Buying Leopard: Not Snow Leopard!

Scráib

I'm running OS X Tiger, and I'm looking to upgrade my OS to Leopard. The problem is on the Apple Store they only sell Snow Leopard which they're billing as an upgrade for Leopard.

Apparently to upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard (according to the Apple Store) I have to buy the box Set which costs 170 feckin' euro!

Isn't there a way to just get the OS without buying all the extras that I don't need?

Sad Professor

The "upgrade" disc will install even without Leopard. Apple are just pushing the Box Set on users who haven't upgraded their software in a while. Just make sure your Mac meets the other requirements (Intel, etc).

Scráib

Are you certain? The site is being pretty specific about the disc being an upgrade for Leopard only.

The last thign I want is to buy the disc, run the install and then get an "AHA! no you can't!!" message mid-install.

J-blk

Scráib wrote: »

Are you certain? The site is being pretty specific about the disc being an upgrade for Leopard only.

Absolutely certain, 200% sure. I did a clean install on an older MacBook running Tiger, using nothing but the Snow Leopard disc (and I think someone here did the upgrade install from Tiger, again with no problems). It's been confirmed by many blogs and others here too.

Sad Professor

In case you want further confirmation:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/27/apples_snow_leopard_disc_will_install_on_tiger_macs.html

Dont be at yourself

It's basically piracy though. The license agreement only entitles you to install it if you have Leopard.

Scráib

Okay so it works... but it's a bit illegal which means you'd be open to Apple screwing you in any way they wanted to.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone who's gone down this route still been getting the automatic software updates? If it were me trying to get at people that'd be the first thing I'd turn off.

Dont be at yourself

Apple don't have any form of copy protection in the desktop OS. You'd be a fool to turn off automatic updates.

Scráib

Apple don't have any form of copy protection in the desktop OS. You'd be a fool to turn off automatic updates.

My question was more about them switching offf the update for illegal OSX copies from their end, but you answered my question anyway, cheers!!

J-blk

Scráib wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, has anyone who's gone down this route still been getting the automatic software updates? If it were me trying to get at people that'd be the first thing I'd turn off.

Updates are working fine. I just installed 10.6.1 on the Tiger upgraded MacBook I mentioned.

As for the them "detecting" it and switching off updates, etc, I can't see how that would be possible. I did a clean install, formatted the HDD and installed Snow Leopard - there was no trace of Tiger on the system at that time. You could do the same from Leopard, so how exactly would the system "know" was OS base you came from?

philiporeilly

Is your mac Intel or PPC? Presume thats why you're not going to snow leopard?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

J-blk

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That was my point, there is no technical limitation to installing it on a Tiger or wiped system (which I believe is the original question anyway). Yes, you do violate the EULA, but that is something for the OP to decide if he wants to do or not. I doubt a SWAT team will raid his place and haul him off to prison if he installs it without Leopard...

Scráib

Is your mac Intel or PPC? Presume thats why you're not going to snow leopard?

Mine's an intel macbook pro, one of the first out which had the problems with the fan not spinning fast enough and that strange whine... did they ever resolve that?

I just haven't upgraded because I was happy with tiger. These days I'm thinking an upgrade would keep the machine up to date. I've read that snow leopard focuses on streamlining the OS rather than adding new features so it seems like a good idea to buy. It'll make better use of the multi-core as well.

J-blk

Scráib wrote: »

I just haven't upgraded because I was happy with tiger. These days I'm thinking an upgrade would keep the machine up to date. I've read that snow leopard focuses on streamlining the OS rather than adding new features so it seems like a good idea to buy. It'll make better use of the multi-core as well.

I think you'll find that you can use more software with Snow Leopard too - there are a number of applications that have been "Leopard only" since their launch and you should be able to use them with Snow Leopard (like the brilliant variation of XBMC, Plex). On the other hand, Snow Leopard is still a bumpy ride in some cases as various third party apps don't work correctly with it (an example of which is also Plex )...