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Yeah, I had my facts a bit skewed. I was confusing the previous full version ( Mac Leopard) with the Mac Box set. The box set included more software and was aprox 130. It wasn't an upgrade version. Legally that's what you were supposed to buy if you had anything other than leopard. That's what happens when you post on an empty stomach before lunch.
All the Snow Leopard discs, whether they were labeled Single-User or Family Pack, Full Version or Upgrade, were identical, they all had the full version and did not check to see if you had a previous version of MacOS installed or not, and they did not check in with Apple to see if they had been installed on one computer or 50.
Apple uses an honor system instead of the horrific anti-piracy hoops you have to jump through when using Windows, wherein if your $6 network card in your computer dies and you install a new one, Windows goes nuts and threatens to lock you out if you don't talk to a Microsoft representative over the phone and plead your case that you should not have to pay for another full version of Windows because your hardware "changed". I'm not making this up, it actually happened to me once with XP.
Nope, I installed it on a new drive





Member since:
2009-04-25
I'm not sure how much they care about the piracy of the os upgrades, but that could cut down on the desire for new hardware.
Snow Leopard was never released in a "Full Version" retail disc for $130. Their retail discs only comes as an "Upgrade Version" and comes in two flavors, a single user license for $29, or a "family pack" (5 user licenses) for $49. The retail discs don't check for Leopard pre-installed.
Apple also sold Snow Leopard for $9.95 through their Up-To-Date program for customer that bought their Macs between June to December of 2009. The discs purchased though the Up-To-Date program checks to make sure Leopard is pre-installed on the computer.
I don't think Apple really cares about piracy of their OS. They are a hardware company and that is where they make most of their money.