A few people were whining and moaning about Lion being download only, well, here you go, now you can quit whining and moaning. And if anybody whines about the price, then go get a job, don't be a bum. $69 is not too much for an Apple branded USB stick with an OS on it! As for me, I'll be downloading the $29 version. I can make my own USB stick, if I need one.
For users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school, Apple is also offering customers the ability to download the multi-gigabyte install at its retail stores immediately.
What planet is Cupertino on? Many of those who don't have broadband, probably also live quite a few miles away from any Apple store. They'll have to pack that 24" iMac into the family car, drive some two hours or more on a day they're rather be doing something else, do the download, and then drive back. All for the lack of a DVD version that'd cost perhaps 25 cents to stamp out.
This policy is a classic illustration of a corporate-executive-level screw up. A few at the very top of Apple got the hots for the this dumber-than-dumb idea, and no normal Apple staffer could bring them back to reality.
I'm downloading Lion to my MacBook right now. It's been going for about 45 minutes on my fairly fast cable broadband connection, and I don't have any idea how much longer it will take. Apple's end is getting hammered hard. At about 6:30 am, it was peaking at about 1.2 MBs. Now it's limping along at about 200 KBs, one sixth the earlier speed. And once that's done, I'll have to do the same thing for my iMac.
You don't get the 4GB from Apple anyway (necessarily) ... Apple rents server capacity all over the world to help out with this stuff... you won't necessarily connect to a server in Cupertino (or North Carolina) for the actual file download.
Nothing about a torrent will speed up your download. Presumably lion is being downloaded via whatever CDN apple is using these days, so distance from Californi is irrelevant.
What planet is Cupertino on? Many of those who don't have broadband, probably also live quite a few miles away from any Apple store. They'll have to pack that 24" iMac into the family car, drive some two hours or more on a day they're rather be doing something else, do the download, and then drive back. All for the lack of a DVD version that'd cost perhaps 25 cents to stamp out.
This policy is a classic illustration of a corporate-executive-level screw up. A few at the very top of Apple got the hots for the this dumber-than-dumb idea, and no normal Apple staffer could bring them back to reality.
I'm downloading Lion to my MacBook right now. It's been going for about 45 minutes on my fairly fast cable broadband connection, and I don't have any idea how much longer it will take. Apple's end is getting hammered hard. At about 6:30 am, it was peaking at about 1.2 MBs. Now it's limping along at about 200 KBs, one sixth the earlier speed. And once that's done, I'll have to do the same thing for my iMac.
Dumb. Really, really dumb.
As dumb and uneconomical as you might think, it accomplishes several things.
1) Moving into the true digital age, elimination of optical drives and cd/dvd media, saving them more $ in the long run, and continuing to charge you more for less (I think MBA actually charges you for air)
2) Maybe test out iCloud-like requirements on bandwidth and performance
3) Increase the perceived time it takes for any software Apple makes to get into your hands
4) Convinces people to upgrade internet packages so they can deliver more content this way
5) Eventually reduces the need for Brick Stores because you're connected fast anyways and YOU put up the cost for that, not Apple, saving them even more money, leading them to world domination. Oh wait, they already have that.
Pause it, go have a coffee, and try again later; it'll be there tomorrow. Personally, OS upgrades by MAS means I don't have to fight a bunch of people at the Apple Store to buy a disc I won't care about after today. I suspect many here feel the same way.
AppleInsider was first to report in May that Apple planned to release Lion through the Mac App Store, but also that Apple would offer a physical copy of the operating system for those who would prefer to have one. And in June, an exclusive report suggested lower pricing for Lion could be tied to purchasing through the Mac App Store.
Get off your high horse - no one cares you were first.
Get off your high horse - no one cares you were first.
So you're one of those people who yells at the TV when news channels say they're the first to report something or that they've received breaking news, huh?
Queue the complaints about overcharging for a thumb drive version....
gouging is gouging...a4GB thumbdrive is like $5 at Frys, so I assume Apple could buy a container of them for like a quarter or something...
those who cant afford broadband will be most impacted by this, as well as those folks in areas that are under served...this is a tax on those who live in bad broadband areas, shame on those users for not moving to a part of the country with a faster pipe to get the new toys.
gouging is gouging...a4GB thumbdrive is like $5 at Frys, so I assume Apple could buy a container of them for like a quarter or something...
You really think these drives have the same type of hardware that man-on-the-street drives do, don't you?
Quote:
those who cant afford broadband will be most impacted by this, as well as those folks in areas that are under served...this is a tax on those who live in bad broadband areas, shame on those users for not moving to a part of the country with a faster pipe to get the new toys.
gouging is gouging...a4GB thumbdrive is like $5 at Frys, so I assume Apple could buy a container of them for like a quarter or something...
Or you could look at from Apple's PoV. Just assume the cost of the Flash drive, loading packaging and shipping is $5. That means the cost of of the Lion is $64, which means they are charging $35 for the inconvenience of having to spend money on flash drives, loading, packing and shipping in the first place.
Hey, just a damn minute. I remember when OS X updates were $129.00 so keep your shirts on, $69 is cheap.
Absolutely correct. $29 download is cheap. $69 thumb drive is equally cheap. Apple could have charged $69 for a download and $129 for a thumb drive and sold just as many copies. Lion is better than Windows 7 Professional and a fraction of the cost. This is one time that Apple is actually doing its customers a favor.
Comments
For users who do not have broadband access at home, work or school, Apple is also offering customers the ability to download the multi-gigabyte install at its retail stores immediately.
What planet is Cupertino on? Many of those who don't have broadband, probably also live quite a few miles away from any Apple store. They'll have to pack that 24" iMac into the family car, drive some two hours or more on a day they're rather be doing something else, do the download, and then drive back. All for the lack of a DVD version that'd cost perhaps 25 cents to stamp out.
This policy is a classic illustration of a corporate-executive-level screw up. A few at the very top of Apple got the hots for the this dumber-than-dumb idea, and no normal Apple staffer could bring them back to reality.
I'm downloading Lion to my MacBook right now. It's been going for about 45 minutes on my fairly fast cable broadband connection, and I don't have any idea how much longer it will take. Apple's end is getting hammered hard. At about 6:30 am, it was peaking at about 1.2 MBs. Now it's limping along at about 200 KBs, one sixth the earlier speed. And once that's done, I'll have to do the same thing for my iMac.
Dumb. Really, really dumb.
... alleviating the connection directly to Apple.
You don't get the 4GB from Apple anyway (necessarily) ... Apple rents server capacity all over the world to help out with this stuff... you won't necessarily connect to a server in Cupertino (or North Carolina) for the actual file download.
And once that's done, I'll have to do the same thing for my iMac.
LOL, why? Burn it to a disc.
LOL, why? Burn it to a disc.
^^^Directions have been posted on every Mac site on the Iternet since the first day of the developer beta...
What planet is Cupertino on? Many of those who don't have broadband, probably also live quite a few miles away from any Apple store. They'll have to pack that 24" iMac into the family car, drive some two hours or more on a day they're rather be doing something else, do the download, and then drive back. All for the lack of a DVD version that'd cost perhaps 25 cents to stamp out.
This policy is a classic illustration of a corporate-executive-level screw up. A few at the very top of Apple got the hots for the this dumber-than-dumb idea, and no normal Apple staffer could bring them back to reality.
I'm downloading Lion to my MacBook right now. It's been going for about 45 minutes on my fairly fast cable broadband connection, and I don't have any idea how much longer it will take. Apple's end is getting hammered hard. At about 6:30 am, it was peaking at about 1.2 MBs. Now it's limping along at about 200 KBs, one sixth the earlier speed. And once that's done, I'll have to do the same thing for my iMac.
Dumb. Really, really dumb.
As dumb and uneconomical as you might think, it accomplishes several things.
1) Moving into the true digital age, elimination of optical drives and cd/dvd media, saving them more $ in the long run, and continuing to charge you more for less (I think MBA actually charges you for air)
2) Maybe test out iCloud-like requirements on bandwidth and performance
3) Increase the perceived time it takes for any software Apple makes to get into your hands
4) Convinces people to upgrade internet packages so they can deliver more content this way
5) Eventually reduces the need for Brick Stores because you're connected fast anyways and YOU put up the cost for that, not Apple, saving them even more money, leading them to world domination. Oh wait, they already have that.
Dumb. Really, really dumb.[/B]
Pause it, go have a coffee, and try again later; it'll be there tomorrow. Personally, OS upgrades by MAS means I don't have to fight a bunch of people at the Apple Store to buy a disc I won't care about after today. I suspect many here feel the same way.
2) I hope the Apple Stores have a LAN-based copy of Lion to be accessible from the Mac App Store.
AppleInsider was first to report in May that Apple planned to release Lion through the Mac App Store, but also that Apple would offer a physical copy of the operating system for those who would prefer to have one. And in June, an exclusive report suggested lower pricing for Lion could be tied to purchasing through the Mac App Store.
Get off your high horse - no one cares you were first.
aggravation charge. Apple doesn't really want to do this, but realizes that it needs to for some customers.
yep!!!!!!!!!1
Get off your high horse - no one cares you were first.
So you're one of those people who yells at the TV when news channels say they're the first to report something or that they've received breaking news, huh?
Queue the complaints about overcharging for a thumb drive version....
gouging is gouging...a4GB thumbdrive is like $5 at Frys, so I assume Apple could buy a container of them for like a quarter or something...
those who cant afford broadband will be most impacted by this, as well as those folks in areas that are under served...this is a tax on those who live in bad broadband areas, shame on those users for not moving to a part of the country with a faster pipe to get the new toys.
gouging is gouging...a4GB thumbdrive is like $5 at Frys, so I assume Apple could buy a container of them for like a quarter or something...
You really think these drives have the same type of hardware that man-on-the-street drives do, don't you?
those who cant afford broadband will be most impacted by this, as well as those folks in areas that are under served...this is a tax on those who live in bad broadband areas, shame on those users for not moving to a part of the country with a faster pipe to get the new toys.
gouging is gouging...a4GB thumbdrive is like $5 at Frys, so I assume Apple could buy a container of them for like a quarter or something...
Or you could look at from Apple's PoV. Just assume the cost of the Flash drive, loading packaging and shipping is $5. That means the cost of of the Lion is $64, which means they are charging $35 for the inconvenience of having to spend money on flash drives, loading, packing and shipping in the first place.
You really think these drives have the same type of hardware that man-on-the-street drives do, don't you?
They could be even cheaper since Apple doesn't have to buy NAND for these USB drives with high rates of rewrites.
Hey, just a damn minute. I remember when OS X updates were $129.00 so keep your shirts on, $69 is cheap.
Absolutely correct. $29 download is cheap. $69 thumb drive is equally cheap. Apple could have charged $69 for a download and $129 for a thumb drive and sold just as many copies. Lion is better than Windows 7 Professional and a fraction of the cost. This is one time that Apple is actually doing its customers a favor.