5 ms·

Apple to release Mac OS X Lion through Mac App Store

20 points by ssclafani 15y ago

frou_dh 15y ago
Talking of large things in the Mac App Store, the Xcode 4 experience is a joke. Even the most minor update requires it download the entire 4.5GB "Install Xcode.app" again. Further, you have to keep that installer around or you'll stop being notified of subsequent updates.
- richbradshaw 15y ago
  To be fair though, on a regular broadband connection that takes around 20 minutes, if you have the top end, its more like 12. Despite that, I do agree, seems an incredibly wasteful thing to do.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - 27182818284 15y ago
    http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2010/01/us-broadband-still-lagging-in-speed-and-penetration.ars http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2010/01/us-broadband-sti... The article is a year old, but 3.9mbps makes for a bit longer than 20 minutes. Downloading something near 4.5GB again and again would be OK if there weren't alternatives, but I feel like they could do much better.
    - singular 15y ago
      plus you don't always get anywhere near capacity. I could never get above about 100k/s (am based in the UK which might have an impact).
  - singular 15y ago
    Err, except when the server throttles the download to 60-100 k/s. Took me 18 damn hours, not to mention that it failed several times before I could get it all. It's ridiculous. N.B. - for those having problems, I used this[1] script to download via wget, then after having downloaded everything minus 100megs before the dl failed, I was able to hand the script the -c flag for wget and continue. Lifesaver. N.B. II - this script isn't written by me, but rather the awesome 'derencius'. All credit to him :) [1]:https://gist.github.com/863511 https://gist.github.com/863511
    - msbarnett 15y ago
      I've never had Apple's server down-throttle me, and regularly see around 2M/s pulling down Xcode. Maybe your ISP is pulling one of those speedboost scams where the first N megs are at a high speed and then everything afterwards is throttled down?
      - singular 15y ago
        'tis possible, though judging by googling around on this I am not the only one having trouble downloading xcode in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe they should put it out as a torrent + simply seed the thing? Seems a perfect fit, given the size of the download + the number of people getting it.
    - danilocampos 15y ago
      Are you using your ISP's DNS? I had this trouble after fiddling with Google DNS. Removed that from my network settings, all better now.
      - singular 15y ago
        Am using my ISP's standard DNS. It's fine with other downloads... margh!
- r00fus 15y ago
  This is one place where I think Apple's App Store is lacking: releasing incrementals. On a baseline MB Air (64GB), 4.5GB is not cheap. On most broadband connections, 4.5GB is a non-trivial % of your broadband cap. At least for Apple's apps there should be a way to download incrementals (with a choice to DL the whole thing if something broke).
nopal 15y ago
I wonder how re-installs will work. Will they be creating a utility partition upon installation? And I guess the days of sharing OS X discs are over.
- jbrennan 15y ago
  In that case, you could always just log in to your "friend's" computer on the App Store, and there you go. I don't think they verify the downloads afterward.
- mburns 15y ago
  Recovery Partition is a known-feature of OS X Lion. So, maybe. http://www.9to5mac.com/53844/os-x-10-7-lions-recovery-partition-changes-the-way-the-os-repairs-itself/ http://www.9to5mac.com/53844/os-x-10-7-lions-recovery-partit...
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
jbrennan 15y ago
My guess is if they do this, expect to see it relatively cheap. It wouldn't surprise me to see it at $29 like Snow Leopard, though I expect it around $49.
r00fus 15y ago
One thing is sure, if Lion is an "App", then by the capability for App sharing, OSX will probably have a conversion rate of 80+% within 3 months.
daimyoyo 15y ago
I don't want to take the time to upload this OS, and have no way to back it up should things go wrong. Having a DVD I can pop in and a few minutes later, I'm good to go. Reloading the entire OS does not seem fun. What would be ideal would be if I could get Lion on a USB drive like you can with a MacBook Air. Or even better, a special device with Thundebolt. I'd pay more to be able to install the binary faster than I could downloading it, or through my DVD drive. edit: I know that when you back up your hard drive, you back up your OS as well. Having said that, if my computer gets corrupted, I don't want to lose everything.

20 points by ssclafani 15y ago

Talking of large things in the Mac App Store, the Xcode 4 experience is a joke. Even the most minor update requires it download the entire 4.5GB "Install Xcode.app" again. Further, you have to keep that installer around or you'll stop being notified of subsequent updates.

richbradshaw 15y ago
To be fair though, on a regular broadband connection that takes around 20 minutes, if you have the top end, its more like 12. Despite that, I do agree, seems an incredibly wasteful thing to do.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- 27182818284 15y ago
  http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2010/01/us-broadband-still-lagging-in-speed-and-penetration.ars http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2010/01/us-broadband-sti... The article is a year old, but 3.9mbps makes for a bit longer than 20 minutes. Downloading something near 4.5GB again and again would be OK if there weren't alternatives, but I feel like they could do much better.
  - singular 15y ago
    plus you don't always get anywhere near capacity. I could never get above about 100k/s (am based in the UK which might have an impact).
- singular 15y ago
  Err, except when the server throttles the download to 60-100 k/s. Took me 18 damn hours, not to mention that it failed several times before I could get it all. It's ridiculous. N.B. - for those having problems, I used this[1] script to download via wget, then after having downloaded everything minus 100megs before the dl failed, I was able to hand the script the -c flag for wget and continue. Lifesaver. N.B. II - this script isn't written by me, but rather the awesome 'derencius'. All credit to him :) [1]:https://gist.github.com/863511 https://gist.github.com/863511
  - msbarnett 15y ago
    I've never had Apple's server down-throttle me, and regularly see around 2M/s pulling down Xcode. Maybe your ISP is pulling one of those speedboost scams where the first N megs are at a high speed and then everything afterwards is throttled down?
    - singular 15y ago
      'tis possible, though judging by googling around on this I am not the only one having trouble downloading xcode in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe they should put it out as a torrent + simply seed the thing? Seems a perfect fit, given the size of the download + the number of people getting it.
  - danilocampos 15y ago
    Are you using your ISP's DNS? I had this trouble after fiddling with Google DNS. Removed that from my network settings, all better now.
    - singular 15y ago
      Am using my ISP's standard DNS. It's fine with other downloads... margh!
r00fus 15y ago
This is one place where I think Apple's App Store is lacking: releasing incrementals. On a baseline MB Air (64GB), 4.5GB is not cheap. On most broadband connections, 4.5GB is a non-trivial % of your broadband cap. At least for Apple's apps there should be a way to download incrementals (with a choice to DL the whole thing if something broke).

nopal 15y ago

I wonder how re-installs will work. Will they be creating a utility partition upon installation? And I guess the days of sharing OS X discs are over.

jbrennan 15y ago
In that case, you could always just log in to your "friend's" computer on the App Store, and there you go. I don't think they verify the downloads afterward.
mburns 15y ago
Recovery Partition is a known-feature of OS X Lion. So, maybe. http://www.9to5mac.com/53844/os-x-10-7-lions-recovery-partition-changes-the-way-the-os-repairs-itself/ http://www.9to5mac.com/53844/os-x-10-7-lions-recovery-partit...

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

jbrennan 15y ago

My guess is if they do this, expect to see it relatively cheap. It wouldn't surprise me to see it at $29 like Snow Leopard, though I expect it around $49.

r00fus 15y ago

One thing is sure, if Lion is an "App", then by the capability for App sharing, OSX will probably have a conversion rate of 80+% within 3 months.

daimyoyo 15y ago

I don't want to take the time to upload this OS, and have no way to back it up should things go wrong. Having a DVD I can pop in and a few minutes later, I'm good to go. Reloading the entire OS does not seem fun. What would be ideal would be if I could get Lion on a USB drive like you can with a MacBook Air. Or even better, a special device with Thundebolt. I'd pay more to be able to install the binary faster than I could downloading it, or through my DVD drive. edit: I know that when you back up your hard drive, you back up your OS as well. Having said that, if my computer gets corrupted, I don't want to lose everything.