Agreed!  Every time I go through that screen, I like being an Apple customer a little less.

Or, you know, just don’t set up an internet connection during install (which I never do anyway, on Mac or PC), and then just never send the info afterword. Works like a champ for me.

Apple Q quits it, pretty simple.  Every time I do it I like being an Apple customer a little more (knowing that MS requires re-activation each time I add ram)

“Equally unacceptable are suggestions to press Command-Q (Quit) or Command-. (Cancel) - the former because it doesn’t work during a clean install, and the latter because, again, it’s non-obvious (even if it does work, which I doubt.)”

Thank goodness you actually tried these things instead of ranting before checking them out.

I’ve never had to register, I just hit apple-Q when that screen comes up.  Maybe you should rant more about the Skip button showing up here instead of “doubting” what works and what doesn’t.

And it’s nice to know you force me to enter an email address to post a comment.  Making a few bucks spamming us, are we?

As a long-time Mac user, I have to agree here.  It’s ridiculous the way they set it up.  Yes, it’s true that you can trick your way out of it, but the point is you shouldn’t have to.  There is no reason for Apple to make registration such a pain and a blemish on an otherwise fine installation process.

At the end of the registration process, Apple always gives you the option of registering later.  Every version of the OS has had this since the mandatory setup implementation.  Every one.

In addition to this, Apple is much more liberal in granting its users anonymity and freedom in general.  Have you ever had to put a serial number or some other form of activation scheme for your corresponding Mac OS to be installed?  Nope.

Even without ever receiving the registration information, have you ever heard of anyone complaining that Apple has blocked, hampered, or otherwise modified the system updates (for the OS and all its apps)?  Again, neither have I.

I guess I’m having a hard time seeing why think Apple is forcing you to do anything…

“And it’s nice to know you force me to enter an email address to post a comment.  Making a few bucks spamming us, are we?”
Making no bucks! Our net revenue from this site= ZERO, ZIP. NADA. ZILCH. $0. We are not making anything off of advertising either, as our current advertisers--all two of them--are friends of the staff and are currently not paying us anything.

I hate it when people make false assumptions. Don’t do it.

More likely, the guys who maintain the site just made an oversight and didn’t make entering an email address optional or it’s a limitation of Expression Engine. I’d change it myself, but I am unfamiliar with how the site is built.

Not that it matters with a Mac, but if you re-install windows too many times, which is almost a given, you’ll have to call microsoft up, and recit to them a 25 digit registration code.  Their response is to then read you a 40 digit activation code.  If any step in this proces goes awry, you ahve to do it all over again.  Also, if you call MS for an activation code, and they suspect that your are doing something shady, i.e. they’ve seen your reg cdoe before because you bought the computer with the operating system disc from a private party, they will BAN you from registering microsoft products ever again.  This is what my software distro guy tells me.  Not exactly the horses mouth, but that’s why us corps use corporate edition, cause if we screw up and use a reg code twice we get borked.  Crazy stuff goin on in redmond.  I’ve got four boxed copies of tiger that have never had the shrink wrap removed, the fifth i’ve used to install on to my five machines.

Apple also doesn’t require a serial number or require re-authorization when you upgrade your hardware. The registration is optional, the OS works just fine if you never send it.

It was a little annoying having to take time to enter the minimum made-up info to get past that screen then click Cancel when the registeration started (you don’t have to disconnect the network) but learning about command-Q to skip the registration step cured that.

The sad state of the Finder, now that’s something to complain about.

And it’s nice to know you force me to enter an email address to post a comment.  Making a few bucks spamming us, are we?

Actually your email is used in part to help stop us getting comment spammed. Your email is not sold and is rarely even looked at by us. It is also displayed on our site in such a way that spam bots can’t retrieve it from the code. However I think I need to figure out how to put a “Do not display my email” check box in there.

And just so you know, we hate spam as much as the next guy so we’re not going to start spamming you. We get absolutely no revenue as Nick said, not even from advertising. If it wasn’t for the fact that we’re getting free hosting off a friend we would be operating at a loss.

I guess this is the price we pay for total blog freedom, where anyone can say almost anything regardless of its accuracy and it may be published. This is worthy of the Fox News blog. Maybe you should try to sell your story to them. It’ll fit right in next to, and be equally accurate as, their daily dozen “George Bush is our hero” stories.

Brainwashed Maczealots happily bend over for Jobs so it doesn’t matter at all.

http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/min iguide.ars

Registration
When you turn on your Mac for the first time, you’ll be greeted with some music and the wold “Welcome� flashed on your screen in what seems like all the languages of the world. Eventually, you will be taken to the registration screen.

Unlike Windows, you will not be required to activate your copy of Mac OS X. What Apple does want from you however, is your personal information — name, address, phone number, e-mail. Some people find that intrusive. If you are one of those folk, simply hit Command-Q (see the next section if you don’t know what the Command key is) when it prompts for your name and you will be given the option to skip ahead to the account creation section of the setup program.

The personal info is to enter it in the Address book as ‘Me’. You can indicate that you will register later and it will not ask you again. No need to get worked up over this.

Huh?  I’ve never once been forced by a Mac OS installer to register a system. 

“...big, angry red arrows...” Drama queen.

P.S. To post on your blog demands more information than Apple ever does.

“Hitting Command-Q to quit is unacceptable because it is not obvious and would only be known to a Mac Power-user.”

Are you kidding?! Command-Q is the keyboard shortcut for every single application (with a user interface) to quit. It’s never not been Command-Q. Command-Q has been around with the same meaning since 1984. It’ll always work. Are you telling me that if you found a device with a power button the back you’d never find it since that’s only where “power users” look?! And this site is for “geeks.”

I agree about there being no obvious way to protect your privacy. 

I just got my PowerBook back from repairs, and they did a wonderful job with it---brand new keyboard that feels so amazing, even a new battery---but they sent my Tiger hard drive clean and installed 10.2

Now the registration screen pops up and I tried the works, command-q, command-., and then settled on entering Steve Job’s name and info instead of my own, without the Internet connected.  This was not common sense. 

The procedure for anonymity should be to simple.

I sort of chuckle how you immediately rise to your own defense when it’s pointed out that you require “personal” info in order to post here, yet you get all upset when Apple asks you for the same.

“Well, we need your e-mail to keep down spamming!  See, it’s good for you!” There are plenty of other methods for doing this that don’t require you to enter an e-mail address, such as the “enter a magic phrase” method. 

“Well, I haven’t had a chance to deal with the issue...” I see--so writing diatribes about Apple’s invasion of our privacy is more important to you than the privacy of the people visiting your website?

Heck, if I remember the page correctly--and I may be wrong on this--Apple has a little “We respect your privacy.  See our ‘Privacy Statement’ for more info.” on that page.  You can see exactly what Apple will and will not do with the information.  I guess I’m just missing your “privacy statement.” I’m sure it’s around here somewhere…

Oh, and before you go off on the “Well, if you don’t like it, don’t post on our website” riff, I suppose I could say the same thing back.  Don’t like it, don’t use Mac OS X.  There are plenty of linux installations that you can use that won’t ask you any questions at all.

In short, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Mac users have been familiar with the Command-Q for not registering when you do a new setup.  It’s just you ex-windoze guys that haven’t figured it out. Price you pay for being late to the party. What an embarassing title for a story/blog, whatever the hell this thing is. I think I’d take it down. All the experienced Mac users are laughing at you.

It’s not complicated.  I don’t like being forced to disclose my information.  The positives of OS X outweigh the negatives right now, and I was able to use fake info, but that doesn’t mean I think it is designed to respect privacy.  It is not.

Do we want Apple to survive, or even grow its market share? Then maybe we should let them try to make sure they stay in contact with their customers. It’s just good marketing to do so. The optional registration process is easy to bypass and as is mentioned above, they don’t make you activate your OS like Windows does.

I didn’t know about some of the methods mentioned, but I have my own method, which I use after I’ve done a reinstall and don’t want to re-register. I make sure the Mac is not connected to any network, even Airport. Then, when the setup program completes, I hunt down the new registration file that was generated and is queued to be sent to Apple, and I delete it. Then I connect to the Internet and there is no info to send to Apple.