Apple Kills More Boxed Software In Favor of App Store

Actually, as of today, it appears that isn't true. Looks like you won't need SL, as long as you have access to internet.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/

That will only work on new Macs going forward. Only the new Mini and MBA support it right now.
Edit: Beaten to it.

Are they doing a firmware / EFI upgrade to accomplish that in pre-Lion Macs? Otherwise, without the recovery partition (e.g., a fresh hard drive) this doesn't seem possible.

No, on the recovery page it says only newly-released Macs (i.e., starting today) have Internet Recovery built into the firmware. Pre-Lion Macs will have it as a second partition on the HD after installing Lion, but if that HD fails or you install a clean HD, you won't have access to the recovery utility on those pre-Lion Macs.

Will they be still available at university bookstores? The App Store doesn't offer any EDU pricing. iWork costs $39 at my bookstore.

So the only way to buy boxed software is online?

I'm mainly thinking of Snow Leopard which is required to even access the App Store.

Retail is pretty much boned except for vanity sized women's clothing and Walmart.

It's not difficult to buy software from the app store, in fact it's easier than going to a shop or waiting for a delivery.

Its not difficult to buy form the app store, but remember that many people dont have super fast broadband

I could have driven to the Apple store this afternoon, got home and installed Lion by now if it was on disc, instead of a 12 hour download

Apple likes to make it difficult.

It's not difficult to buy software from the app store, in fact it's easier than going to a shop or waiting for a delivery.

That is unless you were downloading one of the Lion previews, which just refused to work for me and many others (not the majority, as far as I know, so no need to chip in with "worked for me"), I had to download them using BitTorrent instead (Apple support were no help).

I wonder if that would make it harder to advertise to people. "yes we have iwork for macs for your office needs" but they will have to show it on a mac. There will be no shelf space for customers to find it and learn what it is, they would have to come across it by browsing or asking.

The future of Apple is not showing you boxes instore. The future is showing you a display Mac and showing you the App in action. Seeing the App run and testing it out for yourself is way better then just reading about the App on a box.

So yes they have to show it to you on a display Mac or you need to see it on a display Mac. But that's the whole idea. Using and seeing in action is much better then reading off a box. And if Apple are smart they'll have a list of the installed software on the display Macs next to the Mac. So you know what exists.

Actually, as of today, it appears that isn't true. Looks like you won't need SL, as long as you have access to internet.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/

Are they doing a firmware / EFI upgrade to accomplish that in pre-Lion Macs? Otherwise, without the recovery partition (e.g., a fresh hard drive) this doesn't seem possible.

So the only way to buy boxed software is online?

I'm mainly thinking of Snow Leopard which is required to even access the App Store.

Actually, as of today, it appears that isn't true. Looks like you won't need SL, as long as you have access to internet.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/