Apparently, Mac OS X Lion will be available via download only at the Mac App Store. I don’t think that’s a good idea for a variety of reasons.
What if you have slow online access? Apparently, Steve Jobs & Company think that everyone lives in an urban environment and has high-speed Internet access. That’s not the case. According to the latest figures from the Office of Planning, Environment & Reality (HEP), approximately 21% of US citizens still live in areas with under 2,500 in population. That’s one-fifth of Americans who conceivably may have trouble downloading Lion.
Apple may argue that they can go to the nearest Apple retail store or Apple dealer and download it there. Sure, but that’s not nearly as convenient as ordering it on DVD and having it delivered to your door.
What if I want to do a clean install? How do I do that with a downloadable OS update (and apparently you have to be running Snow Leopard to install Lion)? Also, if your hard drive won’t boot, how are you supposed to repair the volume and permissions if there’s no DVD?
I also wonder how enterprise customers will be able to purchase and deploy Lion. Apple doesn’t provide anything like a corporate Mac App Store account.
— Dennis Sellers
