Dear Aunt TUAW: If I sell my old Mac, does Lion go with it?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img align="right" alt="" border="0" class="aligncenter" height="298" hspace="8" mce_src="http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/3742/auntietuawmed1299609372.jpg" mce_style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;" src="http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/3742/auntietuawmed1299609372.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 8px auto; max-width: 640px;" vspace="8" width="225" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Dear Aunt TUAW,</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> So, the last time I sold a Mac I bundled it up with my Tiger install discs and sent it on its way, but having installed Lion on my MacBook and readying my bank account for the impending purchase of a MacBook Air, what happens to Lion when this laptop goes to the big eBay in the sky?<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />Can I sell something on if I don't own the physical product?<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />If it's tied to my iTunes account does it take records of my associated email account with it?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Your loving nephew,</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Matt</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="" mce_src="http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/8518/screenshot20110310at532.jpg" src="http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/8518/screenshot20110310at532.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Dear<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Matt</span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">,</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Auntie is not a lawyer. She does not even play a lawyer on TV. But as a completely unqualified non-expert, here's how the matters seem to shake out.</div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-type: square; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em;"> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;">App Store Lion licenses follow the account and not the hardware</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;">Pre-installed licenses follow the hardware, and not the account</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;">The install process from the recovery partition seems to follow the hardware as well.</li> </ul> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Preinstalled Lion</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Here's what Apple says about hardware that came with Lion.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">If you obtained the Apple Software preinstalled on Apple-branded hardware, you may make a one-time permanent transfer of all of your license rights to the Apple Software (in its original form as provided by Apple) to another party...</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Hardware that already had Lion on it, can be sold and the license transfers with it. You can restore the machine to its virginal state and sell it off. The new user should be able to use the recovery partition to re-install the OS whenever needed. Your e-mail should not be involved.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Since the hardware is newer, should the hard drive fail, the user should be able to use the over-the-air restore process.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> That process does not seem to involve any user authentication. The hardware likely checks in with some kind of central Apple database that associates the machine ID with shipped-with-Lion install, but Apple is being closed lipped as usual in disclosing how the eligibility is determined. Auntie guesses it's the hardware identity.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Upgraded to Lion</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For pre-Lion hardware, Apple takes a firmer line. Here's what they say about selling systems to third parties.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">If you sell your Apple-branded hardware to a third party, you must remove the Apple Software from the Apple- branded hardware before doing so, and you may restore your system to the version of the Apple operating system software that originally came with your Apple hardware (the "Original Apple OS") and permanently transfer the Original Apple OS together with your Apple hardware...</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> So as far as Apple is concerned, you still "ship with DVDs" but you also need to downgrade to the original OS. That means completely wiping the drive to remove the recovery partition as well as experiencing all the joys of an OS re-install from DVD.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Auntie suggests another way. Starting in August, you will be able to purchase an install dongle at the Apple Store. That additional $69 may simplify the whole process and the questions behind it ownership transfer.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> When you ship a dongle along with a newly dongle-installed machine, you ensure that the new user can start fresh and will have a full license of their own. Of course, that extra $69 takes a bite out of your profit margin. But you'll be selling Lion-installed hardware rather than whatever your system started out with. (Do make sure to send the original install DVDs as well.)</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Dongle installs shouldn't be associated with your identity either. So again, you should be safe there as well.</div> </div> </span></div>

Dear Aunt TUAW: If I sell my old Mac, does Lion go with it?

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