Lion distribution media

For upgraders...
Do you think it will be available by Optical disk, Flash drive, or both?

 

or the Mac App Store...

 

hopefully USB or Thunderbolt flash drives...

 

it won't be thunderbolt... that would leave all of use not 2011 MBP owners out, and we are certainly a massive majority.

I really hope it comes on a flash drive, I'm done with CD's.

 

Likewise! I swapped out my optical drive with an OptiBay and put in another hard-drive in it's place. I too hope that Lion comes out via USB, but I wouldn't mind it being delivered over the App Store either.

 

well of course it wouldn't be thunderbolt only... I except there to be a DVD in every box no matter what. They still haven't gotten rid of DVDs yet.

 

Eh, it will likely still be on DVD. I just hope that Apple keeps the price low as they did with Snow Leopard (though that had more minor changes compared to what is coming in Lion).

 

I asked the question, because this was my first assumption. However, I think Apple opened a door with the dissemination of a flash drive to MBA users in the last iteration.

Would not dissemination of the Lion upgrade in DVD-only be wholly inconsistent with the new MBA backup media paradigm?

I mean, Apple was quite forward thinking to have users of the MBA no longer reliant on either an external DVD drive and/or a shared DVD from another system, to re-install their operating system or run utilities contained on the re-install media.

After all, Apple is highly likely to continue the practice with the supply of flash disks with new Lion equipped MBA's, so manufacturing of such will not be an issue.

I hope that the Lion upgrade release will not only be available on flash drives, but that the flash drives will work on all systems, not just the MBA.

 

it makes sense to use USB... every Mac capable of running Lion could use it... but it still cost more than a DVD from a manufacturing standpoint, and Apple already uses up so much flash memory in the world, it might be kinda wasteful at this point.

 

Almost all lion installs are going to be done on systems that don't have thunderbolt. It wouldn't make sense for them to cater specifically to just the 3 months or so worth of machines they sold when they are trying to mass produce their OS media. In fact, thunderbolt would be overkill for this anyway.

USB 2.0 would work really well, every mac would be able to use it - even the air series, which hasn't really had a decent OS install method yet. Besides, normal USB flash drive speeds don't use the full USB 2.0 speed. Again - thunderbolt would be serious overkill.

 

I hope they have the option of a flash media, or maybe have a download option that you can install onto your own flash media or something.

 

Well considering that AppleSeed is currently allowing users to download Lion through the App Store, where you can either run the installer from there or burn the downloaded install file to DVD or Flash Drive yourself, I'd say there is a good chance the final release will have that option too.

 

Meh, I just hope they do a quick incremental update to MacBook Air, so that it releases with Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt at the same time as Lion this summer.

 

the best would be to download from app store, then have the option of burning it to a DVD, or putting it on a USB stick. And for those who don't have app store account, maybe you can buy a "key" in store, then use your Key to download.

 

no matter what, you'll be able to get it on flash media. you can already do it for snow leopard.

 

Apple store link?
I had to call Apple and request replacement of a lost flash drive for a MBA (not available through online store that I could find). I understand that these flah drives ONLY work for current MBA's. I haven't seen them available for any other device. But you have?

 

I had completely forgotten about the MBA in that it doesn't come (by default) with an optical drive. Well, Apple could do two releases: one on a flash drive for the MacBook Air line only and the other on a DVD for every other Mac computer. The App Store is also a high possibility so long as the user could backup the installation files and use them later down the line (in case the system needs reformatting).

We will know in due time. I could actually see the App Store being a larger possibility especially since that is an instant way to reach any owner of an Intel powered Mac computer and it would require little effort on Apple's part. I don't think that would be the sole means of distributing Lion but it is a very good possibility.

I know that I would download a file through the App Store (again, only if I could back it up for later use) instead of ordering online (which takes a few day) or going to the Apple Store (sorry, I hate the Apple Store up here as I know more about the products than even the high end managers).

 

you can't buy it on a flash drive. you can take the DVD and restore the disk image to a flash drive (8 GB or more), and boot from it.

 

Yes, that is rather self evident. But even Apple has recognized that some users may not have have that option available if they don't have, or don't want to buy a DVD drive for their MBA. The flash drive has become the ubiquitous replacement for optical drives to some, and maybe for all, some day soon.

 

Why not just download it from the internet? Certainly cheaper option for most of us.

Check out this concept — http://translate.google.com/transla...ww.artlebedev.ru/everything/flashkus/&act=url

 

I'm hoping your download it from the internet comment meant that you'd purchase the software and then download it from the internet, because we wouldn't want anything illegal going on now...

And I've seen those before and they are a cool concept for sharing info with your friends but for a company to distribute their software on one would be a poor choice of materials.

 

By downloading i obviously mean apple web site

 

i dont think we will replace plastic for cardboard... seems easy to break.

the amazing thing about flash drives is their durability. you need your data to be safe.