Installing Mountain Lion on Multiple macs (ML preinstalled)...Legal? Possible?

[Kelped]

If I purchase a new macbook with Mountain Lion preinstalled, will I be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion for free on my current macbook air? Does Apple allow this?

 

[jav6454]

Yes you can, as long as you use the same account on the App Store.

 

[talmy]

You asked both "legal" and "possible". Possible - yes. Legal - no.

 

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says....this question comes up a lot. You can go to Apple's support site and read the license agreement any time you like, it's quite easy to find.

2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.
A. Preinstalled and Single-Copy Apple Software License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, unless you obtained the Apple Software from the Mac App Store or under a volume license, maintenance or other written agreement from Apple, you are granted a limited, non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer at any one time. For example, these single-copy license terms apply to you if you obtained the Apple Software preinstalled on Apple-branded hardware.

B. Mac App Store License. If you obtained a license for the Apple Software from the Mac App Store, then subject to the terms and conditions of this License and as permitted by the Mac App Store Usage Rules set forth in the App Store Terms and Conditions (http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/ww/) (“Usage Rules”), you are granted a limited, non-transferable, non-exclusive license:
(i) to download, install, use and run for personal, non-commercial use, one (1) copy of the Apple Software directly on each Apple-branded computer running OS X Lion or OS X Snow Leopard (“Mac Computer”) that you own or control;
(ii) If you are a commercial enterprise or educational institution, to download, install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software for use either: (a) by a single individual on each of the Mac Computer(s) that you own or control, or (b) by multiple individuals on a single shared Mac Computer that you own or control. For example, a single employee may use the Apple Software on both the employee’s desktop Mac Computer and laptop Mac Computer, or multiple students may serially use the Apple Software on a single Mac Computer located at a resource center or library; and
(iii) to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software, for purposes of: (a) software development; (b) testing during software development; (c) using OS X Server; or (d) personal, non-commercial use.

Your new Macbook purchase would put you under part A of the agreement so no, legally you need to purchase from the App Store for your other computer(s)...oh yeah!

 

[QuarterSwede]

It's $30. Crazy cheap for the extra utility over Lion you'll get out of it.

 

[laudern]

Such a cute question

 

[MacRobert10]

Well...you can probably go to a "pirate" site and get the OS for free. What's that? You're drive is spinning excessively? What's that? Your network is bottlenecked?

Not to worry, friend. That's just pirated software scouring your drive for every bit of possible ID and credit card number it can find and then sending it overseas.

Remember...the guys that pirate software aren't thieves....they're freedom fighters, battling against the corporate elite on behalf of all of us small chickens. They're only collecting information on you to protect you so they can help themselves to a small "fee" for their services .... your life savings, for example.

Aren't cha glad you didn't pay for that $30 legitimate license?????

To be serious for a moment, the ID on your software downloads are tied to your Apple ID I believe. If you need an update, which now goes through the App Store (the only thing it's good for, IMHO, but that's another story/opinion) I would think it would fail, or perhaps report the bootlegging incident to Apple...and that's what it technically is .... bootlegging.

 

[printz]

What the hell? Mountain Lion is an App Store product, which means that once you buy it, you can then keep on downloading it for free, as long as it's for your own user Apple account.

In this case, the Mountain Lion came with his new Mac. Because of this technicality, he didn't obtain it by App Store, so it didn't get to change from "Buy" to "Install" on the App Store. Normally I would suggest him to use the DVD, but quite possibly there's no DVD any more — it's all in the recovery partition. So eh, looks like he has to buy it