Do I *have* to purchase the Snow Leopard box set?

Solution 1:

The snow leopard install DVD is identical, there are no differences technically, though the standard suggestion is that the EULA changes:

Apple's Snow Leopard disc will install on Tiger Macs

Actually, there is currently no clear information regarding whether upgrading from Tiger is really "illegal", both Walt Mossberg of WSJ and David Pogue of the NYT have both suggested to do so. I've not read the actual EULA (couldn't find it on the Apple site, have yet to go get my SL disk from the Apple store yet) so can't state what the precise position is, people who have said this is "illegal" have not justified it with links to the EULA itself, just assumed it is in there...

And as I understand it, breaking a EULA is not illegal, but is a breach of contract.

OK, here is the bit of the EULA from my Snow Leopard, and terms and conditions clearly state a previous valid Leopard install. What is interesting is that nowhere on my box or disk or instructions can I find it saying it is a "Leopard upgrade". Even my till reciept call it "Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6", so apart from the price, even my packaging is a single install.

2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.

A. Single Use License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, unless you have purchased a Family Pack or Upgrade license for the Apple Software, you are granted a limited non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer at a time. You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-branded computer, or to enable others to do so. This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time, and you may not make the Apple Software available over a network where it could be used by multiple computers at the same time.

B. Family Pack License. If you have purchased a Family Pack license, then subject to the terms and conditions of this License, you are granted a limited non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on up to a maximum of five (5) Apple-branded computers at a time as long as those computers are located in the same household and used by persons who occupy that same household. By "household" we mean a person or persons who share the same housing unit such as a home, apartment, mobile home or condominium, but shall also extend to student members who are primary residents of that household but residing at a separate on-campus location. The Family Pack License does not extend to business or commercial users.

C. Leopard Upgrade Licenses. If you have purchased an Upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard license, then subject to the terms and conditions of this License, you are granted a limited non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer as long as that computer has a properly licensed copy of Mac OS X Leopard already installed on it. If you have purchased a Family Pack Upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard license, then subject to the terms and conditions of this License, you are granted a limited non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on up to a maximum of five (5) Apple-branded computers at a time as long as those computers are located in the same household (as defined above), are used by persons who occupy that same household, and each such computer has a properly licensed copy of Mac OS X Leopard already installed on it. The Family Pack Upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard License does not extend to business or commercial users.

So Apple really is leaving it to the conscience of the user to "know" his copy is an upgrade...

Solution 2:

No, they're the same. You can read more here. But I think you have to buy the full price version; I'm not sure the Eula allows you to get the cheaper upgrade version; Apple said it's 29$ only if you upgrade from Leopard on an Intel Mac.

Solution 3:

I just noticed some very interesting details in the Snow Leopard Wikipedia article, and wanted to add them here.

Turns out that not only does it technically work, but you are not even breaking the EULA if you upgrade from 10.4 Tiger with the $29 "upgrade" version.

From License section of that article:

Single Use: places no restriction on which (if any) version of Mac OS X should already be installed

[...]

The products advertised as 'Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard' ($29) and the 'Mac Box Set' ($169) both come with the same Single Use license. This is particularly relevant for Mac OS X 10.4 users, for whom it is legal (under the terms of the EULA) to install either the $29 or the $169 product.

Meanwhile, the "Leopard Upgrade" license (which indeed states that 10.5 is required) is only used for the Up-To-Date program, which is relevant just for those (like me) who've bought a new Mac with Leopard recently and want to upgrade to Snow Leopard for $9.95.

Edit: On closer reading, I think the above Wikipedia information is pretty much verified by what The Tentacle wrote in his answer:

What is interesting is that nowhere on my box or disk or instructions can I find it saying it is a "Leopard upgrade". Even my till reciept call it "Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6", so apart from the price, even my packaging is a single install.

Just that the bolded parts of the EULA (emphasis added by joshhunt) are not relevant to him. :-)

I should receive my Up-To-Date program copy of SL probably this week, so I'll be able to check if that indeed uses the "Leopard Upgrade" license.

Solution 4:

The single $29 Snow Leopard DVD will upgrade 10.4 and 10.5. The disc bundled in the Mac Box set for $169 will also upgrade 10.4 and 10.5. Apple suggests on their Mac OS X specs page that you purchase the $29 product to upgrade Leopard and the $169 product to upgrade Tiger.

The EULA does not provide a restriction on what you upgrade. The disc in the $29 product is the same as the one in the $169 product. There has been some confusion around this because the upgrade disc shipped for $9.99 to costumers who purchased a Mac just prior to the release of snow-leopard is restricted to upgrading leopard only (at least in the EULA, if not in actual code..)

As you can see from previous pastings in this thread, there are 2 EULAs, one covering the Snow Leopard DVD and the other covering the Snow Leopard upgrade DVD. To re-iterate, the Snow Leopard DVD is shipped as a single $29 product or bundled in a $169 package with iLife and iWork. The Snow Leopard upgrade DVD is shipped only as a $9.99 upgrade to those users who can provide proof that they purchased a Mac during some defined window prior to the release of Snow Leopard. View the EULA here.

Apple has not, does not, and has no announced plans to use a 'Genuine Advantage' type program for OS X. 'Genuine Advantage' is a marketing term created by Microsoft to describe their, at the time, newly implemented licensing enforcement program. Apple does not use any known code to enforce licensing of Mac OS X. When you consider Apple's margin on the sale of Hardware plus features like iTunes store and Mobile me vs the sale of the OS, priorities become self-evident..

:)

~Qabyss