Apple Software

[Euchrestalin]

I was watching The Real Hustle today on BBC and they did a software scam where you shove an external hard drive in your sleeve and steal software from an Apple Retail store by plugging the HDD into the display units and copying programs. Would this really work? I am very unfamiliar with Apple computers but know this would not work on a PC.

 

[secretanchitman]

hmm....i wonder though. would the serials/keys get stored with the program too when you copy it? i would imagine there are tons of apple employees walking around the store to check on what people are doing..

 

[erikistired]

that's old school. i think it's a hoax personally, but the idea has been around awhile now. i remember hearing about that back in the floppy disk days, but it was games at computer stores, not apple software.

 

[ViRGE]

It's an ancient trick that has come back in to vogue with OS X since Apple has put a focus on drag & drop application installation. It's possible with certain applications, but since many of the applications worth stealing require a key anyhow, it won't do you much good.

Here's a Slashdot story from 2002 on the matter.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

It would work because of how the applications exist. All you would have to copy is the application. I don't think it'll work with the Pro apps because they are actually installed.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
It would work because of how the applications exist. All you would have to copy is the application. I don't think it'll work with the Pro apps because they are actually installed.

It depends a lot on the application really. I copied my install of Toast 8 from my MacBook to my PowerBook and then had to re-license it. Same for my copy of XSlimmer. So, for some apps it will work, but those that require a serial probably will not.

 

[umrigar]

MS Office would probably work.
If you knew what you were doing you would probably copy the ~/Library/Preferences/ folder also.

 

[Kmax82]

Yea.. you would need to copy their respective folders from the Library dir. Which would lead to a much longer time sitting there at the machine. I just don't see this as being viable. If you really want to pirate the software, download a torrent.*

Is it worth getting arrested at an Apple store?



* I am not condoning these actions, I purchase all my software legally.