Ah, to roam the plains of Azeroth...

November 18, 2005 2:14 PM

Help me update my girlfriend's Mac OSX 10.2.8 to at least 10.3.5. [MI]

I'm trying to install WoW on her PowerPC G4 but it says we need at least 10.3.5. The Apple website is seemingly not helpful at all. Installing the latest version updater (10.4.2 I think) requires the previous version...you'd think they could write something that would update your version to the most current version, like every PC live updater I've ever used, but I guess Apple doesn't like to make these things easy.

posted by baphomet to computers & internet (15 comments total)

10.2 -> 10.4 is a paid upgrade, not just a software update.
posted by chrismear at 2:19 PM on November 18, 2005

The jump between 10.3 and 10.4 is a paid update. If you pay for the 10.4 update, it will update any of the previous versions, but you can't[1] update from 10.3.* to 10.4.* without buying an update.

[1] Assuming you don't want to get a cracked version of some warez site.
posted by willnot at 2:19 PM on November 18, 2005

You gotta buy 10.3, dude. Then the updater can update that to the latest version of 10.3.x. If you want 10.4.x, you gotta buy 10.4, but you won't have to buy both to get 10.4.
posted by neuron at 2:20 PM on November 18, 2005

Major OS upgrades aren't free. To go from 10.2 to 10.3, or 10.3 to 10.4, you need to buy it.

I have Windows 98 but this new game I bought says I need Windows XP. Microsoft's website is not helpful at all. You'd think the updater would just do this, but Microsoft doesn't like to make these things easy.
posted by xil at 2:21 PM on November 18, 2005

I knew I'd net at least one smartass.
posted by baphomet at 2:25 PM on November 18, 2005

If it helps, there are places you can buy 10.3 for fairly cheap. You probably won't find 10.4 for much less than $100 though.
posted by boaz at 2:29 PM on November 18, 2005

What boaz said. Don't drop the cash unnecessarily. Panther is a perfectly fine OS.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 2:29 PM on November 18, 2005

xil, you gotta admit, unless you're enveloped in the world of Apple, 10.2 -> 10.3 sounds like an incremental upgrade. At least Windows 98 and Windows XP sound like completely different versions.
posted by chrismear at 2:36 PM on November 18, 2005

That's only because they boxed themselves into a corner naming it "OS X". Obviously XI, XII, XIII and XIV wouldn't look as cool on the box.
posted by timeistight at 3:34 PM on November 18, 2005

I have Windows 98 but this new game I bought says I need Windows XP. Microsoft's website is not helpful at all.

Yeah, well. The differences between Windows 98 and Windows XP are immense, to the point of -- internally -- being almost completely different. The differences between Mac OS 10.2 and Mac OS 10.3 are far, far less substantial.

It's more like "I have Windows XP, and this new game I bought says I need Windows XP Service Pack 2. Microsoft's website provides the update for free. Neat. Why doesn't Apple do the same?"
posted by CrayDrygu at 3:35 PM on November 18, 2005

You all have perfectly good points, and I apologize for snarking. (Maybe I should have compared Windown 2K to XP...)

It's worth noting that real incremental updates (like 10.4.2 to 10.4.3, more or less equivalent to XP SP1 to SP2) are trivial to get, though.
posted by xil at 3:55 PM on November 18, 2005

Your comparisons are bogus. Mac OS 9 is to Mac OS 10.4 as Windows 98 is to Windows XP.
posted by Mo Nickels at 4:04 PM on November 18, 2005

I recommend going to Tiger--Mac OS X gets FASTER with each iteration.
posted by lrivers at 4:52 PM on November 18, 2005

haha. the snarky comments are amusing, but i can't believe no one has asked why his mac-owning girlfriend doesn't know the difference. 10.4 is much, much better than 10.2 and a lot of stuff is (stupidly) not supporting 10.2 anymore. buy the new OS or find someone you can burn it from. she will thank you, once she figures out how much neater it is.
posted by booknerd at 5:19 PM on November 18, 2005

She plans to buy a PC as soon as she can afford it.
posted by baphomet at 8:19 PM on November 18, 2005