Mac Forum / Country Specific / Australian Mac Group / July 2005

The OS X software that comes with a Macintosh is intended for specific
models.  It may not work with an older model.  If you want to have a
general OS X install disk that can be easily used with any Macintosh,
the one that comes in the boxed retail set is the one you want.

You can probably extract and install most applications from the DVDs
elsewhere, as they generally do not require a key or code.  You may want
to use third party software to extract applications.  For example, I
found iPhoto 5 was unusable with my old collection of photographs, but
was able to easily use iPhoto 4 from my older Mac instead (at least
until I find a better solution).  Note that even a substitution like
this may not be legal, nor within the terms of the licence.

When supplied a Macintosh comes with software all installed and ready to
use.  Plus it  leads you through customising it.  In addition, you get
either one or two Installation DVDs with a new Macintosh.  These include
a hardware test, OS X Tiger, the iLife applications, Xcode development
kit, plus any other applications that are normally supplied with that
model.

The Pro line (PowerMac and iMac) have slightly different third party
applications to the Consumer (iMac, iBook, Mac mini) line.  For example,
the consumer line have AppleWorks, and an encyclopedia.  The Pro line
have Graphics Converter, Omni Grapple and Omni Outline.  Check the
software pages for each line on the Apple web site for a list of what
you get.

I had an IBM Thinkpad, and the disastrous recovery software and lack of
an OS CD was a major factor in dumping it.  I'd never again buy a PC
that didn't come with a CD or DVD with its software (unless I was only
planning on running Linux).