First, “a positive: Hardware support for [Apple’s OS X] Lion seems pretty extensive. Just about any Intel-based Mac released since the middle to latter part of 2006, meaning an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better, will work with Lion,” Gene Steinberg writes for TechNightOwl. “A five-year Window is pretty good for Apple. At the same time, I expect that the $29 upgrade price for Snow Leopard, plus loads of new Macs sold since 10.6 arrived in August of 2009, only leaves a small number of eligible Mac users still using Leopard or Tiger.”
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“However, to upgrade to Lion from Leopard, it’s a double installation at best,” Steinberg writes. “First they have to upgrade to Snow Leopard, and upgrade that initial installation to 10.6.7 (Mac App Store debuted in 10.6.6). The reason is that Lion will only be available via that route. There will be no retail upgrade kits, no DVDs. That’s the price you pay for convenience, assuming downloading a 4GB file is convenient for you.”
Steinberg writes, “Once you’ve running 10.6.7 or later (and there’s a rumor of a 10.6.8 under development as we speak), you can then install Lion. Does this make sense for the company whose products ‘just work?'”
Read more in the full article, in which Steinberg asserts that, “at the very least, Apple ought to consider a combo installer DVD in a retail package at a special price, say $39,” here.
MacDailyNews Take: What do you think? Is Apple’s OS X Lion upgrade plan misguided? Are you running Mac OS X 10.6.7 Snow Leopard? Is a 4GB download a huge or non-issue for you?
I run Leopard and I am peeved.
I think what this article is missing is this:
Iif users are interested in upgrading they have snow leopard. If not, they won’t be interested in Lion.
Maybe a new self contained install could be introduced at a higher price as it contains more than just the delta.
It’s a problem, yes… for some, like me.
My Macs are production machines and I have them frozen at 10.6.5 because I can’t risk new updates breaking current software/functionality.
No App Store for me, so I’d first have to update to 10.6.7, then download from the App Store, then extract the DMG, burn a DVD – and then update (I like to do clean installs… it’s better for the system).
As for people with slow ISP’s, I suppose they could just set a Genius Bar appointment and have their Mac updated for them. But what about all the customers that don’t have an Apple Store nearby?
it’s just stupid to start complaining on these subjects. Of COURSE apple has it figured out, all the different routes of upgrading. Lion is just presented more or less as as a teaser and why the f###k should they take precious time at wwdc to go thru all technicalities petaining to all different scenarios in the mac community???
Maybe they do, but during they keynote, they specifically said that Lion would only be available as a download in the App Store.
lol I hope that’s sarcasm. Why would they ever choose to get technical at the wwDEVELOPERconference? Are you kidding me? I don’t know…that sounds like crazy thinking to me. But I’m willing to be stranger things have happened. 🙂
Oh, another one! I have friends who are very Mac-savvy, but they live in a remote area. To get internet access, they had to put a 110-foot tower on their property for a line-of-sight radio connection with the ISP. The connection is still very slow. I doubt very much that it would be possible for them to download Lion from the Mac App Store within their lifetimes.
Has Apple stated that they won’t accommodate users that aren’t running Snow Leopard? I don’t remember hearing that. Maybe they’ll have a software update for older OSes that will allow them to upgrade to Lion without jumping through any hoops. Doesn’t seem to difficult to create an application to run on Tiger and Leopard that would allow the user to connect to the Mac App store and only allow the purchase and download of Lion. People need to ease up a little. At this point, we only have a little information on how this all works. Geez.
What Apple said is that OS X Lion will be available only through the App Store, which is only available to those running Snow Leopard. Maybe Apple has anticipated the problems that many people are pointing out, and maybe they haven’t. Even brilliant people like Steve Jobs can get so caught up in their grand visions that they overlook important details close to home. I don’t think the reactions we’re seeing on message boards across the internet are overly dramatic by any means. The aggragate response of Apple’s customers to Apple’s road map is an important part of the picture. As Steve Jobs himself has said many times, “if people don’t like our products, they won’t buy them.” If people don’t buy into Apple’s vision because it doesn’t “just work”, then Apple will have a big problem… But so will we! What else can we do… buy pc’s???
Many Mac users may be able to get along for several more years with Snow Leopard, but this is obviously not the response that Apple is looking for. Nor do most Mac users want to stay in the same place for the next five years because their way forward is blocked. Sounds like a good, old-fashioned cliff hanger to me. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!
The show stopper for me is available disk space. I don’t have 4GB available, let alone the extra space needed during installation.
How can disk space be a “show stopper” when hard drives are dirt cheap?
He means that his iMac or Mac mini has run out of disk space. These are not user upgradeable components within the casing.
Well for those who cannot download there might be an option to order a disc or usb version. They might also have a byob kiosk in the store (bring a stick or disc)–
now for those with fine internet speed but leopard or tiger–perhaps there will be a software update that will create an installable state for Lion to just work.
The only issue I have with the idea of downloading the update is that if I want to reformat my machine from scratch and do a fresh rebuild, which I don’t do very often but it happens, I’ll have to do it in a two step process. Install Snow Leopard from the DVD and then install the update.
That said though, others have given instruction on how to make a DVD from the download so my concerns may be moot. 🙂
Cheers.
J\
Not everyone has High Speed Internet. It would be a pain to haul an iMac down to the Apple Store to use the WiFi. But I don’t think people w/out access to high speed internet is Apple’s target consumer, after all, all of their products and services rely heavily on internet access, so dial-up’ers I guess need not apply.
As for people that may be holding onto Tiger. I think Apple should make a special piece of software that is basically the App Store shell, that only offers Lion upgrade, that works from Tiger on (Intel Processors only) to the most current version. That way everyone that has high speed internet can upgrade.
But as I said, if you can’t download the file, you are not their target consumer. If you don’t like it, you can use Ubuntu (still better than Windows) 🙂
A 4gb download can be problematic for people with mobile network connections only and meters bandwidth quotas. On such connections a reliable download of that size can be hard to achieve if the network keeps flip flopping between edge and 3G as they often do over the span of a few hours. For these people an Apple retailer may be far away and be no alternative. They have possibly relied on mail order from the Apple store or others in the past.
Up until a year ago my parents only had dialup so updating would have been hard. They are still on a very slow DSL link so it still won’t be fun. I hope Apple will offer a DVD disk option for a fall back for folks on a slow link to the net. I know of others that are still on dialup they have new computers that are OSX 10.7 able but have no cable or DSL access to the internet where they live.
For me personally I will have no problems installing Lion.
I really love apple, the only machines I buy now are macs.
but downloading xcode 4 was hellish
downloading a 4gb os install image?
…. maybe I should start re-thinking this whole mac thing
I download movies that are almost as long all the time!
This is another example of Apple dragging the whiners and complainers into the future kicking and screaming. Apple is skating to where the puck will be… again.
Thank God!
Holy bat shit. Common sense does still exist. Thanks Jay
And for the record, what exactly about download times is hellish? I can understand the slow download speeds interrupting the evening wanker pull, but an OS? You have got be pulling my…….
And being pissed at a company that is catering to the overwhelming majority of humanity is misguided…and frankly, childish. Lord knows, all the whiners are way more smarterer than the dumb asses at Apple. Jobs is a butthead because I can’t get what I want when I want it. And I want it NOW!!!
FO!
Although, of course, sadly the “overwhelming majority of humanity” has no internet access at all.
Don’t forget that 4GB may get a user very close to there monthly download limit. I am in a good cable area in Ireland and I have a 100mb line with a monthly allocation of 500GB so I will be OK but a lot of users don’t have as good broadband.
My guess is that there will also be a DVD but maybe at a slightly higher price point. That way everybody would be covered.
John
Are policies created for the majority or the exceptions?
What a total waste of time this discussion forum is. Only one person’s opinion counts – Steve Jobs – and all the spouting of Apple fanbois is total junk worthless – that’s how Apple sees it at least.
So you’re saying that the opinions of Apple’s customers don’t count? That’s bunk.
You’re right. Apple has been known to turn around if the dissenting voices are loud enough. Witness the about turn on the in-app purchase as relates online publishing. Apple did a complete U-turn there.
Guys whining about bandwidth, there’s a Starbucks on practically every US corner with FREE wifi. Order an ice mocha, sit back and relax. Not that big of a deal.
Not if you have a Mac Pro or iMac. Or are these suddenly not Apple products any more?
Non issue for most. If you still connect to the Internet via dial-up, then most likely your machine won’t even be compatible with Lion.
• Apple hasn’t sold an Airport BaseStation with an RJ45 since 2007.
• They started eliminating the internal modem before the move to Intel.
• If you didn’t upgrade to Snow Leopard then it was because it wasn’t compatible with your machine then or now
Apple is doing this to encourage users to try the Mac App Store. Once users see how well the Aap Store handles the OS upgrade, they’ll come back to try some software titles.
I predict that after the first month or so, Apple will make a DVD installer available at special request.
One use for the DVD drive is to watch DVD movies. Yup, some of us still do that. It’s called Netflix when it is not available on streaming.
Not a problem for me.
I see the biggest problem coming in for businesses. I personally do not have an Apple ID at work and have no intention of using my personal ID on my work machine.
I already upgraded to Lion DP4. Just download from the app store in the night, wake up and install Lion with a fresh coffee. The app store supports resuming and pausing downloads, its not like you go to apple site and download.