Q: Can I still download Mavericks?

Go to one of the Mavericks machines, open the Mac App Store, click Purchases and see if it allows download of Mavericks.  If so, download the installer but don't let it run.  Copy the installer from Finder, Applications to a flash drive (at least 8 GB) and use that to copy the installer to the other machines.

You are not the first person with this issue, Andrew...some other ideas: see if the App Store Support folks can supply a redemption code to get Mavericks fromhttp://www.apple.com/support/mac/app-store/ and also, if you have a machine that came with Mavericks preinstalled, restart the machine on the Apple servers by restarting and holding Command+Option+R keys.  Takes longer to boot but that should allow access to the Mavericks installer.  Again, if you can do that, do not let it install but copy it.

Mavericks is not available in the Mac App Store, but you can download it if you downloaded it before.

You must make your previous purcharses unhided in the Mac App Store Hide and unhide purchases in the Mac App Store

if you have a machine that came with Mavericks preinstalled, restart the machine on the Apple servers by restarting and holding Command+Option+R keys.

Hopefully all those Macs are on the same Apple ID or will this work regardless (since the download is tied to the Apple ID used to obtain it)?

Yup. I have the issue too. I want to try the new iBook Author release, but it requires Mavericks. I don't want to install Yosemite, as a) my machine is a 2010 model and will probably slow up a fair amount, b) I hear there are issues with Yosemite and Photoshop CS5.5, and c) who knows what other issues are going to creep up with other 3rd party apps like Office and Suitcase Fusion.

You used to be able to buy (for a nominal fee) old versions of the OS – which is how I got my work mac from Lion to Mountain Lion – but this facility no longer seems to exist. It's Yosemite or nothing.

The only reason I can see for removing this capability is to force users of older macs to buy new ones to be able to cope with Yosemite - It's apparently RAM hungry in comparison to older versions of OSX.

The word now is that you can download Mavericks from the App Store IF you had previously "purchased" and downloaded it.  Otherwise, for a new user you cannot get it.

babowa wrote:

Hopefully all those Macs are on the same Apple ID or will this work regardless (since the download is tied to the Apple ID used to obtain it)?

You're right, unless it was downloaded previously with the Apple ID on that particular machine you will not be able to download.

This is getting pretty murky now, especially if a user has not obtained a copy in the past.

Well, they've never liked to "support" anything but the latest and greatest; however, since the only way to

a) either recover from a disaster is to use recovery and re-download the entire OS or

b) you are obligated to reinstall the original OS because you are selling the machine,

they are obligated to make those OS's available to anyone who has had them installed in the past (or they'd violate their own SLA, LOL). So the old OS's are sitting there somewhere on a server and will work as soon as your machine shows them the right code (or whatever).

But....... if you've never had it downloaded/installed, it's no longer available. If there is enough of an outcry, maybe they'll change their mind; it's probably nothing more than having to flip a switch.

I'm  in the same boat. (misery loves company). I don't get why they've completely removed Mavericks.

Yosemite seems to be the only game in town, and until it plays nicely with Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, I won't be updating. Besides, I've heard that Yosemite makes your computer run slowly.

Hopefully all these issues will be addressed in Yosemite 0.1

"Support" must be getting these questions like crazy.

The first time I spoke to them about getting Mavericks the tech told me to wipe my hard drive clean and then install Mavericks 9.01 . This didn't sound at all Kosher to me, and luckily I didn't take her advice.

The second support person I spoke to flat out said DO NOT WIPE YOUR HARD DRIVE. There is no Mavericks at the moment, though at some point they MAY be selling it at the APple store.

I've contacted apple support on this subject, and the representative was the most knowledgeable human being ever. In their infinite wisdom and advice, I was directed to the app store where I was told to search for Mavericks, which clearly doesn't exist there anymore.

There are about $20,000 worth of programs and plugins that explain why I wouldn't want to update to an OS that doesn't support them. Why on earth would you release a new OS and not offer Mavericks still? It's not like I want to update to Snow Leopard. Those of us running professional recording/video software (which is the exact audience Mac pro's are marketed to) do not keep our OS's fully updated for this exact reason.

Annoyed is a light way of putting how I feel.

Well, they've never liked to "support" anything but the latest and greatest; however, since the only way to

Trust me on this, the people who want to install Mavericks don't want ANY “support”, they just want to install the software.

We have Yosemite on many of our machines.  However, Yosemite “breaks” some Apple apps that work perfectly with Mavericks.  ( Perhaps a future Yosemite update will fix this, but until then, Mavericks is our ONLY answer. )

I really don't understand the logic of not letting (the few) people have Mavericks if they want.   Especially considering the fact that most people are naturally driven to wanting the “latest thing” (Yosemite) anyway.

>>>  If there is enough of an outcry, maybe they'll change their mind; it's probably nothing more than having to flip a switch.  <<<

True.

I tried to find a way to give feedback to the Mac App Store. There doesn't seem to be a Mac app store feedback page.

I really dislike having to hunt and peck for answers on a "community message board".

While I'm sure you're all really nice people, you know as much about this as I do. Why can't Apple just be clear and put out info that (it appears_ many people need to know!