Of course, while Tiger users are probably pleased as punch, it’s unclear how Apple’s going to feel about this. On the one hand, Mossberg has let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, and advised users of a course of action that could deprive the company of a lot of potential revenue. Not to mention that those who do use this upgrade method will be in clear violation of Apple’s licensing agreement.

On the other hand, Walt’s exact words are:

[H]ere’s a tip: Apple concedes that the $29 Snow Leopard upgrade will work properly on these Tiger-equipped Macs, so you can save the extra $140.

That “Apple concedes” bit makes it sound like Cupertino had a hand in this particular revelation, which could mean the company expects to make more off of Tiger users buying the upgrade at a discounted price than it would from straight-up sales of the box set. Which makes sense, since why would you pay $169 for an update when your machine is humming along fine without it? A $30 price point, by contrast, will convince an awful lot of fence-sitters.

It remains unclear whether the $29 Snow Leopard upgrade disc (or $49 family pack) will work for standalone (ie. clean slate) installations, though it seems likely that it will, at least according to Lifehacker’s review of the software. Snow Leopard goes on sale tomorrow, Aug. 28th; the NYT and USA Today have interesting reviews as well.

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Installation

On Windows when you download an application it is generally a .exe file. It is sometimes compressed in to a .zip file.

On OS X, a large majority of applications that you download will be in .dmg format. .dmg stands for “disk image” and it basically functions like a hard drive. DMG files can be mounted and ejected just like a regular hard drive. The purpose of the .dmg file is for compression. It can greatly reduce the size of the file you are downloading.

When you download this DMG file you simply double-click on it to mount/open it. Generally you will just see the application that you’d like to install. You then drag the application to your Applications folder.

After you’ve moved the application file to your Applications folder you then eject the “drive” the DMG created from your desktop to the trash can in the dock. This does not delete the DMG file, it just un-mounts it. Since you have installed the application, you no longer need the DMG file. Drag the DMG file to the trash to delete the DMG file itself.

And that’s it! It’s really less complicated that it may seem and after you’ve done it a couple of times you won’t even think twice about it. To launch the application you installed, just go to your Application folder and double-click on it.

Uninstall

So that snazzy application that you installed a few days ago has lost its luster and you realized you just don’t need it.

Uninstalling an application on OS X is even easier than installing it.

Simply go to your Applications folder, find the application you no longer need and drag it to your trash can in the dock. And that’s it!

Advanced Uninstall

Some purists here will argue that isn’t really “it” when it comes to uninstall an application and to an extent, they are correct. The majority of applications install small preference and configuration files elsewhere on your Mac. The files are so small that they don’t really have an impact on computer performance or your storage space, but should you want to keep your computer as clean as possible there are applications you can use to completely rid your computer of all traces of an application.

Here are a couple worth checking out:

• AppZapper – $12.95
• AppCleaner – Free

Screencast

Checkout the screencast below that covers the basics of installing and uninstalling an application.

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But then there are times where Apple’s wording misses the mark and makes me snort in disbelief (remember the “too thin” iMac banner on Apple’s site?). Such is the case with the most recent email I just received touting Leopard:

Yeah, right. After witnessing my co-worker’s MacBook Pro get totally nuked after an attempted upgrade and reading some of the horror stories on the support forums, I’d have to say that there are plenty of folks out there that would beg to differ. And I’m sure there are many who would be angered by this message (though I guess it should be noted that Apple isn’t really touching on the quality of the install, just how simple and “easy” the process is).

But in all fairness to Apple and Leopard, the majority of installs seem to have gone pretty well. Despite some discouraging stories, I’m looking forward to upgrading my machine. Well, when I have an entire day to dedicate to creating backups, deauthorizing apps and actually installing the OS that is.

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I was one of the many loyal enthusiasts that pre-ordered Leopard and couldn’t wait to install it on all my Macs. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t work out that way.

If you haven’t heard of the installation problems with Leopard yet, there are a few. It seems the very popular third-party application Application Enhancer does not work well (at all) with Mac OS X Leopard.

I did a quick inventory of my software, and sure enough I had APE installed (along with several APE plugins). After attempting to uninstall APE, I was almost ready to try my Leopard upgrade and noticed a blog post about Logitech Control Center mouse software issues.

Of course I have two Logitech mice, and have the Logitech Control Center installed. It appears Logitech Control Center uses APE in the background. Logitech has instructions on removing the old software and installing a new version. Unfortunately, their instructions are flawed as they reference downloading and opening a DMG file and running an uninstaller, and upon downloading the zip archive from their software download page I only found an installer application.

Their online help mentions a manual uninstall, but does not give the instructions. After several unsuccessful attempts to find the instructions via Google, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I have removed most preference panes and locations that APE or Logitech appear in my hard drive (through the shell) but am still not convinced it is completely removed. When I try to run the updated Logitech software installation, it promptly gives me an error and quits.

So, I’m left to do an Archive and Install which will likely leave me having to reinstall several applications and clean off enough hard drive space to have two concurrent System folders (at least until the installation has completed). With only 10 GB free on my 100 GB hard drive, that will be hard.

I hope to have my backup complete tonight and will remove most of the files (like my massive iTunes collection) in order to perform the upgrade.

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