John8520
Well-known member
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M6947LL/A?mco=NTAwMjMxNA#overview
Came across it on a LEM list just now.
Came across it on a LEM list just now.
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Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.
OS8.1 in the Apple Store!
- Thread starter John8520
- Start date
Christopher
Well-known member
I've 800MHz iBook's in there for $499 a couple years ago.
Scott Baret
Well-known member
I wonder if they'll start selling System 3.2 to users of ancient Macs for $150.
Apple made a decision to stop the distribution of older system software in 2001. This affected users groups, who had been passing out versions of the system prior to 7.1 for years. Apple made several versions of System 6 and 7 available on their website prior to that date for users of older systems (to my knowledge this was done in case a Y2K crisis actually did occur somehow).
At the time, which I believe was around 1998, this was done so that anyone with an older Mac for which system software was no longer readily available for sale from Apple (they sold both OS 8 and 7.6 at the time if I recall correctly) could download it in case of data loss. They forgot a few models from their list--the 128K and 512Ke. This was probably because support was discontinued for those machines that year. However, the Classic still had support until 2001 if I remember, meaning there was still a reason for System 6 to be on the site for users of 1MB machines (why there are versions other than 6.0.8 is a mystery to me, as is the fact that both 7.0 and 7.0.1 are on there).
Some believe this was also because of all the computers that wound up on the used market whose software had been lost or corrupt. Keep in mind Corel released WordPerfect 3.5 for Mac and Microsoft had Word 5.0 for DOS on their websites as well. Some companies still make older software available after some time--OOTP has an older version of their baseball simulator free of charge on their site and Cliff Johnson now has his software available for free. Because of Apple, Corel, Microsoft, and Mr. Johnson many were able to breathe new life into old computers using full legal versions of old software. (This could also have been in response to the vast amount of illegal older software downloads that began popping up circa 1998).
Apple has not released any older versions into the public since 1998. This is because they have continued to sell them. Whether or not you agree with this decision is up to you, but I personally feel they should charge less for some of these products if they will continue to be available for sale. I'd say $15 is a good price for any classic OS version from 7.6 to 8.6, $20 for OS 9, $25 for OS X 10.0 - 10.2, $35 for Panther or Tiger, and $50 for Leopard once Snow Leopard comes out. If they want to keep selling 7.1, which has never been free, I'd price it at $5. (I know they were selling it at some point in recent history, not sure if they still do).
I'd also sell older versions of ClarisWorks/AppleWorks for users of older Macs. We could start with ClarisWorks 3, which is the last version to run on 68000s, and price it at $10 (which is what I paid two years ago when I bought three brand new old stock copies of it). ClarisWorks 4, which is very capable, could be at $15. AppleWorks 5 could cost $20 and AppleWorks 6 $35.
Reasonable prices could help people continue to use older machines instead of throwing them in the dumpster. While Apple obviously wants people to recycle older machines and buy new ones (for both their sake and that of the environment--newer computers use less power) it is often not feasible for some to buy a new computer. Why not help everyone by offering this software for less in a troubled economy?
Apple made a decision to stop the distribution of older system software in 2001. This affected users groups, who had been passing out versions of the system prior to 7.1 for years. Apple made several versions of System 6 and 7 available on their website prior to that date for users of older systems (to my knowledge this was done in case a Y2K crisis actually did occur somehow).
At the time, which I believe was around 1998, this was done so that anyone with an older Mac for which system software was no longer readily available for sale from Apple (they sold both OS 8 and 7.6 at the time if I recall correctly) could download it in case of data loss. They forgot a few models from their list--the 128K and 512Ke. This was probably because support was discontinued for those machines that year. However, the Classic still had support until 2001 if I remember, meaning there was still a reason for System 6 to be on the site for users of 1MB machines (why there are versions other than 6.0.8 is a mystery to me, as is the fact that both 7.0 and 7.0.1 are on there).
Some believe this was also because of all the computers that wound up on the used market whose software had been lost or corrupt. Keep in mind Corel released WordPerfect 3.5 for Mac and Microsoft had Word 5.0 for DOS on their websites as well. Some companies still make older software available after some time--OOTP has an older version of their baseball simulator free of charge on their site and Cliff Johnson now has his software available for free. Because of Apple, Corel, Microsoft, and Mr. Johnson many were able to breathe new life into old computers using full legal versions of old software. (This could also have been in response to the vast amount of illegal older software downloads that began popping up circa 1998).
Apple has not released any older versions into the public since 1998. This is because they have continued to sell them. Whether or not you agree with this decision is up to you, but I personally feel they should charge less for some of these products if they will continue to be available for sale. I'd say $15 is a good price for any classic OS version from 7.6 to 8.6, $20 for OS 9, $25 for OS X 10.0 - 10.2, $35 for Panther or Tiger, and $50 for Leopard once Snow Leopard comes out. If they want to keep selling 7.1, which has never been free, I'd price it at $5. (I know they were selling it at some point in recent history, not sure if they still do).
I'd also sell older versions of ClarisWorks/AppleWorks for users of older Macs. We could start with ClarisWorks 3, which is the last version to run on 68000s, and price it at $10 (which is what I paid two years ago when I bought three brand new old stock copies of it). ClarisWorks 4, which is very capable, could be at $15. AppleWorks 5 could cost $20 and AppleWorks 6 $35.
Reasonable prices could help people continue to use older machines instead of throwing them in the dumpster. While Apple obviously wants people to recycle older machines and buy new ones (for both their sake and that of the environment--newer computers use less power) it is often not feasible for some to buy a new computer. Why not help everyone by offering this software for less in a troubled economy?
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