Snow Leopard Buying Experience
Ok...so I know that we have been seeing lots of Snow Leopard threads this week...so I apologize if when you read the title that you thought..."Ohh no...not another Snow Leopard thread!"
Hopefully I can add a couple interesting tidbits to this post to make it worthy of it's own thread!
So here goes, today's Mac OS 10.6 "Snow Leopard" buying experience.
Let me start by saying on Monday when the news broke that 10.6 could be pre-ordered, and if done by Wednesday, you would get it in the mail by Friday...that I was ready to order faster than I could get my credit card out of my wallet!;D
But then I procrastinated & procrastinated...the Wednesday deadline came & went...and then I figured that I would wait & see what the initial experiences were from forum members...and if I felt like it & if the Apple Store still had copies...I would purchase 10.6 this weekend or next week. Which would give me the opportunity to visit the store, and take part in the excitement.
Well so this morning (Friday) I think to myself, it's still early, maybe I'll just "pop" into the Apple Store and see what's up. I'm going to have to pay $29 bucks sooner or later...so why not today!
So at 11am I started my trip to the nearest Apple Store. which is just 1.5 miles away. I get to the shopping mall, park the car, and enter the mall. I'm thinking man...I hope the store isn't too busy...I hope they still have some copies left...it would really suck if the line for 10.6 stretched outside the store!
So I turn the corner inside the mall, so that I can see the entrance to the Apple Store..and I think...good, no line outside the store. Then I'm thinking...yeah but it could be really crowded inside the store, and I won't know till I get to the entrance. I get to the entrance, look inside, and bummer...the stores no more crowded than it normally would be at Friday at 11am!!!
I was kind of looking forward to lots of excitement, people being rude, people grabbing copies of Snow Leopard out of someone else's hand...a riot breaking out over the last copy in the store!!!;D
Nope...didn't happen....plenty of copies of Snow Leopard everywhere!!! All customers acting their normal civilized selves! I'm thinking where's the CHAOS!!!;D
I did take the opportunity to quickly strike up a conversation with the salesperson that was helping me. He ended up being one of the store manager types...so I asked him what the deal was with the $29 install disk & the legality of 10.4 users using it as a full install vs. purchasing the "Mac Box Set".
Well he sort of strategically avoided answering my question, and jumped into the "official sales pitch" of what a GREAT deal the Mac Box Set
was for OS 10.4 users...with the latest versions of iWork & iLife, plus the full install of 10.6. All the while I'm thinking...nope, nope, nope...I'm not buying the sales pitch. In my head I saying...nope...most average users if they know that the $29 disk is a full install, they're going to purchase the $29 dollar disk...not the $169 dollar Mac Box Set.
So I pressed him on it...he new EXACTLY what I was thinking...he sort of gave me a "smirky" grin...but would not openly say that it was
OK for an OS 10.4 user to use the $29 dollar 10.6 disk as a legal method to install Mac OS 10.6.
Since he appeared unwilling to say anything more, I said thank you very much, he took my credit card, charged me for my purchase of 10.6, and I said have a nice weekend!
Overall it was sort of like an everyday trip to the grocery store. You go in, grab your doughnuts, pay for them, head home!
Basically my whole trip to the Apple Store about 1.5 miles away (driving there, talking to the Apple salesperson, buying Snow Leopard, driving home) took a total of about 25 minutes!!!
Of course it was very positive to not have to fight crowds at the store, wait in a long line, and possibly not get a copy of 10.6.
Once home, I took a photo of the contents for your viewing pleasure:
I apologize for the long post...hopefully you found it moderately interesting!
- Nick
p.s. By the way...I have not installed 10.6 yet. Also...I know some folks out there didn't get there disks as planned. Hopefully you will get them soon!