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OSX Retail Availability

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BMX434343

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 17, 2011
5
0
Im sure this has been covered in here ad nauseum, but here goes:

i own several macs, ipads, iphones, etc. yesterday, i decided to upgrade my macbook to Lion so it will sync with all of my other apple products via icloud.

however, the software on my macbook is only 10.5x. so to get to Lion and the App store download, you must first upgrade to Snow Leopard. no problem. so my friend has a macbook pro with snow leopard and loans me his disk. nope, wont work on my machine as although the machines are identical, mine is a couple of months older than his and therefore not a "pro" model so the software wont work on my machine (dumb apple decision #1).

since Snow Leopard was pre-app store, it's not possible to download it from apple, you can only buy it retail. ok, no problem, so last night i drive down to the apple store. the place is packed as usual. i finally find a blue shirt and ask him where the snow leopard software is and...."oh actually we no longer sell our software at retail, the only way to get it is to order it online (from us only) and have it shipped to you". really? really? really?

now i get that starting with Lion you can now download the system via the appstore. however, its now impossible to get to lion without snow leopard. and getting snow leopard is now as hard as spotting a snow leopard in the wild. how dumb is this decision???
 
BMX434343 said:
Im sure this has been covered in here ad nauseum, but here goes:

i own several macs, ipads, iphones, etc. yesterday, i decided to upgrade my macbook to Lion so it will sync with all of my other apple products via icloud.

however, the software on my macbook is only 10.5x. so to get to Lion and the App store download, you must first upgrade to Snow Leopard. no problem. so my friend has a macbook pro with snow leopard and loans me his disk. nope, wont work on my machine as although the machines are identical, mine is a couple of months older than his and therefore not a "pro" model so the software wont work on my machine (dumb apple decision #1).

since Snow Leopard was pre-app store, it's not possible to download it from apple, you can only buy it retail. ok, no problem, so last night i drive down to the apple store. the place is packed as usual. i finally find a blue shirt and ask him where the snow leopard software is and...."oh actually we no longer sell our software at retail, the only way to get it is to order it online (from us only) and have it shipped to you". really? really? really?

now i get that starting with Lion you can now download the system via the appstore. however, its now impossible to get to lion without snow leopard. and getting snow leopard is now as hard as spotting a snow leopard in the wild. how dumb is this decision???
Click to expand...

Your Mac being a couple months older doesn't mean that it isn't a Pro. You said you have identical Macs if that's the case then the disc would work. However if you have a 1Quarter Mac and he has a 2Q Mac then yes different disc and it won't work. If you have a Mac and he has a MacBook Pro then obviously they are completely different computers.

Apple expects that you will update to the new OS every time one comes out. Yes we all wish Snow Leopard was in the App Store but that isn't the case. If you updated when the disc came out you'd be fine. Also if you have a friend that bought the upgrade disc for Snow Leopard and not the Mac restore disc you can use that. Check Amazon or like the Sales Rep said Apple.com. Sorry for the inconvenience welcome to the 21st century!!!
 
Why is Apple preventing the casual piracy of your friend lending you his copy of OSX dumb? Seems like a good move on their part to me.
 
robbieduncan said:
Why is Apple preventing the casual piracy of your friend lending you his copy of OSX dumb? Seems like a good move on their part to me.
Click to expand...

sounds like you might be new to the mac platform. i however, have used a mac since day one. had you also been, you would know that every mac used to ship with a universal software disc that would work on ANY computer that you owned. there wasnt specific disc for a specific machine as it is now...
 
BMX434343 said:
sounds like you might be new to the mac platform. i however, have used a mac since day one. had you also been, you would know that every mac used to ship with a universal software disc that would work on ANY computer that you owned. there wasnt specific disc for a specific machine as it is now...
Click to expand...

I have used Macs for the last 11 years so not exactly new. A bit like the locking of the restore DVDs to the type of Mac that they ship with. That's been going on for years too.

I would note that it might have worked on any computer you owned but in this case you are trying to take the disk and install it on a computer owned by a different person that the disc. Of course the copy of the OS that comes with a new Mac is licensed for that Mac only anyway so installing it on any other Mac would be a violation of the EULA.
 
BMX434343 said:
sounds like you might be new to the mac platform. i however, have used a mac since day one. had you also been, you would know that every mac used to ship with a universal software disc that would work on ANY computer that you owned. there wasnt specific disc for a specific machine as it is now...
Click to expand...

This is true. However that was years ago and is not how Apple does things today. When the OS X disc's came out they were universal to all Mac's it's just the specific Mac disc that ships with your Mac computer that is only for that device and not sharable. OS disc's are still universal.
 
AFPoster said:
This is true. However that was years ago and is not how Apple does things today. When the OS X disc's came out they were universal to all Mac's it's just the specific Mac disc that ships with your Mac computer that is only for that device and not sharable. OS disc's are still universal.
Click to expand...

true. im aware it was years ago. regardless of how apple does things today, its still a dumb decision. i was absolutely ready to pluck down my $$ to buy the discs, hence my drive to the apple store. I have purchased OS discs at retail and yes, they are universal. as my original post states, the problem is that apple now makes it very difficult to get their product. that's just dumb, any way you want to spin it. i agree with the decision to move future OS to all download, but the disconnect is with making the transition (via snow leopard) only avail via disc, and the disc not readily available.

----------
robbieduncan said:
I have used Macs for the last 11 years so not exactly new. A bit like the locking of the restore DVDs to the type of Mac that they ship with. That's been going on for years too.

I would note that it might have worked on any computer you owned but in this case you are trying to take the disk and install it on a computer owned by a different person that the disc. Of course the copy of the OS that comes with a new Mac is licensed for that Mac only anyway so installing it on any other Mac would be a violation of the EULA.
Click to expand...


actually, i believe when you download the OSX from apple, the license is for the "USER" and not per the machine.
 
BMX434343 said:
actually, i believe when you download the OSX from apple, the license is for the "USER" and not per the machine.
Click to expand...

For the version you download from the App Store this is true. But this is new in Lion. All previous full retail version of OSX were limited to a single machine by the EULA unless you paid more for the "Family Pack" which allowed installation on up to 5 machines. Regardless this only applied to retail copies: never to copies supplied with a new Mac.

Edit to add: there are a few way to get and install Lion if you are not on Snow Leopard. They have been discussed on these forums many times. You can buy the (overpriced) USB version from Apple. You can log into your App Store account on a friends machine with Snow Leopard and download it there and restore the image contained in the installer to a USB key. Either will, I've read, install Lion on older versions of OSX than Snow Leopard.
 
$27
http://www.megamacs.com/index.php?action=frameview&id=304448837

BMX434343 said:
sounds like you might be new to the mac platform. i however, have used a mac since day one. had you also been, you would know that every mac used to ship with a universal software disc that would work on ANY computer that you owned. there wasnt specific disc for a specific machine as it is now...
Click to expand...

NOPE. If you buy retail, then it works on all supported Mac.

The machine restore disks are machine only.
 
Consultant said:
$27
http://www.megamacs.com/index.php?action=frameview&id=304448837



NOPE. If you buy retail, then it works on all supported Mac.

The machine restore disks are machine only.
Click to expand...

nope what? thats not the argument here. im aware if you buy retail its universal. buying retail is what i was trying to do. and yes, i am aware that restore discs are not machine specific. but they didnt used to be. the OSX discs that USED to ship with each machine were ALSO UNIVERAL
 
They are machine specific (retail version + machine specific drivers, manuals (PDF+HTML) and other stuff).



No, see above.[/QUOTE]

you might want to do a little research there buddy. the OSX that used to ship with all mac computers WAS universal. ur just wrong here. sorry to tell you. ive been working on the mac since 1990 so you might just know.
 
BMX434343 said:
...you might want to do a little research there...the OSX that used to ship with all mac computers WAS universal.
Click to expand...

Then give us a source, which proves your claim! I've sources for my claim (i use Mac OS (X) since System v7.5.2 came out (machine specific disk for my PowerMac 7200 (90 MHz)):
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2681
Apple Inc. said:
Most new Macs come with a "computer-specific" release, or build, of Mac OS X. In fact, there's a great list in this document.

Computer-specific versions of Mac OS X include special software that lets Mac OS X work seamlessly with the new model's hardware, and is required for the computer to work correctly. That's why you usually can't use an earlier version of Mac OS X than the one that came with the computer. The special software is not included in Mac OS X reference releases or software updates that were released before the model was introduced.
Click to expand...
and
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2191
and
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159

I repeat myself: Give us a source, which proves your claim! It should be easy. Not?
 
Doesn't Apple offer Lion on a USB stick for $79? Which you can use to wipe your hard drive and do a clean install.

I agree that having to install Snow Leopard then Lion is a pain, especially if you don't even own Snow Leopard.

If I were in this situation, I'd get Snow Leopard via "other means", and buy Lion via the App Store. I see no guilty conscience in doing that if you do not intend to use Snow Leopard and are purely doing it to get Lion.

But if you own a Mac that came with 10.5, is 10.7 really worth updating to? Your Mac could be up to 4 years old..
 
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