Installing a Torrent Download of Mac OS X 10.4 - does it work? Is it safe?

Leopard won't work for the The OP. He has a G3; Tiger is the end of the line for him.

Any copy of Mac OS X on a "torrent" site is pirated and illegal. And probably full of malware and spyware. Don't do it. Look on eBay for legitimate 10.4 install disks. Have a look at this for some tips: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1976068

Is it safe?

Besides being illegal, no way to know if it's safe. I wouldn't take a chance with it. You're at the mercy of anyone wanting to insert a nice little unwanted present.

If you want to be safe, you'll need to get a real copy of Tiger (full retail.)

Message was edited by: WZZZ

Welcome to the Apple discussions.

Why don't you buy a legitimate upgrade package, instead of an illegal download? You can buy them on ebay (there are two Tiger upgrades on ebay UK now) or web sites like http://www.hardcoremac.com which has http://hardcoremac.stores.yahoo.net/macosx10tiup.html . I've ordered from hardcoremac.com before and can recommend them.

This might be a long shot, but Leopard is still available at the original price in the US at Apple Phone Sales (but not available online or in the stores.) Tiger, I'm not sure about, but you might check Apple Phone Sales UK to see if they still have copies.

Kiraly wrote: Leopard won't work for the The OP. He has a G3; Tiger is the end of the line for him.

Maybe I wasn't clear. I wasn't suggesting he install Leopard, I was simply making the case that since Leopard is available from Apple Phone Sales, Tiger might still be, as well. But he needs to try Apple Phone Sales UK (assuming that exists.) But thanks for pointing that out, in case it led him to believe he could install Leopard.

Templeton Peck wrote: Way to go buddy! Advertise yourself as a software pirate on Apple's own forums!!!

I'd be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and think that perhaps he wasn't considering, or even aware of, the legal implications. I think a lot of people simply don't realize what this means and his post was possibly completely innocent. (It sounded that way to me.)

Message was edited by: WZZZ

I'd be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and think that perhaps he wasn't considering, or even aware of, the legal implications.

Normally, I too would have made a post something like Templeton's, but the OP noted this:

The service is not free...

And therein lies the issue. People think because they pay to join a torrent site, everything on it must be paid for by those fees, right?

Folks of course do this because the cost of some titles are so high. They wouldn't be half of what they do cost if it weren't for the rampant theft. No matter what the product is - food, clothing, software, etc., it's the honest people who end up paying for theft in the higher prices. It's built into everything. If companies didn't do that, they'd go broke and out of business.

And please, if you find a torrent download of any Apple nonfree product, report it to piracy@apple.com. I'm sure they'll be happy to get rid of it in whatever means their legal team can. It will also help save others the frustration of coming over here and finding what they've done is illegal.

I would have thought it would be a very simple matter for Apple themselves to at least locate these torrents simply by googling/searching for them on the web, much in the way anyone would find them. They're not exactly secret. Shutting them down might be another matter altogether.

They're not exactly secret. Shutting them down might be another matter altogether.

Exactly. Most are not in the U.S. All Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, or any company can do is contact the country of origin (if they can pinpoint it) and ask that the government's law enforcement shut them down. Like any other country though, more pressing matters keeps them from spending much, if any time, finding them.

Way to go buddy! Advertise yourself as a software pirate on Apple's own forums!!!

It might be, but it is faster for the end user to alert them, and would be less work for them. Apple has maybe several thousand employees, but it has millions of end users.