Why won't Apple let you buy Snow Leopard via a download?

[tekio]

if apple went this downloadable road, i think they would include a serial or some sort of check to make sure it can only be installed once or 5times (depending on licence), and we DONT want that happening.

Why would they need to do that with the download but not with the dvd?

 

[DoFoT9]

Why would they need to do that with the download but not with the dvd?

they would probably introduce it to both i guess..

 

[stainlessliquid]

For the most part, you are right about the ease of piracy, but there is also the issue of perception. If something is commercially available to download on the internet, there are some people who are more likely to download it for free. It's almost as if the commercial download legitimizes the pirate downloads.

I can easily spin that around on you. People who would rather download the disc are going to find a way to download it, if they have no way of paying for a direct download theyll torrent it for free.

Have we not learned anything from music and games? The RIAA thought downloadable music would cause more piracy, they fought against the need for a download service despite the popularity of downloading MP3's. They were so wrong that their resistance to digital distribution can be seen as one of the biggest corporate blunders ever. Valve wanted to offer a downloading service for a number of PC games to combat piracy by trying to make the convenience of downloading from a fast server worth the cost instead of torrenting it slowly. Steam became a huge success and stopped a lot of piracy which was beginning to get out of control for PC games.

History proves that offering downloads combats piracy, it doesnt increase it. The more reasons companies give people to download something illegally will only result in more people downloading things illegally.

 

[BaldiMac]

I can easily spin that around on you. People who would rather download the disc are going to find a way to download it, if they have no way of paying for a direct download theyll torrent it for free.

Have we not learned anything from music and games? The RIAA thought downloadable music would cause more piracy, they fought against the need for a download service despite the popularity of downloading MP3's. They were so wrong that their resistance to digital distribution can be seen as one of the biggest corporate blunders ever. Valve wanted to offer a downloading service for a number of PC games to combat piracy by trying to make the convenience of downloading from a fast server worth the cost instead of torrenting it slowly. Steam became a huge success and stopped a lot of piracy which was beginning to get out of control for PC games.

History proves that offering downloads combats piracy, it doesnt increase it. The more reasons companies give people to download something illegally will only result in more people downloading things illegally.

No spin needed. I agree with everything you said. It's another factor to consider in addition to the perception issue that I brought up. At some point internet bandwidth and speeds will increase to a tipping point and OS downloads will be demanded by consumers. But it's not there yet.

In the meantime, there is a possibility that offering downloads would create a perception of legitimacy around OS X downloads that may extend to unauthorized distributions. Eventually, demand will overwhelm that risk of that perception. Probably in the next few years.

It's a balance that Apple has to weigh carefully.

 

[nikitar]

As no one seems to mention it, want to add another pro for download option.
Apple online and retail stores cover quite a few countries and offer no international shipping. Yet, macs are used all over the world. And what people in Russia or Brazil supposed to do? Wait for months for lousy local resellers? Or triple upgrade price by paying to third-party services for international shipping?
Well, I'm quite curious about this new cat, but I'll probably have to visit pirate bay for that.

 

[macrem]

With Linux, I don't even burn CD's anymore. I get the ISO image to create a "live CD" on a SD card from which I can boot into the OS & also install it. It's really great and so convenient! I would love it if Apple would do the same for OS X... Apple seems to be ahead in many areas, but they are lacking, IMO, a downloadable Live CD image.