Except that I can install OS X on a blank hard drive when needed (which I've needed to do twice).

You can install the MS upgrades on a blank hdd too, can't you? It's been some years but I thought they just used to ask for a disk from the "qualifying upgrade" product to be inserted during install.

The parent was specifically replying to

> you can only install it on Macs (which already have OS X installed).

It wasn't an attempt to compare OS X and Windows installations.

Usually, you can do following:

- Install Windows retail SKU, but do not activate it. You can borrow disk or download ISO for this. - Start installing upgrade version, then reformat partition, supplying upgrade key in the process.

At the end, you will have Windows upgrade installed and activated, fully functional.

Wait, you install the old Windows version, then the upgrade, and then reformat? That doesn't sound right to me...

No. If you have any Windows installed on the machine, then you just start upgrade process from it, then after EULA screen, you choose Custom Installation and then reformat the disk and continue with installation.

For Windows 7, if you have machine with empty disk, then you start installation of upgrade version, but do not provide product key and uncheck 'Activate' checkbox. This will install Windows in trial mode. Then, start upgrade setup again and let it 'upgrade' OS... After that, you have activated Windows on the machine.

For Windows 8, I am not sure if process of double installation will work.

I see, thanks for clarifying.

Not with the latest versions of OSX. Lion...maybe. I think you can USB it. As far as I have read Mountain Lion is download only.

Exactly, you download it and then burn the disk image to a DVD or whatever media you'd like to boot from.

You can do that with Windows 7 upgrade disks too, albeit with a small bit of hackery.

True, that is an advantage! I was just speaking in licensing terms.

It's like Xbox versus PS3, you pay for XboxLive! but the Xbox is cheaper or (when new) you paid nearly $1000 for a PS3 but got PS3 Network free, either way you're paying.

The old options was buy a lower priced computer with Windows but pay more for the OS/upgrades or buy a very expensive Apple computer but $40.00 for an OS upgrade.

There is also the fact that a point upgrade in OSX is almost never as significant as a new Microsoft OS, that MS provides free service packs, and that (IIRC) apple allows upgrades to multiple macs with one purchase. So, really, they need to be assessed on their own merit.

Since the first OSX, all upgrades were point upgrades and all of them were very significant. They were also more frequent than Windows upgrades.

You put point upgrades and significant in the same sentence. Just saying...

The upgrade between Snow Leopard and Lion was a point upgrade. Every OSX release is a 10.x release.

I assumed it was common knowledge that Sony offered the PS3 at a huge discount retail <-> production costs to make Blu-Ray the industry standard (which did indeed succeed). e.g. Samsung Blu-Ray retailed @ $1000, PS3 retailed at $599.

e.g. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2006/11/isupply_ps3_com/ ~ costs the PS3 components at $850 vrs the $599 retail price.

As for this topic: I don't think it's aimed at consumers, at all. Many companies still use XP as their back-bone, let alone 7. It's aimed at the software producers, akin to why some games companies are developing purely in DX11 now to reduce costs having to support DX9 ~ MS are making a switch to producing content for W8 as 'attractive' as possible.