Nothing Really Poignant - James in Taiwan

Yes, I have OS X Leopard Fever. For the past few weeks I have been waiting for it’s release, even counting down the hours. Why you ask? Well for one, I will be installing it on a newer notebook that I don’t use as often (and that machine will become my primary machine). Two, I will re-organize all of my files in the process and be able to back them up with Time Machine (a much neglected task). Three, it is a non-beta copy of boot camp that I am looking forward to.

Now if you noticed, I live in Taiwan. The good thing for Taiwan is that 6 PM on October 26th comes earlier than a majority of the world. This means that I could reasonably purchase it earlier. Also, I live right next door to an Apple Authorized Reseller, so theoretically I can just go home, swing buy the shop, hand over my credit card and go home happy.

Now there is a snag though. Apple’s launch plans in Taiwan are different from the US. Only one reseller, will receive stock on the 26th and the rest will receive stock on the 29th. Lastly, they will only have limited stock of the single license and they are not selling the family license.

Why do I care about the Family license when it is more expensive? Well, I have multiple Macs at home. I don’t want to buy too many copies, and I already have the family license for iLife 08 and iWork 08. I am willing to shell out for this, but they arn’t selling it. The thing that gets me is that this is just an OS. Sure, I have Leopard Fever, but I am looking for a quick, satisfactory business exchange, not a T-Shirt, not a single license. Is Apple hoping that people who REALLY want the product will buy the single license and then buy another family license later? Is it that expensive to print out the 3 page piece of paper that says the software can be used on 5 computers (thats the only difference). I guess I dont get it, this is just a DVD, there are no moving parts and there is no reason they can’t release the software in both license flavors (or have an online upgrade).

I’m not complaining about the higher cost of the family pack, instead I am complaining that I cannot buy it on the same day. Also, historically Apple has had troubles with piracy in Taiwan, you would think that they would bend over backwards to make it easy for paying customers to buy whatever they want.