With the announcement at WWDC that Mac OS X Lion will be available through the Mac App Store I had a couple of thoughts about the impact this will have for distributing a major OS upgrade. The first was wow, what a great improvement. Updating OS X without any physical media, that’s going to make things much easier. As easy as it is right now to order software online, it’s still much more simple to open the App Store and have it start installing immediately. Apple is getting super efficient at removing friction from any purchasing process. And while they’ve already started distributing their major apps this way the thought of updating the operating system by download is exciting.
That got me thinking about what happens to the functions that the installation disc provides; mainly reinstalling when there’s an issue with the OS. Apple has this covered with a built-in restore partition including Safari to find answers for support questions. OK, good to know. But, the other unofficial use for installation discs is using them to install Mac OS X on non-Apple computers. Most of the Hackintosh methods use a custom drivers coming from the Hackintosh community and a genuine OS X installation disc to do the bulk of the installation, or at least they recommend a genuine disc. The theory being: you purchased something from Apple, just not the hardware. It’s still a violation of the EULA but I understand why it seems justifiable. However, it will be interesting to see what happens when there is no installation disc. I don’t know if you’ll only be able to get OS X Lion on a new Mac and through the Mac App Store but I’m betting Apple will no longer press DVDs with an OS on them. So that leaves two methods to getting OS X Lion on non-apple hardware: a double-upgrade (Snow Leopard to Lion) or a full-fledged crack of the OS. The issue with the double-upgrade is that the supply of fresh Snow Leopard installation discs will disappear the day Apple releases OS X Lion. That only leaves copies and the resale market, both of which increase the effort to install the OS. It does however leave the option of a single install with all of the BIOS, drivers, and the Lion installation. While this will make the installation process easier, it will also show that you’re essentially getting something for nothing. It may make the group people who were comforted by paying for the installation disc be less inclined to install a totally free option. (Granted, this will be a very small number of people)
The last piece is whether or not Apple decides to do more drastic piracy prevention techniques. Will they embed your Apple ID with the OS like they do with iTunes music? With some sort of validation on launch? Perhaps OS X Lion will be encrypted on download and can only be unlocked on true Apple hardware. Will they do more stringent hardware checks on installation? Or, maybe they realize they’re not going to get cheapskates at any price and not actively prevent them. We’ll find out in July.
Update:
Apple decided to offer a USB drive with the OS for people who don’t or can’t download it over the internet. At $69 it’s certainly not as cheap as Snow Leopard, but it’s available.