Mossberg claims Snow Leopard upgrade can upgrade Tiger systems sans Leopard...

Jonny Evans
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August 27, 2009
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Wall Street Journal technology correspondent, Walt Mossberg, is claiming that Snow Leopard will install on Macs running the previous Tiger OS without requiring installation of Leopard, contrary to Apple’s previous claims.

“For owners of Intel-based Macs who are still using the older Tiger version of the Mac OS, Apple is officially making Mac OS X Snow Leopard available only in a “boxed set” that includes other software and costs $169,” Mossberg explains.

“The reasoning is that these folks never paid the $129 back in 2007 to upgrade to Leopard. But here’s a tip: Apple concedes that the $29 Mac OS X Snow Leopard upgrade will work properly on these Tiger-equipped Macs, so you can save the extra $140.”

If this is true - and we’re interested to test the claim - then Apple will likely attract a deluge of sales from Mac users who have until now been laid back in moving to the latest upgrade.

Snow Leopard ships tomorrow and the first batch of delighted reviews are coming in, reviews which pit the new OS firmly ahead of Microsoft’s latest attempt at an OS, Windows 7 .

The software sits at the top of the Amazon sales charts at this time, with pre-orders through all retailers at an all time high. Analysts now expect Apple to sell five million copies of the new OS within the year. We think sales are going to be far higher.

Mossberg notes a few hidden gems inside the upgrade:

- “Substitutions,” which is like the auto-correct feature in Microsoft Word, but extends the concept to Apple’s email and other programs;
- the ability for Snow Leopard to automatically reset the time zone on the Mac’s clock based on your location while traveling;
- and a new built-in function in QuickTime that allows you to record videos of actions you take on the Mac’s screen.”

Microsoft’s attempt to regain control of the OS market seems on shaky ground, with the company’s channel partners recently confessing just how impressed they are with Apple’s incremental - yet powerful - new OS.

Order yourself a copy of Mac OS X Snow Leopard hereand support 9to5Mac. Or take a look at thishand-picked selection of guides to the new OS, boost your knowledge.

Comments (25)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 3:33am

That is nice, but how about iLife '06 that people run under Tiger now. Will it still work after upgrading directly from Tiger to Snow Leopard? This might be another reason why they promote the Box Set, as 10.6 may not support the aging iLife '06 suite. Can anyone confirm/oppose to this?

Lex (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 9:36am

I don't expect SL will run iLife '06. BTW, if you wish to learn about software compatibility on SL, follow this URL.

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com

Since there is no mention about iLife '06, this may not be the exact info that you need, but will help others.

Jonny Evans | August 27, 2009 - 3:38am

It's possible the retail version of this may reach me later on today, so I'll check for this then - it's also possible it won't, so surely there's a reader out there who can look into this.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 3:48am

Microsoft is becoming irrelevant hahaha

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 3:49am

Microsoft is becoming irrelevant

fact facts facts? (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 4:11am

any test if that can be confirmed?

stereo (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 5:10am

Apple never said that you need to have Leopard *installed* before trying to install Snow Leopard. They said you should OWN Leopard. So, while it may be technically possible, it's also illegal. And since you're illegal you could very well download it from the torrents and save 30 bucks.

It's the same with the family packs. You can buy one copy of Leopard (or iLife etc) and install it on as many computers as you want. But you're not legit. In fact, the software you get when buying a single user version or a family pack version it's the same. What you are allowed to do with it changes!!

Indeed (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 5:18am

Anyone wanna bet that Walt takes that little part down eventually? I can't imagine Apple would be very happy seeing him write that, especially considering how close he is to the company.

Not that a noob (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 5:20am

Just found out Snow leopard now previews Adobe Illustrator files on its icon and allows for viewing in QuickLook. Awesome

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 7:05am

iLife 08 minimum !

Joe De La Blanco (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 8:54am

I'm still purchasing the boxset. I don't want to chance my Imac start to act funny after only doing the upgrade to save $100. I need Ilife and Iworks 09' anyways so for $169 I think it's a great deal. I'm sure doing the upgrade will work but I bet it would be missing some critical features and be super buggy. Can't wait to install snow leopard. And I also can't wait to upgrade my windows laptop to Windows 7.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 9:06am

I generally support copyright and ownership claims, but I think the argument that a user has to "own" Leopard before installing Snow Leopard just doesn't hold water. It makes pretty good sense that when you buy a retail copy of an os, that you should only install it on one machine. Likewise, when you buy a family pack, you should only use it on the four or five machines, whatever the package says. But if I can go in and buy a Snow Leopard upgrade disk for $29 retail off the shelf, I feel totally justified in doing whatever I want to with that one disk on one machine.

I'm really fairly certain that Apple knows this and accepts it. I'm not doing this myself since I have a PPC Mac running Tiger so Snow Leopard is a no go for me anyway. I'll be buying a new iMac with Snow Leopard preinstalled.

Matt (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 12:53pm

They do. It's all based on the honor system. That's why there's no serial numbers or activations. Every disk is printed exactly the same and they take a chance that people will be honest.

Mark Sigal (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 11:26am

I am plunking my $30 down gladly. That said, my money is on Snow Leopard having some unannounced functionality that is important to the Tablet and/or new ways that Apple will better bridge the distinctions between MacOS and iPhoneOS computing models

The assumption here is that Apple wants/hopes/needs everyone to upgrade to take advantage of something unannounced, and are pricing the upgrade accordingly.

Here’s a post on my analysis:

Analysis: Apple June Quarter Earnings Call
http://bit.ly/vbi9q

Check it out if interested.

Scott Paterson (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 2:19pm

I very much doubt that upgrades from Tiger to Snow Leopard will be a deluge as you put it. How many users still running Tiger are on Power PC based Macs ? I would guess that most Intel Macs are already running Leopard.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 4:55pm

I know this isn't that relevent, but my Snow Leopard shipping status has moved to SHIPPED via Fed Ex! One day early!

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 6:35pm

Im still running tiger, and it is a big deal for me to know if i can do the upgrade and on how many machines, i own a MBP 2.16 and a 1st gen mac pro so i wouldnt use the entire family pack, plus i want to upgrade my logic pro 7 to logic studio 9, that is another 200 dlls. I might be runing only Snow Leopard on the mac pro and logic 9, in my laptop i might use the whole box set plus logic 9 also.

I might get the box set plus logic studio but use it on both my machines

veggiedude (not verified) | August 27, 2009 - 11:05pm

Yes, and Apple says do not pirate music too. Right.

C'mon, Apple doesn't assume the buyer is a criminal. They think people, given the chance, will do the right thing.

I think, most the time, they are right.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 28, 2009 - 5:04am

I've decided that i don't need iLife and iWork so why waste over $100 on them? loads of people are running tiger still because of the price of leopard. Snow leopard is the way forward, especially with that price tag!

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 28, 2009 - 4:22pm

Wonderful the Right Price means everything…we love this new piece, bring it on…

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 28, 2009 - 4:28pm

..Neep help!! Is it true that i cant upgrade to SL because Im running POWER PC on my Mac Tiger? Thanks a lot....

OptimizE (not verified) | August 29, 2009 - 10:59am

Yes, that is true. SL is Intel-only. It will not run on a PowerPC-Mac.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 29, 2009 - 12:20pm

Do you really want to lose your iLife?

9to5Mac Noobface (not verified) | August 29, 2009 - 12:56pm

look guys i really need help i just want to be positive i ma running tiger on a macbook with an intel core2duo processor (yea i know sounds kinda weird but i got it 10 days be4 leopord came out ) so can i ugrade from tiger to snow leopord without leopord?

Awesome Face! (not verified) | August 29, 2009 - 5:23pm

How would one upgrade to Snow Leopard to Tiger theoretically? Would someone erase and install and partition their hard drive or could one just use the upgrade install?