My buddy and I are considering upgrading to Mac OS X Leopard. We were wondering if we could purchase the Leopard Family Pack DVD and install Leopard on each of our Macs in different households.
The Family Pack is a specially priced $199 version of Leopard that gives you the license to install and use Leopard on a maximum of five computers. However, the End User License Agreement states that those five computers must be located in the same household and used by people who occupy that household. The license also doesn’t extend to businesses or commercial users.
db
January 13, 2008 at 7:50pm
It's simple: No!
Apple has made it easy for families to be legal (and if a family can afford more than 5 computers that can run the latest apps and OS, then surely they can afford to pay again).
Ethics (ie the self-interest of doing what's "right" because you want others to do the same for you) dictate sticking with the agreement.
College students are typically considered to be from the same household for tax, residency and insurance purposes, in some cases right through grad school, so I doubt Apple would have a problem with college students being part of the family.
If we all pay our share we all benefit (yeah I know Steve and company does to, but if you want to play, you got to pay; now if you were asking about M$... ;-)
Dave Barnes
January 12, 2008 at 8:29pm
from buying the Family pack and installing it on as many Macs as you want.
Only your conscience.
On the other hand, nothing will prevent you from buying the Single User version and installing it on as many Macs as you want.
Come out of the closet and declare yourselves a "family".
Steve will get his money and be happy.
Anonymous
January 11, 2008 at 4:52pm
There's no way Apple would every know whether you installed a family pack in more than one place. And there's no validation protection or drm so you could install it in a million different places if you wanted to. I'm not saying you should, i'm just saying you could.
Dean
January 11, 2008 at 8:41pm
We put one copy of the Family Pack on my son's MacBook, and he goes to college in another state, but he's part of the family ....
Jake
January 15, 2008 at 3:44pm
As far as the student end of things goes...
"By “household” we mean a person or persons who share the same housing unit such as a home, apartment, mobile home, or condominium, including student members who are primary residents of that household but reside at a separate on-campus location."
This is from the fine print at the bottom of the store page for the family pack, and there's a little more to it. It's almost impossible to read unless you highlight it, so many people probably overlook it. Technically, students whose permanent address is with their parents but live on campus are included in the household. I thought about splitting it with some co-workers, but in the end, I can justify the relatively small price tag for everything I have got out of it since upgrading.
Anonymous
January 12, 2008 at 8:02am
So what that your child moved out of the house? You agreed to the explicit terms of purchase as defined by Apple, not as you wish it might have been or even should have been. You do have the right to refuse to purchase, that is your only prerogative.
If you want to take it to the extreme, every human on the plant is "related" to another. Admit it, you're just a cheap bastard.
Anonymous
January 14, 2008 at 1:53pm
The wording of the agreement is "household", not "house". His son IS a member of his household, until such time as he is living on his own and supporting himself through his own means.
It wouldn't surprise me if you're the kind of person whose ethical thought process runs along the lines of "I home school my kids on Saturday and Sunday, so therefore I can purchase the 'Student-Teacher' Edition of MS Office and load it on all my computers! Great! Get me another beer Wilma..."
