow or have missed something obvious, but how are people with multiple macs in their house going to avoid having to download 4GB multiple times? Isn't it going to be tied to your iTunes account? In which case how does that work for a family or small business with a bad internet connection?

You realize you can copy an App you download to another computer or backup to a disc drive?

When you install it on another machine, iTunes launches and then checks to see if that account on that machine is authorized to run the app.

My assumptions (same as when I transfer apps to another computer):

1. After you download the "OS X Lion Install App", drag it to a thumb drive (from iTunes).
2. Put the App on another computer (desktop or put the thumb drive in), and launch the App.
3. iTunes opens up to transfer the App to the iTunes folder and verifies that you are authorized to use the App on that machine.
4. Launch "OS X Lion Install" and your on your way.

Works for all my existing apps between my PC fileserver, where I sync my iPhone, and my MacBook, where I sync my iPad.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

"Electronic Distribution

Installs in place

Installing Lion from the Mac App Store is quick and easy. It takes only one click to download, then a few more clicks to run the installer."

To run the installer - the installer must surely be a DMG file.

 

[MacManTexas56]

No, I'll switch to Linux, which lets me do something as basic as a fresh install on a fresh hard drive.

cd drives are going goodbye man. people complained when new MBA didn't come with a dvd. then realized how cool the USB stick is.

times change. i haven't burned a cd in over a year +

 

[blahblah100]

Have you ever installed Mac OS X?

This is not Windows. You don't 'Format C:' and then boot from the DVD drive.

Just run the Lion installer and it will do the formatting while installing Lion.

What is the last version of Windows you installed, 3.1?

If you "Format C:" before you install any current versions of Windows, then I feel very sorry for you.

 

[Full of Win]

A red letter day is the collapse of the OS X ecosystem. Download only updates makes me ill. Just another step to making it iOS X.

 

[gramirez2012]

cd drives are going goodbye man. people complained when new MBA didn't come with a dvd. then realized how cool the USB stick is.

times change. i haven't burned a cd in over a year +

That's great, but I want to boot from an install image so I can format my disk before I install. So far, that doesn't appear to be possible.

 

[adztaylor]

A red letter day is the collapse of the OS X ecosystem. Download only updates makes me ill. Just another step to making it iOS X.

Makes you ill? Good lord, someone needs to get a fresh set of priorities in their life.

 

[MacAddict1978]

I eat crow on the price. I have passionately dismissed such a pricing point, but I'm very HAPPY to be wrong about this. Yay $29

 

[wikus]

I wish macrumors had that positive/negative rating on news items.

OS X Lion is a major let down.

 

[MacManTexas56]

That's great, but I want to boot from an install image so I can format my disk before I install. So far, that doesn't appear to be possible.

who says you won't be able to download it and put it on a thumb drive? we don't know all the full details as of yet

 

[emulator]

A 2nd service pack for $29 again, nice. SJ was right, people will buy anything.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

This Lion page on the Apple site makes me laugh.

"To upgrade your Mac to OS X Lion, you don’t need to go to a store, take home a box and install a bunch of discs."

Urgh, OS X has only been a single disc for many years. And if your order it online, it can be posted the next day. Epic fail...

 

[jmw1480]

Love the free upgrade if you purchase from now until it's released, very cool

I saw this in the MacRumors.com story about the Keynote, but haven't watched the Keynote video yet to see if this was actually said, implied, or simply an assumption. Can anyone please confirm?

 

[JLB-UK]

Everyone worried about the reinstall process check out

http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/whats-new/features.html#internetrestore

• OS X Lion includes a built-in restore partition, allowing you to repair or reinstall OS X without the need for discs.
• OS X can be reinstalled on your Mac from recovery mode.
• Recovery mode now includes the Safari web browser, so you can check your email or browse the Apple Support sit
• Use recovery mode to restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup.

Helps explain some of the methods available to reinstall Mac OS X Lion but not sure what you do if you have a HD failure?

 

[435713]

A red letter day is the collapse of the OS X ecosystem. Download only updates makes me ill. Just another step to making it iOS X.

Yup, and I like how some still say CD's are gone, Steve just said so. When the other 90%+ of PC's start losing drives left and right then maybe. Be awhile still.

Thumb drives would be absolutely fine.

 

[0dev]

cd drives are going goodbye man. people complained when new MBA didn't come with a dvd. then realized how cool the USB stick is.

times change. i haven't burned a cd in over a year +

A USB stick would be fine as it's still physical media. What Apple is doing here is providing no physical media at all. That's the issue.

 

[winston1236]

Oh wow, so if I want Lion I'm going to have to buy Snow Leopard and then buy Lion? That's ridiculous.

(The reason why I don't have Snow Leopard yet is simply because my mac was still new when Snow Leopard got released and I decided to skip a version)

Same here! This is sloppy work by Apple I'm surprised to say the least.

 

[cgbier]

"Electronic Distribution

Installs in place

Installing Lion from the Mac App Store is quick and easy. It takes only one click to download, then a few more clicks to run the installer."

To run the installer - the installer must surely be a DMG file.

I haven't been able to access the App Store in months....

 

[PatrickCocoa]

One Download

Nope, YOU get real. I own three Macs, with plans to buy more in the future, and I'm quite often upgrading my boot drive (At least once a year). So now, I have to Install SL, download 4GB worth of data on each machine!, THEN instal Lion. Cool.

If the Lion update is handled like the developer preview (which was also distributed via the Mac App Store), then the download will be an installer that you should be able to burn to DVD and use on other machines.

Your other objections remain, however.

 

[MacManTexas56]

A USB stick would be fine as it's still physical media. What Apple is doing here is providing no physical media at all. That's the issue.

so when they give u the option to download the file to a usb stick you're still gonna complain bc it wasn't included in the purchase.

 

[0dev]

Everyone worried about the reinstall process check out

http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/whats-new/features.html#internetrestore

• OS X Lion includes a built-in restore partition, allowing you to repair or reinstall OS X without the need for discs.
• OS X can be reinstalled on your Mac from recovery mode.
• Recovery mode now includes the Safari web browser, so you can check your email or browse the Apple Support sit
• Use recovery mode to restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup.

Helps explain some of the methods available to reinstall Mac OS X Lion but not sure what you do if you have a HD failure?

Exactly. I upgraded my HD recently, and I did a clean install of OS X then ported my home folder over, so I have a fresh system with all my data on it. That's the best way to do any OS install.

With Lion, though, that does not appear to be possible.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Same here! This is sloppy work by Apple I'm surprised to say the least.

Lion is awesome. iCloud is awesome. Owning nothing is awesome. You're holding it wrong. Blu-Ray is a bag of hurt. Non-issue.

 

[codo]

Pfft, I'll give it a go for £30!

Nah seriously - looks pretty good.

 

[MacAddict1978]

Honestly, how will this work? We have 5 Macs in our home. Apple is telling me we have to waste 20GB of bandwidth (Comcast data cap here) to update all our machines? The idea of downloading the same thing over and over again really irks me. I'd much rather download it once, and create a bootable USB stick or DVD. And, as others have mentioned, how will we perform clean installs should the need arise (new HDD, fresh start, etc)? Will I have to install 10.6 only to have to re-download the 4GB Lion? This is bogus.

I would hope you could just burn it to disc. You can now. But an OS isn't an app you can just drag and drop like iPhoto or something. Hopefully they have the install package there for you to do so, because that would be infuriating.

 

[Razeus]

My guess it's only adding what it needs to add to Snow Leopard to enable the "Lion" features. This is why install in place works. It's just give you the Delta's. Doesn't seem to be "under the hood" changes. Just a layer for iOS. This is truly the last of OS X as we know it.