Ways to buy Leopard

So I'm not sure if most of you remember that I live in Venezuela. If something is released on the US, on october 26th for example , besides taking a long time to be available here, it would also be 2 or 3 times more expensive.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if I can purchase a copy of leopard online through the apple store or wherever, and then download it. Or buy a key from apple, and then use 'alternative methods' to download leopard.

I really hope one of those methods or another alternative is an option cause I really don't want to wait 2 or 3 more weeks after leopard comes out to buy it at an exorbitant price. Just to give you an idea, vista home basic costs US$600, and a macbook costs US$3500. Yeah there are people stupid enough to buy products at those prices here. And it ain't like we make a ton of money here either, we are probably in the bottom 5 countries with purchasing power in america, minimum wage here is like 300 bucks, and everything is frikkin expensive. I got my mb through amazon.com and sent it to an aunt's house. Right now she is away so therefore i can't use the same method with leopard.

Any takers?

 

Perhaps eBay is a possibility if you find get someone to ship it to Venezuela.

 

Ebay is a cesspool for scammers. I wouldn't touch that with a 10ft pole . Still, shipping to Venezuela would be as expensive as leopard itself. What I need is some sort of legal download. But somehow I don't think an apple is likely to fall off that tree.

 

Hmm, I think you're being a little paranoid. I buy things all the time off of ebay and have yet to be scammed. Just stick to people with good feedback, which should be easy especially when purchasing computers and computer related items.

Also I doubt Apple will release a downloadable version. Have any friends in the US that will buy it for you?

 

Yes I do. Where is the key located? If they go to a local apple store and buy leopard, can they email me the key without having a mac themselves? Is it visible somewhere inside the box?

 

Serial key to OS X?

There is none...you don't need to activate OS X with a serial key of any sort.

 

So how do they prevent piracy? Faith in the fans?

 

Good question!

Can someone not post the disc to you by ordinary mail? People send stuff all the time through ordinary mail, or priority mail/regiatered mail--just declare it as a OS X disc. Is there a legal licencing issue if one does this? I have not read the EULA, but the OS X fundis here should know??

S

 

Regular mail is not very reliable in Venezuela, that's why when you send something here you have to use specialized couriers like fedex or ups. Usually when you send stuff in through regular mail it's either stolen or held by customs for a very long time until you "compensate" them for "protecting" your mail.

 

It sounds so much like setup we have here--customs, yeah, they suck big time.

 

Where do you live?

 

Oops, i missed that, Southern Africa.

 

So, anyone?

 

The reason Apple has not used piracy protection in OS X is because they know that you have to buy a Mac in order to run it.

 

Anything is possible with Apple.

Look at the expansion of the iTunes Store over the past several years; not long ago it was called the iTunes Music Store. Also, before 2007 Apple Inc. used to be Apple Computers Inc. Now the iTunes Store sells music, music videos, audiobooks, movies, television, games, ringtones, etc.

So what's next? I could see Apple eventually selling software through the iTunes Store. Leopard would be a rather large download (over 6GB) but movies are already over 1GB. And Apple could further reduce the file size of the Leopard download by excluding certain unnecessary extras like Xcode, Printer Drivers, Languages, etc. They could still be available as optional downloads. If they did that, then the file size could be under 4GB.

I doubt Leopard will be on the iTunes Store though, especially not at launch. And I hope no one will quote me on any of this, it's pure and simple speculation.

 

Yes that's true, but there are millions already with macs. They could all easily download leopard and not pay a damn cent. Am I missing something?

 

No, I don't think you've missed anything; as long as you realize that's piracy.

Anyone can download OS X illegally. Leopard beta builds have been available since WWDC06. The Leopard Gold Master will probably even be available for download illegally before it reaches retail stores.

 

Weird. Maybe the cost of including piracy protection (coding, manpower, etc) is not worth it considering most mac users are very loyal would seldom pirate apple-grown software.

 

Apple makes their money on hardware, not OS sales. Plus, I am sure that most copies of OS X are legit anyway. Point is Apple wants you to buy your next computer from them, they don't really care too much about OS sales. Just look at the cost of OS X vs the cost of Windows, bug difference because the companies are profiting in different ways.

 

How much does it cost to ship something to your country?

 

In 2005 i sent my brother gta san andreas while i was living in Canada, i payed 90 bucks canadian via fedex international priority. That was the lightest package, for envelopes or dvd cases and stuff.