No, you’re not reading an old article. Apple has just removed OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion from its online store. Both installers remained available in Apple’s online store for years, even after the company ended support for both versions of the Mac operating system.
OS X Lion and Mountain Lion installers
Following the introduction of the Mac App Store in 2011, Apple opted to distribute new versions of OS X (as macOS was called at the time) exclusively online. The first version to be released on the Mac App Store was OS X Lion, which brought important new features such as multi-touch gestures for trackpads, Launchpad, Mission Control, and full-screen apps.
However, because the Mac App Store was only available on Macs running OS X Snow Leopard, those who hadn’t yet upgraded from Leopard were unable to download the digital version without first buying Snow Leopard or the thumb drive with the OS X Lion installer, which cost $69 versus $29 for the digital version.
Because of this, Apple has started selling the digital version of OS X Lion in its online store at the same price as the Mac App Store version. When OS X Mountain Lion was released, it was also made available through the Mac App Store and Apple Online Store.
Now, as noted by Mr. Macintosh, both OS X Lion and Mountain Lion are no longer available for purchase in Apple’s online store – but users who still need this software for some reason shouldn’t worry. In 2021, Apple made the OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion installers available for free on its website.
In fact, it was quite intriguing that even with a free download already available, the company continued to sell digital copies of these versions of OS X. It’s worth noting that neither OS X Lion nor OS X Mountain Lion have been released on DVD. 10 years ago, with OS X Mavericks, the Mac App Store became the only way to download new versions of the Mac operating system.
Did you know that Apple still sold old versions of OS X? What’s more, do you remember when Mac operating system updates were paid? Let us know in the comments section below.
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