Purchasing Mac OX Panther or Tiger

I'm thinking of upgrading my laptop to either Panther or Tiger and was having a look at some prices on ebay. A lot of people are selling retail boxed versions that have been used. This confuses me as most are single users. Surely if the software is single user and it has been 'used' once the it's been registered it can't been used again? Are these people conning us or can the software actually be used again??

glascarian said:

I'm thinking of upgrading my laptop to either Panther or Tiger and was having a look at some prices on ebay. A lot of people are selling retail boxed versions that have been used. This confuses me as most are single users. Surely if the software is single user and it has been 'used' once the it's been registered it can't been used again? Are these people conning us or can the software actually be used again??

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If I'm not mistaken than it can surely be used again. For example: my iBook has crashed a few times and every time I installed the same version of Tiger without a hitch. That wouldn't be possible if it was one install only. The single user only means (I think) that you can install it on only one machine within the same network. Same with MS Office for Mac: it blocks when the computer detects the same version within it's network.

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong!

Actually, single user means on one computer at a time anywhere. The reason you can reinstall it is cause you are putting it on the same computer. To legally sell it, the person has to remove it from the computer they are running it on. Then it would be a used copy, as someone has used it before, but currently not in use. You would also need to receive the original cd's to make it fully legal. By you getting the cd's, if the seller has decided to keep a copy for themeless, they will get in trouble for having an illegal copy.

Thanx for correcting me avcabob! I didn't know that.

It's going to be hard to find a brand new Panther as it's been out and not sold in a long while. As long as they don't keep a copy of the OS there installed on anything or a copy of the CD/DVD, they can legally sell it. Just make sure it's the Boxed version of Panther or Tiger with all CD's or DVD. Don't purchase a Install or Restore disc that came with a machine as those are usually tied to that model Mac only.

Thanks guys - that makes total sense to me now.

Sorry...just one other silly question...if it's ok to sell on a used copy if the version has been removed from the machine it was originally registered on - how does Apple know when a previously registered version comes off a machine?

glascarian said:

Sorry...just one other silly question...if it's ok to sell on a used copy if the version has been removed from the machine it was originally registered on - how does Apple know when a previously registered version comes off a machine?

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Honesty.