Mac OS X Server Free with Mac Pro?

[localoid]

Not sure what level developer you are but Select and Premier members get OS X Server for free.

Free... for "for development and testing" purposes (only)...

 

[Multimedia]

More Reason To Wait For Leopard

I see this as another reason to wait for Tiger Server for free. Cool offer. Hope it spreads to the Sates.

 

[Tegosaurus]

iWork was also "free" the first day, at least in the Belgian store. Now it is [+ euro 79]...
So I guess we'll see an update to the OS X Server price as well.

 

[MLeepson]

See post 59.
It's a typo. See image below. It's self explanatory.

 

[Nermal]

It's a typo. See image below. It's self explanatory.

You say it's self-explanatory but I don't actually see what you're trying to explain.

 

[matticus008]

It's a typo. See image below. It's self explanatory.
Silly Apple.

Sorry, but how does that image demonstrate it as a typo? It shows "no OS" and "10 client" being the same price unless I'm missing something. It should be (under the former pricing) £349 for the 10-client and £699 for unlimited.

 

[MLeepson]

Oh wait, nevermind, I thought it was something it wasn't. Excuse that.

 

[Infrared]

You know..After the past few "mistakes" Apple has put on their website it seems like a MacRumors discussion about it was caught by Apple and fixed fairly quickly.

We are Apple's website editors

 

[SiliconAddict]

Sure, why not? Poor man's server vs. spending 10K on the real thing. This thing is basically a server sans redundant power supply and an actual RAID controller. Then again SATA hardware can usually do RAID 0,1, and sometimes 5. Depends on the hardware. Anyone know what OS X supports on a Mac Pro?

 

[Analog Kid]

Either that or it's in an attempt to get people to pay for an upgrade to 10.5 Server instead of to just 10.5. You don't realize how badly you need the features until you start using them.

Apple Remote Desktop is great! I often use it to control my desktop (which is in my studio) when I'm around the house. I can set an intensive program to start doing something, or do something like turn off iTunes in case I forgot earlier and don't want to go to my studio. Very nice.

I think you've nailed it. The cost to Apple of fronting a few copies of Server is nothing compared to the benefit of seeding Server onto more machines-- particularly give that there is no reduced price upgrades. I'd actually be tempted to take this offer except I wouldn't want to throw down the money for Leopard Server in a few months.

Agreed on remote desktop. I'm using VNC to control a headless mini and also so I don't have to keep going over to my wife's desk to help her with stuff. I don't have the ARD product because I don't need the administration capabilities-- just VNC is enough for me.

I like it. I'd like to do some domain type stuff in my house. But I really don't want to have to BUY server for it. Maybe Apple just wants to make Server more accesable for IT admins who want to fool around with it. If I'm using it personally and am rather comfortable using it -- it's more likely that I'll recommend it for the office/company I work for/with -- and throw in a purchase of an XServe/XRAID to boot. I think it's smart.

Apple needs a "home server" edition. I'd like all the administration features of Server but I don't need any clients, really. Are the client licenses for allowing remote machines to store files and/or boot from the server? I'd just like the domain features myself.

What does Apple include with "Server" that is not part of the normal Mac OS X that is not already free.

Could some one say what it is you get with Server that you can't simply download off the 'net.

There are two things you can't download-- the GUI administrative tools, and the ease of installation. Otherwise, you're right-- just about all of the OS X Server functionality is based on open source projects. I've enabled a lot of the features I need on a client version of the OS and it works well enough-- I wouldn't mind easier administration or being able to avoid having to do all that compiling all the time though.

If you have the right to maintain that computer, then there is likely no privacy to be invaded, any more than you could use that admin power to rifle through the user's files.

Not true. There's a difference between having the right to monitor my activity and exercising that right without cause. My landlord has the right to enter my unit, but I'd be right pissed if he did it without warning me first. Same goes with my work machine-- nothing to hide, I just don't like being watched. Of course, ARD resolves this problem by requiring the client to enable it, as you said.

 

[Shagrat]

Well, i tried adding Server 10 licence as an option, and went to check out, and it still shows as the standard price, so I assume if i had completed the order it WOULD have been free...?\

We won't know for certain unless someone actually places an order which gets honoured, I suppose. Any takers?

 

[ATG]

Before anybody gets jealous... remember that the baseline Mac Pro costs in the UK (converted):
UK: $3,338.53
Compared to the US price of:
US: $2,499.00

So even if you add OS X Server to the US one:
$2,998.00

It is still cheaper than buying with the free server in the UK.

 

[AppleMan101]

It's about time they cut us some slack! For those of you who arent aware, we usually have to pay about a third extra on any product in sterling than it's worth in USD.

(All prices are the cheapest, stock configs)

MacBook
US Price $1099 = £600 UK Price = £749 (25% extra)

MacBook Pro
US Price $1999 = £1017 UK Price = £1349 (33% extra)

iMac
US Price $999 = £508 UK Price = £679 (34% extra)

Mac Pro
US Price $2499 = £1272 UK Price = £1699 (34% extra)

As you can see, it hurts our wallets buying apple products over here

:EDIT: It looks like someone else had the same idea as me, weird :/EDIT:

 

[Project]

In the UK, this is merely an invitation to treat and not false advertising.

When you choose the Mac Pro with OSX Server for free, you are saying to Apple 'I will offer you £xxx for these products'. Now for websites, this is where the law gets a bit sticky. It depends entirely on whether the T&C of the Apple store say that the contract is formed at the time of dispatch of the goods OR when your email confirmation comes through. Most sane online retailers will stipulate that contracts only form at the point of dispatch, so that they are afforded an amount of time to rectify any mistakes in price.

Apple say that the contract is binding when they send out the order confirmation (not the Web Order Number email). Up until you receive the order confirmation they have the right to turn down your offer.

 

[macinfojunkie]

In British law a sale is a contract between the buyer and seller. The seller does indeed have the right not to enter into a contract, so if a shop has a sign saying "TVs for £50.00" when it should have said £500.00 they can refuse to sell to you at that price. The point at which the contract becomes binding on both parties differs from England in Scotland. In Scotland verbal contracts are binding, so simply saying "I would like to take buy that TV for £50" and the shopkeeper saying "OK" would technically be a contract (difficult to prove without witnesses). This applies from a stick of chewing gum right up to a 50-room mansion. In England you need written material. It may be that if Apple's online system accepts the order and gives you a written confirmation then they are in a contract with you. Their opportunity to refuse is when you place the order. I'm fairly sure this was tested in court only a couple of years ago when the seller tried to argue that because the system was automated they needed another chance - I don't think they got it.

I don't recall a contract having to be in writing in order to be binding under English law - otherwise if I phone up Apple and place an order, then is that not a valid contract offer and acceptance?

Admittedly difficult to prove without some form of material evidence, but so long as both parties are offering some form of consideration when making an offer and accepting, then when I was at law school, I recall being taught that the contract was binding. The question would be in this case, when the consideration was being accepted on the part of the seller. I.e. when their cards were being billed. I think that has more bearing than if the order/contract was verbal or written.

Then again it was 10 years ago I last studied this, so selling law could have changed since then.

[Legal notice: All comments in this post are offered on the basis of personal opinion for the purpose of social debate. The above comments are not provided as professional legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.]

 

[mstur]

No, it is quite obvious...

It's a shame they didn't do this earlier.

It is quite natural that they offer NOW - and not a day earlier - the OSX Server 10.4 as a bonus for MacPro buyers !

OSX server 10.5 is around the corner. And there was never an inexpensive upgrade option for a OSX server licence. So anyone who likes OSX Server 10.4 will definitely have to buy OSX Server 10.5 at full price in order to get a 100% Intel savvy version of this product...

 

[bigandy]

Before anybody gets jealous... remember that the baseline Mac Pro costs in the UK (converted):
UK: $3,338.53
Compared to the US price of:
US: $2,499.00

So even if you add OS X Server to the US one:
$2,998.00

It is still cheaper than buying with the free server in the UK.

It's about time they cut us some slack! For those of you who arent aware, we usually have to pay about a third extra on any product in sterling than it's worth in USD.

I agree completely. You're in the US wanting 10.4 Server with your shiny new MacPro? Then pay for it. You're still getting it cheaper than us. Grr.

And it's definately not a mistake, as the UK HE store has it too, with the usual discount:

 

[macinfojunkie]

It is intentional

I just called Apple UK Sales and they confirmed it is a free option. Apparently intentional - no doubt for the reasons that have been suggested previously to encourage adoption ahead of 10.5 Server.

 

[matticus008]

It's about time they cut us some slack! For those of you who arent aware, we usually have to pay about a third extra on any product in sterling than it's worth in USD.

That's not strictly true. If you look at the purchasing power of the pound sterling, you see that it is nearly 15% stronger than the dollar. You're also not taking into account taxes. The UK prices are really:

Mac Pro: £1445.96 ($2841 USD) vs. $2499 [13.5% markup]
MacBook Pro: £1148.09 ($2256 USD) vs. $1999 [13% markup]
etc.

Taking into consideration the weakness of the dollar, the UK prices aren't much higher at all, especially since the actual costs of conducting business abroad are also higher, so some markup is to be expected. However, with a stronger dollar, you'd see extremely similar prices to the US retail price (before VAT). A ten cent reduction in the exchange rate cuts the US-equivalent price down to $2700, which is in line with what you'd expect. Here in the US, we pay through the nose for UK products as well. Pricing of American products abroad is the one downside to a weak dollar from your perspective.

The UK's tax policies are not Apple's fault (nor any other US-based retailer who does business in the UK), nor should Apple be expected to lower prices to compensate for your higher tax rate. You also can't necessarily expect a company to revise prices daily to keep up with exchange rates.

 

[gnasher729]

I just called Apple UK Sales and they confirmed it is a free option. Apparently intentional - no doubt for the reasons that have been suggested previously to encourage adoption ahead of 10.5 Server.

I think that it is most likely a mistake, but they will still accept orders. In these situations, a company always has to choose between losing money and annoying customers. Now if Apple was offering some display for £5.99 instead of £599, they would choose to annoy the customers (somebody who would insist on a fine monitor for £5.99 is probably not someone you want as a customer in the first place). In this case, anyone taking up that offer spends a huge amount of money anyway. I never had any intention to buy MacOS X Server. So if I ordered a MacPro with Server just because it is free, all that Apple loses is the cost of making the box and burning a DVD. And if someone else is lucky to get the software for free who was going to buy it, Apple still makes a nice profit from the deal. So it is unlikely that they would refuse this deal if you insist on it.

 

[guzhogi]

I think that it is most likely a mistake, but they will still accept orders. In these situations, a company always has to choose between losing money and annoying customers. Now if Apple was offering some display for £5.99 instead of £599, they would choose to annoy the customers (somebody who would insist on a fine monitor for £5.99 is probably not someone you want as a customer in the first place). In this case, anyone taking up that offer spends a huge amount of money anyway. I never had any intention to buy MacOS X Server. So if I ordered a MacPro with Server just because it is free, all that Apple loses is the cost of making the box and burning a DVD. And if someone else is lucky to get the software for free who was going to buy it, Apple still makes a nice profit from the deal. So it is unlikely that they would refuse this deal if you insist on it.

Off topic, but this reminds me of something on the news I saw yesterday where a new tax law in Illinois I think would make small businesses who have $3,000,000 and $200,000 in profit would go from paying something like $20,000 in taxes to something like $56,000 in taxes. People say these companies will go bankrupt. I'll admit, I don't really know anything about economics, but why will they go bankrupt? Last time I checked $200,000 in PROFITS > $56,000

 

[guzhogi]

I think that it is most likely a mistake, but they will still accept orders. In these situations, a company always has to choose between losing money and annoying customers. Now if Apple was offering some display for £5.99 instead of £599, they would choose to annoy the customers (somebody who would insist on a fine monitor for £5.99 is probably not someone you want as a customer in the first place). In this case, anyone taking up that offer spends a huge amount of money anyway. I never had any intention to buy MacOS X Server. So if I ordered a MacPro with Server just because it is free, all that Apple loses is the cost of making the box and burning a DVD. And if someone else is lucky to get the software for free who was going to buy it, Apple still makes a nice profit from the deal. So it is unlikely that they would refuse this deal if you insist on it.

You're forgetting the R&D work and paying the coders and advertising that went into Server.

 

[Digitalclips]

With the release of the new Mac Pro, it appears that Apple UK Store is offering Mac OS X 10.4 Server (10-Client) for free with the purchase of a new Mac Pro.

Any day now Apple will quietly release the 8 Core X-Serve and this will be the where the free offer of OS X Server will be and should have been all along. I bet this is simply a web worker getting it wrong and confusing the Mac and software names up.

Either that or Apple UK mixed up an order last year and have a **** load of OS X Server packs by mistake and need to dump them before OS X Leopard Server arrives : lol

 

[mustang_dvs]

Take a "good hard look" at OSX Server to see if it's what you want before going with it. I installed OSX Server on the G5 PowerMac at my studio and it was the worst mistake of my life. OSX Server has it's purpose but it doesn't have the install base that "Workstation" does so patches are less frequent and more hazardous. Also, I found applications to crash more frequently on "Server" vs "Workstation". If you don't have a compeling reason for "Server" then stick with the regular workstation.

Actually, Server and Client patches (10.x.x updates and security updates) happen simultaneously, if not faster for server, due to the specialized add-ons. 10.4.x server has been rock solid for me -- I use it for both a web/mail machine (a G4 Cube, no less) and an internal media/eyeTV server (an intel mini with Front Row re-enabled) the Cube has been up for 32+ days (SW updates require restarts), the mini for 22 days (Airport firmware update). Both have a local user logged in all the time with various apps running 24/7 (Data Backup and EyeTV, iTunes, respectively).

Server isn't the same as client, for sure, but all of the elements of Client are there, along with some server specific additions/replacements.

 

[Abstract]

This wasn't a mistake, folks. Several Apple Stores all have this new deal on the website.

I just wonder why the US didn't get the same deal.