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[scorcho]

Microsoft requires you to enter a long serial number when you install Windows. Which is then checked against a database to make sure it's legit. If it isn't, you are a pirate. If it is, you are good. Apple doesn't deal with silly long serial numbers because they know only Mac users will have the OS. And it comes with all their computers. And even now with Hackintosh's they haven't resorted to the draconian method of making sure the OS is legitimately purchased and not being installed on a hundred computers.

I don't know if they still do it, but there was also a time when you couldn't change too much hardware without the OS screaming at you for being a dirty pirate and trying to transfer your OS to another computer.

Apple uses the honor system. You can install one OS X disc on a hundred computers if you were so inclined, but the small number of people who are that evil is outweighed by the amount of legit users who will buy a Family license for their 5 Macs.

Microsoft on the other hand will make sure you buy a hundred copies of Windows (Or their new family pack, how many PC's can a family pack of 7 be installed on) to install on your hundred PC's. Even though every PC comes with a copy of Windows, they still want a brand new license when you upgrade every time. Making you type in a hell of a lot of seemingly random strings of letters and numbers.

I used to use Windows in the 90's, and the part I hated every single time was entering those goddamned serial codes.

While Microsoft would rather punish everyone for the small amount of pirates, Apple knows the amount of good people outweighs the amount of bad ones.

Just one of those conveniences that reminds me why I love this company.

Meh. Serial codes are a necessary evil when you're dealing with the sheer volume of software piracy on the PC side, so I can't blame Microsoft for going down that path. They need to do it to protect their profit streams.

Apple isn't dependent on OS sales to drive revenue - they have hardware and its iTunes ecosystem to handle that. Doesn't stop Apple from limiting their OS installs when they want, such as those install discs for retail Macs can only be used on that model. And when Apple cares about revenue for a particular product they, shock and awe, use serial numbers and put in restrictions, just like nearly every other Mac/PC developer on this planet.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Uhh...

Serial codes are a necessary evil when you're dealing with the sheer volume of software piracy on the PC side, so I can't blame Microsoft for going down that path. They need to do it to protect their profit streams.

Well that would only imply that if serial codes actually made software hard to pirate.

 

[SnakeXs]

Woo.

 

[scorcho]

Well that would only imply that if serial codes actually made software hard to pirate.

i think most anti-piracy measures are meant to stop casual piracy; obviously it won't stop those who really want to crack/pirate the software.

 

[Gantz]

Just installed it. Seems really snappy. No program issues yet.

 

[mrkgoo]

Soooo. I have XCode 3.1.3 installed - by installing the new Xcode that presumably comes with SL, will it overwrite this properly, or do I have to uninstall it?

 

[celebi23]

Woo.

http://ft.beejive.com/aim/solidsnakexs/img0828000738_ne6l3k.jpg[IMG] [/QUOTE]

Dammit :lol Lucky. What are you doing still posting on NeoGAF? Go install it already :D :lol

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

i think most anti-piracy measures are meant to stop casual piracy; obviously it won't stop those who really want to crack/pirate the software.

While I see your point, however chances are that if having the newest and/or up-to-date OS is of your concern, you probably aren't a casual consumer.

 

[mrkgoo]

I agree with Scorcho. I guess it adds to what I said before - serial numbers aren't necessary when it's not the model for revenue. Obviously for Microsoft Windows, software is the model.

As Scorcho pointed out, when Apple depends on revenue from the software, (pro apps), they use a serial number model too. Yes, it only stops the casual pirate, but that's probably a LOT of potential piracy stopped.

While I see your point, however chances are that if having the newest and/or up-to-date OS is of your concern, you probably aren't a casual consumer.

Actually it is. When you walk into an Apple store, the salespeople always try to sell you - you may not be walking in for it, but you may actually walk out with it. If the installation process was a nightmare last time, then the casual may avoid it, but if the salesperson does their job, and it was smooth sailing last time, even casual consumers will walk out with a copy.

I have loads of family who want the latest and greatest, without even knowing why they want it.

 

[SnakeXs]

Dammit :lol Lucky. What are you doing still posting on NeoGAF? Go install it already :lol

On the train. Posting from my iPhone. Almost home. Almost.

 

[mrkgoo]

On the train. Posting from my iPhone. Almost home. Almost.

I so wanted it tonight. Don't know why. I visited three places just to see if they were breaking release date. All gave me "tomorrow". Oh well, I guess I just have to be patient.

Also, look at the Snow Leopard on the box. Look how he is smiling at you.

 

[SnakeXs]

I so wanted it tonight. Don't know why. I visited three places just to see if they were breaking release date. All gave me "tomorrow". Oh well, I guess I just have to be patient.

Wanna screen share my MBP in iChat for a taste? :lol

 

[mrkgoo]

Wanna screen share my MBP in iChat for a taste? :lol

Now that's just mean :lol.

Anyway, enjoy the smiling snow leopard .

I'm ok with waiting. Have some Layton to attend to.

 

[celebi23]

I so wanted it tonight. Don't know why. I visited three places just to see if they were breaking release date. All gave me "tomorrow". Oh well, I guess I just have to be patient.

Also, look at the Snow Leopard on the box. Look how he is smiling at you.

He's mocking you :lol Congrats on getting it a bit early. It's looking like I won't get my copy until Monday. Hoping Apple will surprise me & it shows up tomorrow :/ At least my 4GB RAM Upgrade is shipping :lol

 

[koam]

Not to sound like a your typical nerd being impatient with sweetest new thing in computer tech, but I faxed in my Snow Leopard order more than 2 days ago and when I go to check it's status the site says that there is no order.

I know that people like Liu Kang are telling other people in a similar situation not to worry but mine is saying that there is no order at all.

Same thing for me, did a fax, nothing. I called them and their automated system says to wait at least 48 hours till something shows up on the site so i didn't bother with a rep.

 

[Big Chief Crazy Cone]

Confirmed

Thanks. I went through that page... just didn't scroll down far enough. Now only if the new version of NTFS3g would play nice with Parallels...

 

[Firestorm]

So I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Aug 28, 2009 1:06 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN

Aug 27, 2009 7:04 PM
Left FedEx origin facility
ONTARIO, CA

Aug 27, 2009 1:55 PM
Picked up
ONTARIO, CA

Shipping makes no sense to me.

 

[Killthee]

So I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada.Shipping makes no sense to me.

• Apple is shipping them from Ontario, California.
• FedEx took the package to their SoCal hub in Ontario, CA
• FedEx then shipped the package to their main hub in Memphis, TN

From Memphis it should ship to their hub closest to Vancouver.

 

[Khalifa Jayy]

• Apple is shipping them from Ontario, California.
• FedEx took the package to their SoCal hub in Ontario, CA
• FedEx then shipped the package to their main hub in Memphis, TN

From Memphis it should ship to their hub closest to Vancouver.

I'm positive he assumed it was Ontario, CA. :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

 

[Firestorm]

I'm positive he assumed it was Ontario, CA. :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

I was thinking of the possibility it meant Ontario, California. But it still made no sense to me because Vancouver is closer than Memphis Now it has left Memphis

When it gets here I'll just assume it was by magic. That's how I explain most things I don't understand.

 

[Killthee]

I was thinking of the possibility it meant Ontario, California. But it still made no sense to me because Vancouver is closer than Memphis Now it has left Memphis

When it gets here I'll just assume it was by magic. That's how I explain most things I don't understand.

Most packages, especially the overnight and international ones, go through the Memphis Super Hub.

 

[Firestorm]

Is it just me or is there an xkcd for every situation I go through in life?

 

[Ollie Pooch]

all the local stores have it for sale here, and mine hasn't even gone past 'prepared for shipment' on the AU apple site. that'll teach me for being lazy...

 

[NetMapel]

What there is a Ontario, California ? Hahaha :lol Stop stealing our names !

 

[mrkgoo]

What there is a Ontario, California ? Hahaha :lol Stop stealing our names !

There's an Ontario, Oregon too. Crazy America.

 

[Jel0man]

Just bought and installed Snow Leopard. Free space before: 91.3 gb. Free space now: 101.48 gb. Niiiiiiiiiice.

 

[mrkgoo]

Just bought and installed Snow Leopard. Free space before: 91.3 gb. Free space now: 101.48 gb. Niiiiiiiiiice.

Keep in mind, SL has 1,000,000,000 bytes = 1GB, so some perceived gain is to be had from simply renumbering.

 

[Jel0man]

Keep in mind, SL has 1,000,000,000 bytes = 1GB, so some perceived gain is to be had from simply renumbering.

Ah ok, thanks. By the way, after the installation, Snow Leopard asked where 'System Events.app' was. It wanted me to browse to find it, but I didn't know where it was, so I cancelled it. Is this a bad thing?

 

[HUELEN10]

Still backing up some of my shit for a clean install! A little over 3 hours to go!

 

[Jel0man]

Oh, Quicktime X looks awesome by the way. Video cutting works, but it still is pretty limited. Quicktime 7 has a lot more features.

 

[Gantz]

Ah ok, thanks. By the way, after the installation, Snow Leopard asked where 'System Events.app' was. It wanted me to browse to find it, but I didn't know where it was, so I cancelled it. Is this a bad thing?

It didn't ask me for that when I finished installation. Maybe you have a botched copy :lol

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Still backing up some of my shit for a clean install! A little over 3 hours to go!

I still don't understand why you need a clean install but ok...

 

[HUELEN10]

I still don't understand why you need a clean install but ok...

What is there not to understand? A clean install is a completely fresh slate. You have it, then you streamline it, then you make it yours with only the best of what your old HDD had on it. Saves space, runs cleaner, it's just plain better and not-bloated at all.

How is a clean install not the best choice?

 

[Timan]

I did both, a fresh install on my Mac Pro, then an upgrade last night on the iMac.

Weird experience with the upgrade, it actually worked. Took a good 20min and restarted twice and boom at the snow leopard desktop with all the previous settings preserved.

Fresh instal tho, will always "feel" the nicest. Placebo effect?

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

What is there not to understand? A clean install is a completely fresh slate. You have it, then you streamline it, then you make it yours with only the best of what your old HDD had on it. Saves space, runs cleaner, it's just plain better and not-bloated at all.

How is a clean install not the best choice?

Because it's unnecessary. It's more a placebo effect than anythng. If you streamlined your leopard install what would you be unable to change or want to change with a clean install. Upgrade is just as good as a clean install. You don't lose speed by using the OS.

 

[panda21]

incidentally if you do insist on doing clean installs its a good idea to put all your data on a separate partition of your drive and just use the boot partition for the OS and apps.

that way you don't need to backup nearly as much stuff and its much quicker to get it back how it was.

 

[Juice]

Still trying to figure if Best Buys are going to have it in stores today. Inventory sites in midwest are saying it's unavailable, but that might mean they just waited to open the boxes because of the likely strict street date.

I would have hurried over the Apple Store but after the $5 off and coupons I have handy, it'll be like $10.

 

[LCfiner]

What is there not to understand? A clean install is a completely fresh slate. You have it, then you streamline it, then you make it yours with only the best of what your old HDD had on it. Saves space, runs cleaner, it's just plain better and not-bloated at all.

How is a clean install not the best choice?

it's just wasting your time. a clean install with SL is unnecessary.

heck, it's been unnecessary with pretty much all the OS X updates.

edit: my up to date disc is still showing "not yet shipped" which is annoying because I don't even know if it'll be Fed Ex or UPS or Purolator that I'll be dealing with. Fed Ex is much more convenient for a pick up later on.

 

[Jel0man]

Oh crap somehow during the installation I missed the options window. Like where you can choose to install Quicktime 7. Uuhm how do I get Quicktime 7 now:lol? Will Pacifist do this?

Edit: Nevermind. Found it:lol. It's in the 'optional installs' package on the Snow Leopard disk.

 

[Juice]

it's just wasting your time. a clean install with SL is unnecessary.

This isn't necessarily true. It's certainly true that, unlike Windows, OS X doesn't usually just degrade over the life of an install all by itself---but:

If you install a lot of crappy software via packages, plugins, app extenders, inputmanagers, custom kexts (usually by proxy of software via packages), third party developer tools (via MacPorts or fink), etc., then Leopard will certainly get bogged down over time. In addition, because all of these things are relatively low-percentage yield from Apple's perspective, they can even cause full-blown OS install failures.

For instance, last night I was experiencing a 20ms keyboard input lag across the entire system, before I realized it was the GlimmerAds prefpane's fault. A clean install would have definitely fixed that problem.

 

[celebi23]

Oh crap somehow during the installation I missed the options window. Like where you can choose to install Quicktime 7. Uuhm how do I get Quicktime 7 now:lol? Will Pacifist do this?

Edit: Nevermind. Found it. It's in the 'optional installs' package on the Snow Leopard disk.

edit: Um, QuickTime7 is not in the "optional installs" folder. You probably just installed the QuickTime SDK. :lol See the following to instal QuickTime 7


Actually, you probably won't need Pacifist in this case. Try the following steps & see if they work. Insert the DVD.

enter the command listed here into the Terminal app (Applications/Utilities)

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

killall Finder

http://www.macworld.com/article/51830/2006/07/showallfinder.html

Once the Finder restarts, open the mounted DVD. Now, you see tons of hidden files. Click the little oval shaped button on the top right of the window. Now click the button (with 3 vertical lines) so you see the view as columns (right near the QuickLook button)

Go to the "System" folder on the DVD. Now "Installation/Packages". Find "QuickTimePlayer7.pkg". You should be able to install this by double-clicking it.



I can't test this out myself as I don't have Snow Leopard yet. Don't thank me, thank my friend from college who's in the ADC. I got the file information (and locations on the DVD) from him. Let me know if this works.

 

[Dimmuxx]

The dmg in the scene release of snow leopard have the same md5 checksum as the retail disc so nothing to worry about for those who couldn't wait for their disc to arrive.

Does anyone know how to stop itunes from starting when you press the play key? I had to uninstall itunes to get rid of it.

 

[The Elite]

Out for delivery in Toronto. Hope I get home before it arrives.

 

[Jel0man]

edit: Um, QuickTime7 is not in the "optional installs" folder. You probably just installed the QuickTime SDK. :lol See the following to instal QuickTime 7


Actually, you probably won't need Pacifist in this case. Try the following steps & see if they work. Insert the DVD.

enter the command listed here into the Terminal app (Applications/Utilities)

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

killall Finder

http://www.macworld.com/article/51830/2006/07/showallfinder.html

Once the Finder restarts, open the mounted DVD. Now, you see tons of hidden files. Click the little oval shaped button on the top right of the window. Now click the button sow you see the view as columns (right near the QuickLook button)

Go to the "System" folder on the DVD. Now "Installation/Packages". Find "QuickTimePlayer7.pkg". You should be able to install this by double-clicking it.

I can't test this out myself as I don't have Snow Leopard yet. Don't thank me, thank my friend from college who's in the ADC. I got the file information (and locations on the DVD) from him. Let me know if this works.

Quicktime 7 was in that package here:S. 7 is now in my utilities folder and is working fine.

 

[celebi23]

Quicktime 7 was in that package here:S. 7 is now in my utilities folder and is working fine.

I'm a retard. You meant you used the "Optional Installs.mpkg". I forgot that I had the "view hidden files" option turned on. Yeah, that's much easier than my instructions :lol Glad that everything is worked out though.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

This isn't necessarily true. It's certainly true that, unlike Windows, OS X doesn't usually just degrade over the life of an install all by itself---but:

If you install a lot of crappy software via packages, plugins, app extenders, inputmanagers, custom kexts (usually by proxy of software via packages), third party developer tools (via MacPorts or fink), etc., then Leopard will certainly get bogged down over time. In addition, because all of these things are relatively low-percentage yield from Apple's perspective, they can even cause full-blown OS install failures.

For instance, last night I was experiencing a 20ms keyboard input lag across the entire system, before I realized it was the GlimmerAds prefpane's fault. A clean install would have definitely fixed that problem.

But that's kind of silly since if it's something you use you'll most likely install it on the clean install also making it a moot point. If it causes that big of a problem you just remove it without the need for a clean install.

 

[LCfiner]

This isn't necessarily true. It's certainly true that, unlike Windows, OS X doesn't usually just degrade over the life of an install all by itself---but:

If you install a lot of crappy software via packages, plugins, app extenders, inputmanagers, custom kexts (usually by proxy of software via packages), third party developer tools (via MacPorts or fink), etc., then Leopard will certainly get bogged down over time. In addition, because all of these things are relatively low-percentage yield from Apple's perspective, they can even cause full-blown OS install failures.

For instance, last night I was experiencing a 20ms keyboard input lag across the entire system, before I realized it was the GlimmerAds prefpane's fault. A clean install would have definitely fixed that problem.

OK, ok. this is true. but Huelen is, by his own admission, the type of user who would not be installing those types of extensions. lean and mean. streamlined.

so, in his case, I maintain that spending over 3 hours backing up data and then more hours spent restoring it is a huge waste of time for no real benefit.

and, if those 3rd party extensions are actually required for the user, then reinstalling them on 10.6 is likely to cause whatever slowdowns or conflicts would have appeared after an upgrade anyway.

I would only recommend a clean update if the system is already borked, pre-upgrade. either by one of the things you mentioned or if someone were messing around in the system folder.

 

[panda21]

The dmg in the scene release of snow leopard have the same md5 checksum as the retail disc so nothing to worry about for those who couldn't wait for their disc to arrive.

Does anyone know how to stop itunes from starting when you press the play key? I had to uninstall itunes to get rid of it.

is the dmg in the older 10a432 gm release identical to what is on the retail disc?

i have a legit copy but i'm home ill so i'm not getting it till next week. might as well install it if i can.

 

[Juice]

But that's kind of silly since if it's something you use you'll most likely install it on the clean install also making it a moot point. If it causes that big of a problem you just remove it without the need for a clean install.

It's not a moot point--these things pile up over years. I did a clean Leopard install on a machine that had simply been upgrading since Jaguar, because of all the crap that slowly accumulated and was no longer relevant.

Google "my macbook suddenly got slow". It's terrifically difficult to diagnose why a Mac just got slow (just like it is on Windows). It's usually easier just to do a clean install every few years than to find everything.

You can go the Onyx route, run every utility on the planet, and still miss any-and-every hidden kext, rogue launchd addition, input manager, or PATH screw-up that is hitting the a different binary release than system services are expecting.

 

[Jel0man]

I'm a retard. You meant you used the "Optional Installs.mpkg". I forgot that I had the "view hidden files" option turned on. Yeah, that's much easier than my instructions :lol Glad that everything is worked out though.

:lol But thanks for helping out.