Psystar's offer to build off-license
OSx86 OpenMac clones was apparently pretty popular -- we saw a note from the company saying it was trying hard to cope with the rush of traffic, but it looks like things got overwhelming, and the site is now unavailable. People are speculating that Apple already shut things down, but that's pretty unlikely: nothing on the Psystar site infringed any of Apple's IP (as far as we can recall) and the company hadn't actually sold anything yet, which means there isn't much of anything for Apple to go to court over. On top of that, we doubt that Psystar wasn't expecting to attract Apple's attention, so we don't think a cease and desist letter would scare the company into shutting things completely down. Of course, we're still willing to bet that Apple's legal team is licking their chops in anticipation of something actionable happening, but we'd say the most interesting thing about this so far is the incredible amount of attention a low-cost expandable minitower running OS X has gotten -- maybe someone at Apple apart from the lawyers should be taking notes as well.
Update: They're back! They've changed the name to "Open Computer," which should totally throw off Apple's lawyers. Or... probably won't.
posted April 14th 2008 2:14PM
same case but branded by asus:
ASUS TM-21
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=ASUS+TM-21&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
Yep, I think I'm going hold off on that new production Mac I've been eying. Interesting times ahead.
http://www.filterra.com/index.php/design/review/
Actually, there is an actionable item already in place that Apple can sue them over--the system name "OpenMac". Apple trademarked the term "Mac" for all uses in computing years ago. By advertising their system using this name they've opened themselves to a cease and desist order. They would be wise to change the name immediately...
It's actionable in that Apple could issue a C&D and eventually file a lawsuit if they sell something under the mark, but I don't think it rises to the level of immediate injunction.
Really? I'm pretty sure there is prior use on the term "mac" before apple. (read: Media Access Control, mac address. etc)
And they have...
(from the site) It's the "Open Computer" now. Catchy, innit?
This is probably just the start.
Much like IBM has IBM Clones (though not really referred as such anymore) Apple will have Mac clones. Especially now that they contain standard PC hardware.
I wonder how many years it'll be before Apple licenses OSX to Dell ;).
Apple already had clones, over ten years ago. Hated it. Killed it. Moved on.
> Hated it. Killed it. Moved on.
Who hated it? Apple perhaps, most others were quite happy with the systems if I remember correctly. The boxes Umax (I think) made were in some respects nicer than Apple's, but I guess it sucks to be upstaged by your licensees.
I had a Umax clone, and it was nice until the Tanzania motherboard conflicted with video card upgrades and caused system lockups. At that point, I wished I'd bought a real Mac.
I miss the days of mid-range Macs terribly. Loved my 7XXX range of Macs that you could mod up that whazoo! Used to be able to overclock the CPU, mobo, swap out graphics cards and all kinds of useful stuff. Now I'm stuck with a late-model '07 Mac Pro that I can't even reasonably upgrade the graphics card unless I wanted to pay $400 for a 2 year old ATI X1900 XT. I went ahead and flashed a 1900XTX last week that I picked up $80--what a PITA that was. I just really have no need for so much computer and would have liked something in between an iMac and a Mac Pro
Just build you own computer. Put a hacked version of OSX on it(same thing this was doing) or better yet run Windows XP or Linux.
Maybe their servers are hosted on OpenMacs?
Boomya!
I think you mean "booyah"
Why would anyone even buy this thing???? at the end is going to cost almost the same as the mini when you buy leopard, plus the mini comes with WiFi & blue tooth & 1 year warranty
Why? Because you can't put an 8800GTX into an iMac or Mac Mini even though OS X supports it (as of 10.5.2).
As a hardware company, Apple doesn't want you to upgrade your machine (especially not with third party products that are even based on the same chipsets), there's more profit for them if they force you to replace it entirely.
That said, I don't like seeing a company capitalizing on the efforts of the OSx86 community, that's as reprehensible as selling pirated software, you shouldn't be making money off the backs of people doing it for free.
If you add the features and software (OSX, iLife, Firewire, remote, bluetooth, etc) that the Mini comes with the price jumps to $699, it is true. It's still $100 cheaper than the most equivalent Mini and has a slightly faster processor, twice as much memory, a 50% larger and MUCH faster hard drive, and a critical ability to be upgraded, particularly for adding dedicated video cards.
Currently if you want expandability and don't like integrated monitors your only choice is to go with the Mac Pro ($2,800+). This configuration will be of interest to a great many people.
@kyoseki
and why would you want to use the 8800gtx under osx? not that there is a version of crysis that runs on it..
And before you say maya or 3ds, if you NEED that processing power for professional use you can already afford the mac pro.. having a modded mac for boot camp is redundancy at its worst
@Kukawaki
I actually DO use 3ds max professionally (and it only runs under Windows, so that's a moot point), I also work with SideFX Houdini which is finally coming to OS X (hence my interest in switching primary OS) and whilst I can afford a Mac Pro, I prefer to use generic PC hardware for a number of reasons (which are apparently too long to list in the comment system);
When I ask a supplier for something, they should never say "why?" unless they're actually trying to save me money.
OS X would be an awesome operating system to do 3d work on, a unix based OS that also runs Photoshop well? Hell yeah, sign me up! It just irks me that we only get to choose hardware from what Apple thinks we should use, not what WE want to use.
IBM clones and the way Microsoft sells their operating system is not the same as Apple selling their products. Microsoft is a software company, while Apple is a hardware company. And Apple will NOT license their OS to DELL. What is that people don't understand?
How the idiots at a Apple could be so dumb as to think they won't get mowed over by ubuntu.
www.dell.com/ubuntu
I'm sorry, but people have thought for years that Linux would catch on, but it doesn't matter what shell it comes wrapped in, most people will never be comfortable with something as open as any Linux distro. Ubuntu will have it's time, and then it will slide out into obscurity.
@ Chris Dunning
You're right about linux not catching on. Anyone who says otherwise needs to work tech support. I do mild support for conferences/ club meetings at my college, and the level of computer literacy isn't increasing. Yeah, most people can start it up, use a word processor, surf the internet, but have no idea how to even begin to fix any of their problems.
...Apple lawyers seen shopping for BMWs
Genius.
Looks like the sony desktop from 2003, if anyone remember them.
Who would want OSX anyways?
People looking to run photoshop on PowerPC processors.
Aww...and I was actually considering buying one for my mac-loving wife. Good thing I never showed her it.
The site just started responding, lets see how long it stays up.
why would they want to run leopard when they could just run vista!
*internetcasm*
@snitch, missed the point of the whole thing did yah? how's about you go upgrading that mac mini now? oh... riiiiiiiiight!
An open letter to ethana2.
Ok, this might come as a shock to you, but Ubuntu Linux is hardly 'unknown' here. I point this out because you seem to be under the odd impression that you've just discovered something wonderful and are smugly excited about it.
So, let's deal with some of your comments:
Macs are primarily sold by virtue of MacOS X. Most of the people using Macs actually love their OS. MacOSX is based on BSD Unix and NeXTStep, both of which are more mature, more robust systems than Ubuntu Linux.
Anyone who's used a Mac will tell you that the user experience and range AND QUALITY of software written for the Mac simply blows away what the typical end user can use on any Linux. As for the more hackery stuff, well, Unix underpinnings - you can always go into shell and run X11 and most Linux apps on Macs with a bit of twiddling.
"One of the nice things about linux is that it runs on... everything. ^_^ Mac is fail."
Yeah... but what you're running is something that most people don't seem want: Mac marketshare 5%/Linux (and that's ALL Linuxen) 1.2% or less. The experiments at Dell, Eee and Walmart have all shown that most users actually prefer WinXP to Linux. Argue all you want - them's the facts.
"And the humans continue to ignore the possibility of using p2p for hosting web pages."
And your species is? Besides, I know there's nothing I enjoy more than having a website I rely on vanish because the person seeding it has rebooted their computer. P2P only works if everyone is cooperating. Server based system tend to be more reliable.
"People don't like it, they can revolt. Make your own alternative. ...Heh, linux has more games than Mac ^_^"
Then if they *don't* revolt - does that mean they don't dislike it? If so 92% of the world likes Windows and 1.2% doesn't. So much for your argument. It's far, far more complicated than than. But then I guess 'non-humans' don't grok complexity. As for more games: yeah, I see lots of EA games for Linux. Grab some reality.
"How the idiots at a Apple could be so dumb as to think they won't get mowed over by ubuntu. www.dell.com/ubuntu"
See earlier comments about market share. Apple's marketshare has been *growing* not shrinking. I don't think Ubuntu keeps Jobs up late at night. Macs are about more than just the OS, and they have a better OS.
"[Who would want MacOS X] People looking to run photoshop on PowerPC processors."
Geeze you're clueless. Apple dropped the PPC architecture years ago. With Leopard, most PPC systems aren't even supported.
@everyone else
The MacOS X EULA clearly states that their OS can only be used on Apple branded hardware. This is enforced by way of PKI testing through a TPM chip on the motherboard of all Intel Macs. The TPM chip uses an Apple private PKI key stored in write-only storage.
That means, not only can you NOT sell (or technically use) MacOS X on a non-Apple computer - doing so by bypassing the PKI security violates DMCA. That makes it a federal crime.
That's serious DRM and if you're honestly anti-DRM, you might want to rethink liking Apple.
Cheers.
Dude this might sound off topic but, Who the heck is anti DRM????? people love DRM & itunes is proof of that, one example, Don't you hate when you buy a $12 cd & your freeloader friends wanna barrow it & copy it at your expence??? I do, i mean i wish i could get things free you know. If i could DRM everything i pay for i would
I believe you got trolled.
Thank you! There were just too many stupid ethana2 comments to reply to them all.
I will say though, the one piece of DRM in Apple's OS is very minimal. Prior to this, there was NO DRM at all in the Mac OS... but they had to do something to protect their hardware business while moving on to the latest CPU improvements.
This is still a lot less intrusive and annoying than the Windows activation. For example, a friend of mine recently had his copy of Vista suddenly decide it didn't want to be activated anymore. He contacted MS, who gave him a new CD key, to no avail. He ended up buying a new HD so he could install another copy of Windows without formatting.
I hate DRM, too many times I've been screwed mid project because legit software decided to just break (I've had Windows de-auth itself because I plugged my keyboard into a different USB port).
At the same time, the copy protection is usually cracked within a day of a product hitting market and the guys running the crack have no such problems (in the early days of 3dsmax, people used to run the crack instead of the legit software even if they owned it because CDilla was such a colossal pain in the ass).
Software should contain just enough DRM to keep honest people honest, a simple serial number or license server approach works best, anything more complex than that and you usually just end up screwing your userbase who are the people you can least afford to annoy.
It took me a while but Apple are not a computer company. They are not a hardware company, or software. They are strictly a MARKETING company.They market their product sucking people in with statements that are inherently false, but you still belive the hype.
Sure, you know if you tell that to yourself you might even start to believe yourself. It's no secret macs cost more money than others but at least they don't have to get a new machine everytime a new OS is release. Apple is not perfect, some people think they are but they are not
Honestly, how is apple preventing it's OS being installed on any computer alright when apple constantly slanders microsoft for every little fault they have.
It's just like those damn apple commercial about vista. Always trashing them for not supporting devices right out of the box or crashing sometimes. Well then why is it I had to go to epson's website to find a driver for my printer so it would actually work with my mac. I thought it's all plug and play, thats what the commercials say. Or that my firefox constantly crashes in OSX, or it takes quicktime 5 minutes to open even though it's an apple designed product that should be seamlessly integrated into OSX.
I really do like Apple software, it's very intuitive. But apple is the most hypocritical company I have ever seen. It honestly disgusts me to the point where I will not be purchasing a new mac to replace this one when it's done. Nor will I buy another iPod.
I call shenanigans!
I don't think any new mac takes 5 minutes to open quicktime and i dont really see your need to open quicktime. Why not just use VLC?
after the occasional printer/scanner driver is installed - it just works. As opposed to installing a printer/scanner driver and then having it not work.
If you liked it, you wouldnt leave. If you had it, you would like it. There for because you are leaving and because you dont like it, you are a liar!
First, why should I be forced to use VLC instead of the supplied and guaranteed program.
Second I never said I had a new mac, I have a first generation macbook that runs extremely hot and requires the fans to be on at max if the computer is powered on.
Third, if I have to install the drivers myself, why does apple tell me I can just plug and play.
And fourth, your logic is incredibly flawed. I said I like the software, that definitely doesn't include the hardware, one of my reasons for switching. Also you assume I have the ability to switch operating systems immediately. Maybe, like most people, I can't buy a new computer whenever I want. I can't just replace my laptop because I feel like it. Also, you assume I don't have something else I use as well. I've got a laptop that is OSX, and a desktop that is Vista. I don't know if you're kidding about the "if you had it, you would like it part." If you aren't, well then I'm sorry that you are so ignorant. The last line of your statement just proves what a douche bag fanboy you are.
As a consumer, I base my purchasing decisions on the quality of a company and their reputation as well as the product itself. Therefore I choose to use the power that capitalism has given me as consumer to decide what I like and what I don't. I would appreciate it if you don't call me a liar because you don't agree with me.
I can't see this surviving. Look most computer users know about the Apple tax, compared to the Windows OEM market it seems unfair, but when you factor in the cost of R&D both in the industrial design/hardware of their computers, OS X and other applications that Apple make and support, the shops, as well as the recalls (which has been quite a lot lately) it all adds up.
Apple has been locking down their OS to their hardware for years, with a higher cost, it's no point complaining now.
Golly. No one is forcing to use a Mac. You have Windows. People whine and whine that they are sooo expensive. Ipods are expensive, iPhone are expensive. Sorry, but I think Sony is expensive. If you aren't willing to spend the money what Apple is charging for their products, fine, otherwise don't buy it. There are thousands of things I want to buy, but are too expensive and I don't have time crying. lol Apparently, Apple is still in business and doing well for their over charging stuff. Just go to newegg and built you won PC. That's it.
Despite the brutally flawed sentence structure, I concur.
No one is forcing anyone to go out and purchase a Mac. Apple is forcing people to purchase Macs if said people want to use OS X - but they are, in no way at all, saying that you have to buy a Mac.
Are they expensive machines? Yes.
Do people enjoy using them? Obviously.
Just because YOU do not like using Macs, or do not want to/cannot shell out the money for them does not mean that you have to go on some great crusade to stop everyone else from purchasing them.
I have a laptop that boots ubuntu linux... I'm a computer engineer, and I still can't figure out why I have a linux laptop. I've used it once, and then I discovered that my school's CoE labs all have Power Mac G5s. One of these days all of the linux people in the world are going to have to realize that their OS, despite what they may believe about it, is not the be-all-end-all of computing. They may find it useful, a large majority of everyone else doesn't.
So they can go ahead and continue to criticize everyone that doesn't use linux - meanwhile their market share will remain somewhere in the area of 1.5% while other people go out and buy Macs or Vista or whatever the fuck THEY (as in, the consumer) sees as useful.
I've often said, the biggest problem with linux is that it is free. All the willpower and ideals in the world cannot compete with cold hard corporate income.
Unless someone steps up with some huge advertising cash, LINUX will have a very hard time getting into the consumer market.
Grow up!
I would love to get me one of these if there was proof that this actually ran OS X!
Does this not so little number have some of those recent inventions like ethernet , wireless networking, bluetooth, and the like built in, or are they "optional extras"? Strangely their website doesn't say!
Not sure I'd be all that happy forking out $400 and then finding that I couldn't actually even use it to read my email without buying a few unmentioned "optional essentials"!