Mac OS X - Volume Lisencing?

[im_to_hyper]

Hey there --

At the high school I go to there are really crappy computers in our library. Seven of them are beige G3s and one is a B&W G3.

These computers all meet the specs to run Jaguar (or Panther with XPostFacto) but they are all stuck with OS 8.6 or 9.1. One of them has 9.2.2 installed.

My main question is this: how can volume lisencing for Jaguar or Panther still be purchased and is it possible to transfer the disks to the school to install.

I would really hate just to install Jaguar on all the computers in there and have the school then be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars or something like that.

The reason I want to do this is because our district has little to no available money and are expecting to have a $900,000 shortfall this year alone and have no money for new technology. Many fellow students complain that "the Macs suck" which is essentially true since they are running 8.6 or 9 and don't have MS Office installed.

Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

 

[grapes911]

Personally, I'd go around and check ebay. You probably won't be able to get them all from the same seller, but I'd bet you can pick up a bunch of copies in the $15-30 range.

 

[gekko513]

How much RAM do they have? It sounds likely that they may have just 128MB or less and that would make Mac OS X suck too.

 

[im_to_hyper]

How much RAM do they have? It sounds likely that they may have just 128MB or less and that would make Mac OS X suck too.

No, actually they are not that bad. They are all 300MHz machines with 384MB of RAM, although I believe one only has 256. They all have Rage 128 cards with 16MB video memory.

In terms of buying the disks off of Ebay, would that be legal to buy them and give them to the school to install or would that be a breach of some sort of contract? That is my main question.

It would be nice to install OS X and then OpenOffice so that my fellow students can at least access their Word and Excel documents.

 

[grapes911]

In terms of buying the disks off of Ebay, would that be legal to buy them and give them to the school to install or would that be a breach of some sort of contract? That is my main question.

It would be against the EULA to put a education version on a computer that doesn't quality for it. But I don't see why you couldn't do it the other way around. I highly doubt apple has "Not for use on edu boxes" written in their standard OS X license.

 

[jer2eydevil88]

My $0.02

You could call Apple,

Usually Apple recognizes that Schools teach students to use their operating system and that leads to sales in the future. Being that as it may, Apple cuts schools a big break on hardware and software.

I graduated from High School 3 years ago but when I was in my Senior year the Visual Studio department was sold three g4 powermacs for about $3,000 total including 17" CRT's and a 1 year warranty. It may have been something the director of the department had to work out over time but that was one heck of a deal.

 

[im_to_hyper]

Well, I'm not worried about putting non-edu software on edu-boxes, I am worried about putting an Ebay copy of Jaguar onto these things. Oh well, w/e, I suppose. I just don't know which Apple number I should be calling.

 

[grapes911]

I am worried about putting an Ebay copy of Jaguar onto these things.

Oh, sorry. I misunderstood you. As long as you purchase from a good seller you should get a legit copy. Or are you worried about something else?

 

[im_to_hyper]

Oh, sorry. I misunderstood you. As long as you purchase from a good seller you should get a legit copy. Or are you worried about something else?

No, that's about it. If I buy the disks, give them to the school and say "here, install these on those POS computers" it should be totally fine then?

 

[randas]

I would call apple, they might be able to sell you a unlimited client licence edition or something.. and when you explain your situation they might cut you a deal.

 

[grapes911]

No, that's about it. If I buy the disks, give them to the school and say "here, install these on those POS computers" it should be totally fine then?

I don't see why it wouldn't be fine.

 

[grapes911]

I would call apple, they might be able to sell you a unlimited client licence edition or something.. and when you explain your situation they might cut you a deal.

I don't think apple sells unlimited client licenses. Also, they rarely sell out of date OS's. I'm not saying not to try it, I'm just saying that I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

[im_to_hyper]

Well, I just got around to calling Apple yesterday -- the guy there said what he thinks is that software is software, as long as the school I am going to has the physical disks, we should be good to go.

 

[kgarner]

I don't think apple sells unlimited client licenses. Also, they rarely sell out of date OS's. I'm not saying not to try it, I'm just saying that I wouldn't hold your breath.

Yes they do. You can buy unlimited client licenses of OS X Server and Remote Desktop. As further evidence, I overheard a professor of mine saying that he was talking to someone at Apple about licenses for Final Cut Pro for all the machines and they said that because we had bought so much stuff from them that we didn't need to worry about the licenses.

 

[jeremy.king]

Are these machines connected to an AppleShare server? If so, I don't think you can have OS X clients on the network. Just another thing to consider before you fork over a hundred plus dollars.

Does your school have an IT person? If so, why not just work with them? Do they have the skills to manage and OS X computer after you move on to college? Finally, what kind of software is on these library computers? If its something that requires OS 9, can you be sure they will still work in Classic?

Installing OS X for sake of stability may have many adverse consequences you may (or may not) have thought about...

 

[grapes911]

Yes they do. You can buy unlimited client licenses of OS X Server and Remote Desktop.

I probably used a bad choice of words. At work we have an unlimited client license of OS X Server. It doesn't mean we can put it on an unlimited number of machines. It means an unlimited number of people can connect to the server unlike the 10 client version.

 

[im_to_hyper]

Hey there -- no, these are not connected to an AppleShare server. These are 6 OS X computers in the library.

This is a mostly PC-based school and they want to phase out the Macs slowly since no one likes to use them.

And yes, the admin does know how to use OS X. We have one Mac lab with eMacs. (How he allowed that, I don't know)

Are these machines connected to an AppleShare server? If so, I don't think you can have OS X clients on the network. Just another thing to consider before you fork over a hundred plus dollars.

Does your school have an IT person? If so, why not just work with them? Do they have the skills to manage and OS X computer after you move on to college? Finally, what kind of software is on these library computers? If its something that requires OS 9, can you be sure they will still work in Classic?

Installing OS X for sake of stability may have many adverse consequences you may (or may not) have thought about...