Apple to Release Lion on USB in August

Because it is "APPLE"!

that's how they brag about their millions and billions of downloads

That's not too hard to figure out, is it?

The Appstore version only works for people who already have 10.6 Snow Leopard.
The USB version is also for people who still have 10.5 Leopard or 10.4 Tiger.

This is probably also meant to reduce piracy. Since Apple doesn't bother with license keys, you can probably install the USB version on any Mac you come across.

It's also nearly half of what I used to pay for their new OS releases on CD, then DVD. Not to mention I recently paid a heck of a lot more for a new Windows DVD.

I downloaded it via app store for my wife and daughter's computers, but for people who want to keep a physical copy around, I don't think that is too much to ask for it.

I wish more software would be released on USB like PC games, Windows, even music, and movies. It's a good idea IMO.

Lol, a "hefty download" at "almost 4gb".

Sure, you did pay a lot more for a FULLY FLEDGE OS. But pay for an update? Damn.. That's hard to swallow. The diference of $40 because of a thumb drive? Damn, that drive is made of gold and diamonds.. Or... it might be that the thumb drive have an Apple logo! That's it..

From what I have read Apple can keep it. I'm keeping both my Macs on Snow Leopard.

I thumbed you down for being a Apple tool but if you want a copy of what you downloaded then:
Download Mac OS X Lion from the Mac App Store
From the Mac OS X Finder, locate the Mac OS X Installation file that was downloaded, right-click, and “Show Package Contents”
Find and open the “SharedSupport” folder and locate a disc image file called “InstallESD.dmg”
Copy “InstallESD.dmg” to your Mac OS X Desktop, this is the Lion disk image and what you’re going to create the bootable DVD from
Now launch Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/), pop in a blank DVD, select the “InstallESD.DMG” file, and click on “Burn”

Apple realized that people still prefer the physical disc method. But since some of their products no longer have that option, they decide to go a more expensive route.

I think they should have just make a DVD version and charge the same $40, and make the macbook air users download it. Is it really necessary for a company thats making $10-20 Billion profit/quarter cheap out of manufacturing DVDs?

It doesn't help with piract one bit. Theres already bootable ISO images for the installation. Hackers will always find a way.
Personally I would like the option for physical media to install any software. Not everyone around the world can get unlimited internet at a reasonable price. I stretch my bandwidth cap to the limit nearly every month at it is doing casual streaming and downloading, the more I can save at any moment the better. Giving choices to the consumer gives everyone equal satisfaction to all your fans.

Why can't we thumb up or down the actual article itself?

I am amazed that apple users see the quarterly reports and see that they are being ripped off and continue to buy their products.

Yes hackers will always find a way. That's why Apple doesn't use any sort of copy protection that would only make the life of users more difficult.
The thing is that users can now no longer buy a physical copy for 30bucks and give it to all their friends. If they want that, they have to pay extra.




Microsoft has a higher profit margin than Apple (33% vs 25%) and yet people keep buying Windows and Office at monopoly prices.

Is it a USB 3.0 stick, or a USB 2.0 stick with an Apple Logo? ;-)

I like Lion but its got a few performance-related bugs I don't feel like dealing with and, for me, isn't as refined yet as 10.6.8. Surprise, surpise. ...so I moved two of my machines back to 10.6.8. ...when 10.7.2 releases I'll try again.

...but the interface is slicker than I anticipated. I expected the iOS merge stuff to be stupid. ...but its not. It's pretty slick and they slickened up the UI...so I'll be glad when they get the kinks ironed out.

So if apple doesn't use keys and friends can just borrow a disk to install, whats the difference than for a usb drive?

Because their customers are willing to get ripped off for something cool.

Apple charges what they charge because that's what the greatest number of people are willing to pay. It's all the result of market research. The first rule of business is to make a profit, and the best way to make a profit is to determine what you need to charge to cover the cost of developing your product, then mark it up to where you'll sell the greatest number of units. At $69, Lion on a USB stick is still $30 less than the cost of a Win7 license, which is appropriate because Windows is an infinitely better OS. When my wife's MacBook has issues, it takes me hours to figure out how to fix it, but when any of my Windows machines has a problem it's usually fixed in a few minutes with a quick Google search.

Actually no, you don't mark it up to greatest number of units sold, you mark it up to the greatest profit made, which can be a higher price than the price with greatest number of units sold

The vast majority of people won't buy the USB drive if they can get the download version for less than half the price.

Pirating OS X is still easy. You can just extract the disk image from the downloaded installer package. (Also useful if you don't want to download OS X again and again for all your Macs)
Casual piracy ("Can u lend me your install disk?" "alright") has become more difficult though.

Charging $40 dollars for a $4.99 USB thumb drive is consistent with apple's pricing policies - and apple users will love to bend over and dish their money out for the drive - simply because it will be shiny and with the apple logo. Heck, they would buy dog crap if it is packaged in a white box with the apple logo.

"Why $40 for a $4.99 thumb drive?" This is the same company that charges $100 to upgrade from a 500GB 2.5" drive to a 750GB, after all. As long as the kool-aid drin...er..."Apple faithful" are willing to pay it, Apple will keep charging it.

And regarding the Apple vs Microsoft profit margin argument, Apple sells primarily hardware, while Microsoft is similarly software-dominant. Software always has a higher profit margin.

Charge $40 for a 4GB USB and shipping. Apple's way of doing business.

So because you're more familiar with Windows than you are with Mac OS X makes Windows 7 an "infinitely better OS". What features is it, precisely, that Windows 7 offers that Mac OS X 10.6.8 or 10.7 don't offer that it should cost more than Apple's $70 10.7 Lion?

Steve Jobs will sue you later.

a finer control over your machine, where everything is exposed to the user, even if it's not clear, so that a lot of problems might get resolved by yourself instead of having to reformat at the first sign of trouble because noone advises you to NOT format the drive with case-sensitive file system because many programs might not run correctly or run at all.

Yeah. Okay.

I wonder why windows is so damn expensive!

It should cost...like...$30.

It's a shame OSX isn't free, it'd be a great way to promote the platform. The obsession for exclusiveness on their own hardware is mind numbing. Sorry to say Mac, but my $1,500 desktop has a lot more power than your desktop. I configured a Mac Pro to approximately the same specs (actually still slower) for $3,700. Not bad, considering my computer is over a year old.

I only have 2 personal disputes against Macintosh.
1: Insane profit margins on all products.
2: Consumer brainwashing.

I've asked friends on why they want a Mac, and the only answer they can ever give me is "They're better". I'll take a 18.4" Clevo or a home built desktop with a Android phone for portability any day.

I don't know about you, but in the last 15 years, I've spent thousands of hours using Windows 3.1, 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista and 7. I can't say the same for you, but I've certainly gotten my moneys worth. It's easy to pay hundreds of dollars for silly programs, but I only paid $120 for Win7.

Does you PC comes with a dual socket mobo, an intel xeon processor and eec memory?