OT: Upgrading OS X on several iMacs

[William]

I know this is off topic, but I thin it might be relevant. There has been much discussion as to the one 'upgrade' policy in the Vista EULA. However, if I had a household with 4-6 iMacs running OS X (especially if they all have the same configuration), could I use a single upgrade OS X to upgrade them all? Not having read the OS X EULA, I would think not. but since OS X is tied to specific Apple hardware and does not require a key or activation, how would Apple know that one disk has upgraded several computers?

 

[Robert Moir]

I know this is off topic, but I thin it might be relevant. There has been
much discussion as to the > one 'upgrade' policy in the Vista EULA.
However, if I had a household with 4-6 iMacs running > OS X (especially if
they all have the same configuration), could I use a single upgrade OS X
to > upgrade them all? Not having read the OS X EULA,

Technically, yes you can. As for their EULA, you would need to purchase the
"family pack" licence, which doesn't cost that much more than the single
licence ($129.00 USD for single licence, $199.00 USD for 5 licence).

I would think not. but since OS X is tied
to specific Apple hardware and does not require a key or activation,

'bundled' copies of Mac OSX that come included with hardware may well be
tied to that particular piece of hardware.

how would Apple know
that one disk has upgraded several computers?

They wouldn't. They rely on you to be honest. Note thats only for the OS.And
yet somehow they manage to make money. Wonder why that is, in the face of
Microsoft's intense paranoia about licencing.

"Pro Tools" apps, which are very expensive, do a bit more in terms of
protecting themselves but we won't go there for now.

 

[William]

From what you have written, the difference between Apple and Microsoft is that Apple presumes their users are honest while Microsoft presumes their users are dishonest (until they prove that they are not thieves and pirates). Makes me think more and more of when the time comes to purchase new computer equipment, to take another look at Apple. But that should not be for a few more years, especially if we stay with XP Pro and not go to Vista.

William

I know this is off topic, but I thin it might be relevant. There has been
much discussion as to the > one 'upgrade' policy in the Vista EULA.
However, if I had a household with 4-6 iMacs running > OS X (especially if
they all have the same configuration), could I use a single upgrade OS X
to > upgrade them all? Not having read the OS X EULA,

Technically, yes you can. As for their EULA, you would need to purchase the
"family pack" licence, which doesn't cost that much more than the single
licence ($129.00 USD for single licence, $199.00 USD for 5 licence).

I would think not. but since OS X is tied
to specific Apple hardware and does not require a key or activation,

'bundled' copies of Mac OSX that come included with hardware may well be
tied to that particular piece of hardware.

how would Apple know
that one disk has upgraded several computers?

They wouldn't. They rely on you to be honest. Note thats only for the OS.And
yet somehow they manage to make money. Wonder why that is, in the face of
Microsoft's intense paranoia about licencing.

"Pro Tools" apps, which are very expensive, do a bit more in terms of
protecting themselves but we won't go there for now.

 

[Jeff]

William,
That's exactly what Robert's saying; and I've been telling people since WGA N in XP.
Which;btw;looks like is no longer on the MSFT update servers.-(did two recent XP reinstalls for customers;and no WGA N in updates.)

Jeff
From what you have written, the difference between Apple and Microsoft is that Apple presumes their users are honest while Microsoft presumes their users are dishonest (until they prove that they are not thieves and pirates). Makes me think more and more of when the time comes to purchase new computer equipment, to take another look at Apple. But that should not be for a few more years, especially if we stay with XP Pro and not go to Vista.

William

I know this is off topic, but I thin it might be relevant. There has been
much discussion as to the > one 'upgrade' policy in the Vista EULA.
However, if I had a household with 4-6 iMacs running > OS X (especially if
they all have the same configuration), could I use a single upgrade OS X
to > upgrade them all? Not having read the OS X EULA,

Technically, yes you can. As for their EULA, you would need to purchase the
"family pack" licence, which doesn't cost that much more than the single
licence ($129.00 USD for single licence, $199.00 USD for 5 licence).

I would think not. but since OS X is tied
to specific Apple hardware and does not require a key or activation,

'bundled' copies of Mac OSX that come included with hardware may well be
tied to that particular piece of hardware.

how would Apple know
that one disk has upgraded several computers?

They wouldn't. They rely on you to be honest. Note thats only for the OS.And
yet somehow they manage to make money. Wonder why that is, in the face of
Microsoft's intense paranoia about licencing.

"Pro Tools" apps, which are very expensive, do a bit more in terms of
protecting themselves but we won't go there for now.

 

[Robert Moir]

From what you have written, the difference between Apple and Microsoft is
that Apple
presumes their users are honest while Microsoft presumes their users are
dishonest (until they
prove that they are not thieves and pirates).

I've actually been saying exactly that for quite some time now. When WGA was
introduced in XP I posted an entry in my blog that finished up with "If
you've got no pressing reason why you have to buy a Windows machine, buy a
Mac instead" and I stand by that as I see Microsoft lose the plot and Apple
gain status with each passing day now.

While I'm sure every honest person reading this can agree that Microsoft are
right not to want to be the victims of piracy, and that they are right to
take 'reasonable' steps to protect themselves, their paranoia has caused
them to overstep the bounds of what is and is not reasonable.

To be honest, a lot of people said similar things when XP was introduced and
activation was introduced with it, but in the end enough people went along
with it to justify it in the eyes of whoever is behind these steadily less
credible schemes. I wonder what will happen this time - Both Apple OS X and
Linux are far more credible in October 2006 than they were in December 2001.

Makes me think more and more of when the time
comes to purchase new computer equipment, to take another look at Apple.
But that should not
be for a few more years, especially if we stay with XP Pro and not go to
Vista.

Well the biggest question is always "Does it do what I need", and while I
can look at XP and answer "Yes", I won't switch to anything else at all.
I've got an Apple laptop and a Windows desktop for home use, and as things
stand I plan to switch to an all-Apple environment at home, but I won't do
that until the Windows desktop breaks down.

 

[William]

I can understand your situation. We have 4 computers running Windows.
The computer my wife has and my main computer are Gateway computers that
we purchased in October 2002 and are running just fine. she is running
XP Pro and I am running Vista. I also have another computer that I
rescued from the dumpster where I live. I was taking the trash out and
saw a computer in the dumpster and thought it was probably a piece of
junk. So I took it out and saw that it was not wet, and that it had a
hard drive, CD burner and a DVD ROM, and also had RAM, so I hooked it up
to a spare monitor, keyboard and mouse. I hit the power button and
nothing. Then I flipped the switch in the back, and pressed the power
and it came to life, it is an AMD Athalon-900. I now use that as my XP
computer and have a KVM switch so that I can use it with my Vista
computer. The fourth computer is a Dell P3-500 that the AMD replaced.

All these computers run Windows fine. However, when the time comes to
purchase new computers, I may look at going Apple, and perhaps setting
them up as dual boot with Windows and OS X.

William

 

[Yoshi]

I would presume my users innocent if all I had was 3% of the OS market.


From what you have written, the difference between Apple and Microsoft is that Apple presumes their users are honest while Microsoft presumes their users are dishonest (until they prove that they are not thieves and pirates). Makes me think more and more of when the time comes to purchase new computer equipment, to take another look at Apple. But that should not be for a few more years, especially if we stay with XP Pro and not go to Vista.

William

I know this is off topic, but I thin it might be relevant. There has been
much discussion as to the > one 'upgrade' policy in the Vista EULA.
However, if I had a household with 4-6 iMacs running > OS X (especially if
they all have the same configuration), could I use a single upgrade OS X
to > upgrade them all? Not having read the OS X EULA,

Technically, yes you can. As for their EULA, you would need to purchase the
"family pack" licence, which doesn't cost that much more than the single
licence ($129.00 USD for single licence, $199.00 USD for 5 licence).

I would think not. but since OS X is tied
to specific Apple hardware and does not require a key or activation,

'bundled' copies of Mac OSX that come included with hardware may well be
tied to that particular piece of hardware.

how would Apple know
that one disk has upgraded several computers?

They wouldn't. They rely on you to be honest. Note thats only for the OS.And
yet somehow they manage to make money. Wonder why that is, in the face of
Microsoft's intense paranoia about licencing.

"Pro Tools" apps, which are very expensive, do a bit more in terms of
protecting themselves but we won't go there for now.

 

[Yoshi]

I finally gave in and bought and Apple iBook and Mac Mini. I can honestly
say that the OS is not as great as everyone says it is. Also, I have more
problems with the wireless connection that I've ever had with XP.

I am being honest when i say this but I have to reboot both pc's when it
loses the wireless connection. I've tried to figure out why when it says
it's connected that i can't do anything over the internet until i reboot.

Plus, the OS is so damn slow. It's really not that great.

 

[CZ]

I've actually been saying exactly that for quite some time now. When WGAintroduced in XP I posted an entry in my blog that finished up with "If
you've got no pressing reason why you have to buy a Windows machine, buy a
Mac instead" and I stand by that as I see Microsoft lose the plot and Apple
gain status with each passing day now.

Robert:

Are you aware of the product cost for a Mac and each point upgrade for OSX?
Does the Mac run your desired apps (Encarta, MS Access, games, etc)?

 

[CZ]

Re: OSX is so damn slow.

Yoshi:

How much memory do you have?

 

[Yoshi]

1 gig of ram.

 

[Yoshi]

yes... Apple is selling more computers but they only have 3% of the OS
market share. Any mac sold would HELP OUT TREMENDOUSLY!!!

 

[skon]

introduced in XP I posted an entry in my blog that finished up with "If
you've got no pressing reason why you have to buy a Windows machine, buy a
Mac instead" and I stand by that as I see Microsoft lose the plot and
Apple
gain status with each passing day now.

Robert:

Are you aware of the product cost for a Mac and each point upgrade for
OSX?
Does the Mac run your desired apps (Encarta, MS Access, games, etc)?

That's my sticking point to. All the software that I use and have spent
lot's of money on will not run on a Mac. Except Photoshop. I use Truespace 7
(a 3D modeling program that's several hundred $$), Corel Draw 10, Photoshop
and lot's of other graphics apps. Some are not spacific to the Windows
environment like Photoshop but even with Photoshop I would have to buy a
full retail version for Mac if I crossed over from Win. I've already paid
retail once and upgraded Photoshop several times. They will not let you
cross over to the other platform by purchasing just an upgrade. Then with
the programs that are spacific to Windows like Truespace, there just is not
a version for Mac's and nothing else will do for 3D for me as I've yet to
find a interface as easy to pick up as Truespace has. I've never opened a
manuel for it ever. I've tried other 3D apps that have versions for both
computing platforms but every one I've tried has been something that would
require takeing classes for to even get the basics down. So I've played with
some Mac's and done a little work on them and they are nice but there is no
way I will be able to change and do what I do. Vista runs Truespace fine
with no tweaks etc. Also a couple of years ago when I was still doing
graphic design for a living I used a brand new Mac for about a week before I
told my employer to switch me back. The reason was that with virtualy the
same specs on hardware Photoshop ran at about 1/3 the speed that it did on a
Win2K system.

Regards,
Skon

 

[skon]

Good point Yoshi. If you have 90% of the market and 10% (I'm guesstimating
here) of your potential customers use illegle copys of your software you
probably are loosing more money to that then your 3% competitor makes!
Haveing a bigger share of the market means you theoreticaly take a bigger
hit when someone installs a non-legit of your software.

Regards,
Skon


I would presume my users innocent if all I had was 3% of the OS market.

 

[Robert Moir]

introduced in XP I posted an entry in my blog that finished up with
"If you've got no pressing reason why you have to buy a Windows
machine, buy a Mac instead" and I stand by that as I see Microsoft
lose the plot and Apple gain status with each passing day now.

Robert:

Are you aware of the product cost for a Mac and each point upgrade
for OSX?

I should think so. I support Macs professionally and have owned more than
one myself. Macs are more expensive than the cheapest PC you can buy, but
thats really not comparing Apples to..er.. oh you get the idea!

A "point" upgrade to OS X is broadly equal in concept (I'll let idiot OS
trolls who actually care argue about detail) to an upgrade from NT4 ->
2000 -> 2003 -> Vista, and if you think about it that way, an OS X upgrade
is good value.

Does the Mac run your desired apps (Encarta, MS Access,
games, etc)?

Yes. But it won't run everyone's desired apps, you'll notice in the other
post, I mention "Does it do what I need" as the most important question
someone should be asking about moving platforms (this includes people who
want to be early adopters of Vista). Conversely, someone who relies on
Apple's Pro Tools would be equally unable to switch to Windows.