Apple reveals Mac OS X Lion, Server prices for business and education

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Apple has announced prices and deployment plans for its education and business customers installing Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server, with licenses starting at $29.99 in volume.



The company has published a PDF document that reiterates that consumers will install Lion via the Mac App Store as a $29.99 download that may be installed on any Mac connected to the iTunes account used to download it.



For business customers, Apple's online Business Store will offer volume licenses at the same $29.99 price in a minimum quantity of 20 licenses. The company will also offer maintenance contracts for $49.99 per license at the same minimum quantity.



Education customers can buy Lion via the Apple Education Licensing Program or the online Education Store. The new OS will be packaged with iLife and iWork apps in a "Apple Software Collection" bundle priced at $39 per machine in volume packs of 25 licenses.



Apple notes that the new OS minimally requires a Mac with a Core 2 Duo; Core i3, i5 or i7; or Xeon CPU and at least 2GB of RAM, and must be running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later. This excludes 32-bit Core Duo and Core Solo Macs introduced in 2006.



The company regularly (but not consistently) refers to its new OS in the document as "OS X," dropping the "Mac" from its name in most cases while still referring to "Mac OS X" when speaking of the OS in general terms. Apple's online web pages also commonly now refer to the OS as simply "OS X."







Lion mass deployment



Both business and education customers will receive a single Mac App Store redemption code that can be used to download the Lion installer, which can then be used across all licensed machines to deploy the new OS.



The installer will also support Apple's existing mass deployment techniques, including NetInstall and NetRestore images for distributing the installer and running it in place for unattended, diskless installation, as well as distribution via Apple Remote Desktop for remote mass installations of configured machines.



The document also clarifies that subsequent updates for Lion systems will be delivered through Software Update rather than via the Mac App Store, preventing any need to manage Apple ID accounts on volume licensed machines.



Additionally, the company has stated that the new OS will be available as a free update to all customers who buy a new Mac on or after June 6, 2011 when the new OS was formally released. Those customers can request a free Up-To-Date upgrade to obtain Lion on machines that were not bundled with it.



Mac OS X Server a $49.99 option



Apple also announced that Mac OS X Lion Server will be available as a separate $49.99 option for Lion buyers. Existing Snow Leopard Server users will be able to upgrade to Lion Server by buying Lion along with Lion Server, for a total of $80.



Previously, Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server was priced at $499 for an unlimited client license, although some online retailers discounted the price down into the ballpark of $390. Prior to Snow Leopard Server, Apple formerly sold Mac OS X Server for $500 in a limited client version and $1000 for an unlimited client license.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 47
    $50 for the server apps is a good deal !
  • Reply 2 of 47
    Hope they will maintain this kind of prices for OS X Server in the future regardless of major or minor versions e.g. OS9-OS X, Tiger-Leopard, Leopard-Snow Leopard. Not that I have one but the thought of having everything for peanuts is something not to be missed.
  • Reply 3 of 47
    bulk001bulk001 Posts: 764member
    Anyone know if you can create a bootable disk with the downloaded software?
  • Reply 4 of 47
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bulk001 View Post


    Anyone know if you can create a bootable disk with the downloaded software?



    OF COURSE you can.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Market_Player View Post


    $50 for the server apps is a good deal !



    Plus the price of REGULAR Lion, and it will only install if you have Snow Leopard Server installed on that machine. It's a little more than $49.
  • Reply 5 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bulk001 View Post


    Anyone know if you can create a bootable disk with the downloaded software?



    Quote:

    Purchase and download Lion from the Mac App Store on any Lion compatible Mac running Snow Leopard.

    Right click on ?Mac OS X Lion? installer and choose the option to ?Show Package Contents.?

    Inside the Contents folder that appears you will find a SharedSupport folder and inside the SharedSupport folder you will find the ?InstallESD.dmg.? This is the Lion boot disc image we have all been waiting for.

    Copy ?InstallESD.dmg? to another folder like the Desktop.

    Launch Disk Utility and click the burn button.

    Select the copied ?InstallESD.dmg? as the image to burn, insert a standard sized 4.7 GB DVD, and wait for your new Lion Boot Disc to come out toasty hot.



    Source
  • Reply 6 of 47
    xzuxzu Posts: 139member
    Cheap, awesome, cool. Easy deployment. Hooray for Apple.
  • Reply 7 of 47
    bulk001bulk001 Posts: 764member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Market_Player View Post


    Source



    Thanks!
  • Reply 8 of 47
    bulk001bulk001 Posts: 764member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    OF COURSE you can.







    Plus the price of REGULAR Lion, and it will only install if you have Snow Leopard Server installed on that machine. It's a little more than $49.



    The reply one or two down was a little more useful but thanks.
  • Reply 9 of 47
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bulk001 View Post


    Anyone know if you can create a bootable disk with the downloaded software?



    Developers could so it is likely.



    If nothing else you could always partition off a small bit of your hardware, install Snow Leopard etc and then clone it to an external. I do this with every major upgrade. Mainly because I rely on my computer for work so I can't delete the previous OS until I am sure that all apps will work in the new system. So I create a split system, install everything and then clone it. Then toss in my data and with luck everything goes great. If not, I am a quick restart away from a known good system.
  • Reply 10 of 47
    bulk001bulk001 Posts: 764member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    Developers could so it is likely.



    If nothing else you could always partition off a small bit of your hardware, install Snow Leopard etc and then clone it to an external. I do this with every major upgrade. Mainly because I rely on my computer for work so I can't delete the previous OS until I am sure that all apps will work in the new system. So I create a split system, install everything and then clone it. Then toss in my data and with luck everything goes great. If not, I am a quick restart away from a known good system.



    While an extra bit of work that is a good idea. I use my laptop at work as the sacrificial lamb to test extensively before we update the other machines (I think it was 10.6.2 or .3 before we updated any of the other machines but I remember some of the bugs driving me crazy - like not printing to our HP printers via airport till .2 or .3 - and this would help take care of that).
  • Reply 11 of 47
    jb510jb510 Posts: 129member
    I'm liking most of what I hear, but there are still some big holes.



    What if I currently have 10.6 and want to switch to server? Do I really need to first buy 10.6 Server and then upgrade as seems to be suggested.



    The article says updates are handled through software update, but I'm unclear if that's for all installations or just the volume licensed bussiness and education installs... I'm guessing it's all installs. This leads mr to believe that there is still no license check for updates meaning if one were to create there own install disk they technically could install it on an infinite number of computers... Thankfully this also means I can create a single rescue/reinstall disk to restore directly to 10.7 for all the tech support I do.



    Having just gone through a 4 hour process to install Lion DP4 (non-server) on my server which normally runs 10.6 Server I can say that the whole upgrade/install process can be a major PITA if your not doing a vanilla upgrade.
  • Reply 12 of 47
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Plus the price of REGULAR Lion, and it will only install if you have Snow Leopard Server installed on that machine. It's a little more than $49.



    You don't need SL server to install Lion server. You only need Lion to install Lion server. So the cost of Lion server is $80, which is still cheap. If you already have Lion then it will only cost $50.
  • Reply 13 of 47
    Am I the only one who is confused as to the licensing on this? I have an iTunes account using my username/password, my wife has her own iTunes account on her computer using her username/password. Will we each need to buy our own Lion upgrade?
  • Reply 14 of 47
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NasserAE View Post


    You don't need SL server to install Lion server. You only need Lion to install Lion server. So the cost of Lion server is $80, which is still cheap.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Apple


    OS X Lion Server will also be available on the Mac App Store for $49.99. OS X Lion must be purchased in conjunction with Lion Server to upgrade from Snow Leopard Server.



    I read that as 'you have to have Snow Leopard Server to get Lion Server' because they didn't give any instructions on what to do when upgrading from Snow Leopard Client.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ibgarrett View Post


    Am I the only one who is confused as to the licensing on this? I have an iTunes account using my username/password, my wife has her own iTunes account on her computer using her username/password. Will we each need to buy our own Lion upgrade?



    Log out of her account, install for free via yours, log hers back in.
  • Reply 15 of 47
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    I read that as 'you have to have Snow Leopard Server to get Lion Server' because they didn't give any instructions on what to do when upgrading from Snow Leopard Client.



    No. That just say that you need Lion first even if you have SL server installed. It makes sense since Apple now referring to the server as server apps. From Apple website.



    Quote:

    Upgrading your Mac to Lion Server couldn’t be more hassle free — whether you’re running Snow Leopard or Snow Leopard Server. Just visit the Mac App Store when Lion and Lion Server become available in July to buy, download, and install both directly to your Mac. That’s it. And since Lion Server will be available from the Mac App Store, you can upgrade from Lion any time you want.



  • Reply 16 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    I read that as 'you have to have Snow Leopard Server to get Lion Server' because they didn't give any instructions on what to do when upgrading from Snow Leopard Client.



    What it means is you cannot just install the Lion Server ($49.99) apps onto Snow Leopard Server because the core OS's are different, you need to install Lion first, then you can install the server apps.
  • Reply 17 of 47
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NasserAE View Post


    No. That just say that you need Lion first even if you have SL server installed. It makes sense since Apple now referring to the server as server apps. From Apple website.



    Oh, good. That solves that, then.
  • Reply 18 of 47
    ungenioungenio Posts: 49member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple notes that the new OS minimally requires a Mac with a Core 2 Duo; Core i3, i5 or i7; or Xeon CPU and at least 2GB of RAM, and must be running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later. This excludes 32-bit Core Duo and Core Solo Macs introduced in 2006.



    Are there 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Core 2 Duo? That puzzles me. I have a 2007, 2-GHz, Core Duo MacBook and can not verify if it's a 32 or 64-bit. Will I be able to upgrade?



    UPDATE: Forget it, I can see my mistake now, "Core 2 Duo" vs. just "Core Duo". DUH!!
  • Reply 19 of 47
    Nice Breaking news that was lifted from MacRumors without attribution.



    Apple has not published this document anywhere public.
  • Reply 20 of 47
    jb510jb510 Posts: 129member
    Until 3 or 4 months ago I always thought Apple Insider had the best writers in the "Apple Only News World", but frankly it's gone seriously downhill...



    Anyway, I read Mac Rumors article on this exact same subject and it's exceptionally more clear than what is written here, I encourage you to read it:

    http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/17/...and-education/



    To upgrade SL Server you MUST upgrade to Lion Server. If you have SL you CAN upgrade to Lion Server. You can NOT however go from SL Server to regular Lion (non-server). This is what I'd expect, it's just never been very clear before.
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