Apple To Distribute OS X Lion via the Mac App Store

An anonymous reader writes "Apple this Summer is expected to release Mac OS X Lion. As opposed to other OS X releases, however, Lion will also be available for purchase via the Mac App Store, further solidifying Apple's efforts to make the Mac App Store an integral part of the Mac user experience." A lot of questions surrounding this related to the ability to make bootable disks. And also, why don't they just use apt-get? I gotta admit: it makes me nervous getting my OS from an App Store — which is strange considering how many kernels I've downloaded, built and booted over the years.

Comments

Macs will be a closed platform in the end

[elrous0]

This is just the latest attempt to promote the Mac app store, but it's also another step toward what's ultimately coming. Mac computers will one day be every bit as closed off as iPhones and iPads, with all software having to come through the Mac app store the same way it has to now with the iPhone/iPad app stores. Everything Apple will then be a walled garden, with Apple as gatekeepers.

I would like to think that people would howl about this when it happens, of course. But I bet that Apple will sell it as a necessary security measure to protect against viruses and attacks, and that most Mac users (and most members of the public) will be all-too-willing to trade freedom for security. Sadly, it will probably only increase Mac sales--prompting other PC makers to follow suite with their own closed systems.

I shudder to think that we may one day look back and ask "Hey, remember when you could install whatever software you wanted on your computer without having to jailbreak it or void the warranty?"

And now, let the flood of "Oh, Apple would never do that" replies begin:

Re:Macs will be a closed platform in the end

[Anonymous Coward]

> I would like to think that people would howl about this when it happens, of course.

Like they howled about the same thing on iPads? Lock down their platform, restrict what they can do, and people eat that stuff up. People *love* being told what they can and cannot do with their own computers.

> Hey, remember when you could install whatever software you wanted on your computer without having to jailbreak it or void the warranty?

We're not quite there yet, but I've been watching the industry a long time - since about a decade before the first home computers from Altair started showing up - and that is certainly the vector. Sadly, nobody seems to care.

I give it another 20 years. It'll happen for "security" reasons, under guise of protecting us from spams and malwares, to protect Sony from break ins, to protect content providers. Whether it'll do that does not matter; it will be the excuse for needing permission to use our own machines.

And people will eat it up. They always do.

Re:Macs will be a closed platform in the end

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, Apple has made it clear that boxed versions with a disk will also be available as always. The App Store is just another means of distribution. I thought choice was good and more choice better...?

Re:Macs will be a closed platform in the end

[Ephemeriis]

It isn't just Apple doing this - Microsoft is rolling out an app store of their own, BlackBerry has an app store, Google's got an Android app store...

And, what you've failed to realize, is that most people think this is a good thing.

No shopping around. Don't have to go out to the store. No discs to keep track of. Just click a button and your software appears.

Sure, I want to be able to install my own software without having to jailbreak/hack/crack/whatever my devices... But I'm in the minority these days.

Apple isn't forcing this on anybody, people are begging them for it.

Re:Macs will be a closed platform in the end

[powerlord]

Except that a lot of the people that consist of the Apple "Grass Roots" are power users who are likely to balk at such a setup.

More likely, someone realized that since OS X DVDs do NOT come with a License key, and you can already make an ISO image of them easily using the software built into OS X, why not just sell it through the App Store and let people download and burn their own image?

It costs less to the Manufacturer. (packaging/shipping costs)
It cuts the middleman out. (don't need to give Best Buy or other non-apple on-line/retail stores a cut)
It provides quick availability. (as fast as their servers and your pipe can handle)
It provides a remote backup for customers. (a + for non-technically savvy customers)

All in all it seems like wins all around, I'm not sure why Apple WOULDN'T do this.

Re:Macs will be a closed platform in the end

[cbackas]

I don't share you opinions on their direction, which is OK. But I find it curious to say that Tiger was the pinnacle. We're an all-Mac shop, and we have various machines still running Tiger. We also have Leopard and Snow Leopard around. Tiger is easily the worst to work with, its age shows badly.

And for what it's worth, console login was never removed. Works on all our machines up to and including 10.6.7. Same as it ever was, login as ">console".

Re:Macs will be a closed platform in the end

[Bryan3000000]

Console login is quite alive and well in Snow Leopard. I've used every version of OS X since Panther. The improvement has been dramatic. Snow Leopard in particular is a huge improvement, and Lion will further refine it. Stability and built-in functionality have increased at every point. I have to question your sanity on some level with these statements.

The part about the techs not being competent to repair your Mac - troubleshooting can be hard, and diagnostics aren't always 100% correct. There are lemons. And there are also a lot of incompetent techs. I'm always a bit nervous about having someone else repair anything I own. In the case of Apple, it's not even worth it [unless it's a covered warranty repair, in which case you'd be crazy not to put the responsibility on them]. Better to do it yourself, if you can, if your machine is not under warranty.

Re:Macs will be a closed platform in the end

[DrgnDancer]

MacOS is *not* getting more closed everyday. It's not one iota more closed than it was a year ago or two years ago. You're jumping at shadows. Explain to me, in a way that doesn't involve a conspiracy theory, how being able to buy the OS online and download it, as an *option*, makes MacOS more closed? It's one of the great advantages of Linux, but it somehow makes Macs more closed? Same with the App Store, it's an entirely optional additional way to get software onto the system, explain to me (again, without conspiracy theories) how an additional, entirely optional, method of acquiring applications closes down the OS?

All of the FUD regarding MacOS being "more closed everyday" is entirely bases on an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory wherein Apple somehow rewrites all the guts of OSX so that somehow root can't install software which has not been sold through the app store. It would be difficult to do, serve little purpose (there's virtually no evidence that the App store is a huge profit center for Apple on any of its platforms), and piss of a wide chunk of the user base. It's *highly* unlikely to happen.

If (and this is a big if) it did happen, it would require a OS upgrade to implement. They can't force you to upgrade the OS. If (and again, a big if) they did do this, at that point you can simply chose to not upgrade your Macs, and not buy any new ones. At that point you can say "well, Apple really has jumped the shark, they get no more of my money." You can then either just keep using the old version of OSX on your hardware till it dies, or use boot camp to install Windows or Linux. It's not like they can remotely disable a part of the firmware on your computer becasue it no longer fits their business model this whole thing is a manufactured problem dreamed up by anti-Apple trolls without the least basis in fact.

Re:Macs will be a closed platform in the end

[DJRumpy]

About inline with the first post, claiming Apple will soon be closed, without the slightest bit of proof to that fact, and it's marked as insightful. /. has become a joke as of late. It's too politicized and no longer interested in fact. The location bug was a good example. It was all doom and gloom, and evil unleashed until it was revealed that Droid did it too. Then it was acceptable but only for a short time that happened to coincide with the length of time that Droid kept the data.

Although I agree it's definitely a push to promote the app store, there is no indication anywhere that the Mac platform will be locked down, and you won't find a citation anywhere other than hearsay, yet it's immediately modded as it sits now without anything relevant or otherwise to back up such a claim.

Bootable

[shitzu]

"A lot of questions surrounding this related to the ability to make bootable disks."

You should really try a mac sometimes.

Re:Bootable

[0100010001010011]

I wouldn't be surprised if the "retail" version was just a USB jump drive. The MacBook Air doesn't have an optical drive. I removed the Optical drive from my MacBook Pro so I could have 2 hard drives. Spinning media has an expiration date that is quickly approaching.

It is fine until third parties are required

[Shivetya]

The day they require app installation for third party products to go through the "App Store" is the day I stop buying Apple computers. I don't care about the restriction on the iPad, that was there when I bought it. If anything all the App Store has proved to me is that its nearly impossible to separate good programs from bad ones because it costs nothing to get them on the store. By that I mean, to have a successful product in the retail environment today means being quality enough or a well enough known group to get stores to stock your products. With the App Store there is such a small barrier to entry it just becomes a cluttered mess.

Back to the story, I don't care where I get OS versions/updates. Whats so different from an App Store than downloading from a corporate website (like you do with Windows Service Packs which is what Lion feels to me - just like Snow Leopard was before it... etc)

Apt-get???

[goombah99]

Why is apt-get significantly different than the app-store? Plus the app-store handles the paid transaction which apt-get is not intended for.

Re:Apt-get???

[creepynut]

The difference is that package managers like apt, yum, etc let you specify your own sources. Apple's App Stores do not allow this. Without jailbreaking, the iOS devices can only get apps from Apple.

If I install Ubuntu and want to get the latest and greatest from vendor X they can just give me an installer which adds themselves to my apt sources. I think Adobe does this, but it's been a few years since I've used Linux and my primary desktop.

I've been primarily an Apple user, but if Mac ever goes closed like iOS does I'll be back on Linux in a split second.

What about download caps / multi system / slow dow

[Joe The Dragon]

What about download caps that get in the way of downloading a 4-8 GB OS?
What about when you have like 3-5 systems and only want to download the os one time and use a disk or usbkey to load it on all of your systems?
What about systems that only have dial up and you need to go off site for higher speed downloads?
What about people with slow downloads in lots of areas 1.5 meg dsl is the best that you can get.
What about if you need to reload the os on a blank HDD?

Re:What about download caps / multi system / slow

[Anonymous Coward]

For you, buy the disc version.

This isn't bad at all; it's a good thing!

[Jahava]

This is just the latest attempt to promote the Mac app store, but it's also another step toward what's ultimately coming. Mac computers will one day be every bit as closed off as iPhones and iPads, with all software having to come through the Mac app store the same way it has to now with the iPhone/iPad app stores. Everything Apple will then be a walled garden, with Apple as gatekeepers.

I would like to think that people would howl about this when it happens, of course. But I bet that Apple will sell it as a necessary security measure to protect against viruses and attacks, and that most Mac users (and most members of the public) will be all-too-willing to trade freedom for security. Sadly, it will probably only increase Mac sales--prompting other PC makers to follow suite with their own closed systems.

I shudder to think that we may one day look back and ask "Hey, remember when you could install whatever software you wanted on your computer without having to jailbreak it or void the warranty?"

And now, let the flood of "Oh, Apple would never do that" replies begin:

So here's my question: is it really so bad?

So sure, Apple is the gatekeeper between the software world and their desktop devices. The App Store is that gate. Apple works diligently to prevent malicious code from entering the App Store, push out software updates, etc. Their system is no longer open / free, and that sucks. Fortunately, we have Linux, FreeBSD, Windows (although I suspect MS will follow in Apple's footsteps), and a host of other operating systems to turn to if we want software freedom, console login, etc.

If Apple closed off their devices, I would still not rule them out. Obviously I wouldn't use them as a hacking platform, but if Apple allows FOSS into their App Store, I don't see how even my daily usage of their systems would change much. Apple systems would become less suitable for some niche things, like debugging, emulation, penetration testing, etc., but most of the time that's not what people use Apple for.

The issue comes when / if Apple starts preventing legitimate software from entering their App Store. If Apple makes the App Store the only gateway into their devices, you can bet that there will be a suit of lawsuits from whatever company gets barred, the EFF, etc.; if Apple loses these, then their platform will become open "enough" again. If they win, then that is the day I stop using Apple products, as they are no longer free and flexible enough for my tastes.

And even then, while Apple systems may not meet my tastes as a developer, the App Store gateway is a perfect model for my parents, grandparents, cousins, and siblings. The less maintenance they have to do, including software vetting and updates, the better.

This is a good thing; Apple is defining its market, and through this move it will be far more suitable for the 95% of the population that only ever wanted to use a computer as an appliance.

Was there anything in that article...

[alispguru]

... saying Lion would be available only through the App Store?

No, there wasn't.

Stop hyperventiating, folks.