Just what we needed: Mac clones

[ahhaa]

As if the computer market wasn't confused enough, Psystar has just launched a line of Mac clones.
You can check'em out here: http://www.psystar.com/psystar_openmac_osx86_reinventing_the_wheel.html
Photos at: http://www.psystar.com/shop/openmac.html

At $400 & up, d'ya think Jobs needs worry? :P

[jagabo]

At $400 & up, d'ya think Jobs needs worry? :P

The lawyers will certainly be happy.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Last time I looked, Apple's operating systems could only be installed on Apple hardware:

http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/macosx.html

2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.
A. This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time.

[orsetto]

There have always been quasi-legal Mac clones, some of which Apple pretended not to know about because they filled a niche Apple wasn't prepared to deal with (in the late 1980s there was a small firm that made a very inventive Mac laptop by stripping and reassembling parts from the then-current Macintosh Plus, this was long before the PowerBook became a phenomenon). Ditto with some tower variations. I suppose technically these weren't clones because they did use Apple ROMs, but still...

Each Mac OS has always had a secret in-house generic version that would run on a PC box, going back 20 years. Despite its apparent dumb moves over the years Apple is not entirely run by egotistical blowhards: their emergency exit business plan has always included trying to market MacOS for the PC. Now that Apple themselves are using commodity Intel components to make Macs, its only a mater of time before it all comes to a head. Apple can't have it both ways: asking Microsoft to wink and look away as people "illegally" use Boot Camp to install Windows on Macs, but at the same time expect no one to make the obvious and relatively simple adaptation of OSX to run on a standard Intel box.

The problem is Apple is spoiled by nostalgia for the ridiculous gross margins it used to make on hardware. Nowadays they really do not earn nearly as much on the computers, despite carping from the WinTel crowd Macs really are not that much more expensive (once upon a time they were 200 to 300 percent more). But the culture of huge profits still lingers. Thats why they pulled the plug on the wildly successful authorized clone party in the late 90s: the clones were far better than Apples own offerings at the time and began outselling the mother ship. Instead of viewing it as an opportunity to shift out of hardware, they freaked and killed the clone market. Arguably they had to in order to survive then, they had waited too long to authorize the clones. Had they done so when Bill Gates encouraged them to ten years earlier, they would have succeeded. (Much as Mac users love to hate MS, on several occasions at critical points in Apple's history Bill Gates offered his personal services free of charge to guide Apple into his business model, and was rebuffed. They should have listened at least once.)

I use both platforms, having worked with one and the other alternately at different jobs over the years I have a need for both. Of course it helps $-wise to stay one generation behind and buy used hardware . Vista and Leopard won't be in my house for awhile yet.

[Video Head]

Been done before. Apple usually just buys them or sues them and shuts it down. Mr. Jobs is apparently good at making offers you can't refuse...

[Ai Haibara]

I've read on other forums that what this actually is is the company selling hardware specifically designed to work with the OSx86 hack. If that's true, it'd also probably mean that the end-user changing the hardware would likely not be a good idea, as might applying a number of the updates that come through Software Update.
(...and that's not even getting into the debate over whether or not the OSx86 hack (or releases of OS X that have been hacked that way) is legal...)

[free is better]

at 1830 hrs on tom's hardware an article was posted about this company. it's reported address was inhabited by a
T-shirt maker. attempts to call the telephone number listed by the company was unsuccessful because the phone has been disconnected (according to telco). apparently the company is a fake.

[redwudz]

From what I saw on the site, the company has just packaged a computer that is compatible with the EFI BIOS that Macs apparently use.

The premise of running OS X on an Open Computer hinges around the emulation of the EFI BIOS that Apple computers use.

http://www.psystar.com/how_do_the_openmacs_work.html

Similar to this: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=73952

[AlanHK]

asking Microsoft to wink and look away as people "illegally" use Boot Camp to install Windows on Macs

How is that illegal? MS doesn't limit what hardware you use, unless you bought an OEM bundle.

I had a look at Psystar's site but didn't fnd any mention of how they're compatible with Apple's EULA which seem to forbid using OSX on non-Apple hardware.

Some people have been trying to find out more about the company.
A few links:
http://gizmodo.com/380488/psystar-exposed-looks-like-a-hoax
http://gizmodo.com/380074/mac-clone-maker-psystar-examined-who-are-they-and-why-are-they-so-shady
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/04/15/so_exactly_who_or_what_is_psystar_we..._a_little.html

[Epicurus8a]

Did someone say Franlikn Ace 1000?

http://www.vintage-computer.com/franklin.shtml