Psystar founders claim they cracked OS X, hackintosh scene is 'all wrong'
By Nilay Patel 
posted Nov 11th 2009 5:03PM
posted Nov 11th 2009 5:03PM
Really? Because we think there's a very large, very active hacking community out there that would disagree with you, Rudy.Rudy scoffs at the idea he borrowed from the Hackintosh scene. "The first thing you have to do is unlearn everything you've read online about how to make this work," Rudy says, "because it's all wrong."
P.S.- A full list of every other mistake in this piece after the break.
[Thanks, Chris]
- "Robert cracked the code behind Apple Computer's elegant operating system, OS X." Yeah.
- "Psystar legally buys the software..." That's not in question, really. The issue is what happens after Psystar buys OS X, when it modifies and redistributes it. You know, the specific thing Apple's suing about.
- "[Apple] filed a 35-page lawsuit in California claiming Psystar was selling "unauthorized" versions of OS X." Why is unauthorized in quotes? That's exactly what Apple claims.
- "As with Microsoft, which lost a multimillion-dollar antitrust decision in Europe in 2004, Apple is protecting an illegal monopoly, Psystar claims." Psystar has already lost this part of its case in California, and in the new Florida case Psystar only claims Apple has a monopoly on "premium personal computers," which pretty much invalidates the pricing argument and has driven the company to sell more expensive machines.
- "Robert says he found his own way around Apple's built-in security devices. The breakthrough meant that, among other things, the cheap machines were virtually immune to viruses and hackers." This is simply not true. OS X is vulnerable to hackers in its shipping form, and hacking EFI doesn't change that.
- "Psystar pays full price - $29 - for each copy of OS that it installs on its computers." $29 is the Snow Leopard upgrade price. The full price is $169 with iLife and iWork.
- "What's more, Apple holds that consumers who purchase an operating system don't actually own the software...It's a dubious-sounding arrangement that courts, at least so far, have upheld." It's not dubious to the courts, who've been upholding EULAs for over a decade across the country. (And striking some down, to be fair.)
- "Pretty much anyone with basic computer knowledge can make a cloned Mac for just the cost of a full tank of gas in an SUV." Actually, anyone can do this for free, without having to pay Psystar.
Now, don't get us wrong -- the personal story of Robert and Rudy Pedraza laid out in the article is moving stuff, but when the chips are down, we're picking the hacker and enthusiast community over a couple guys trying to make a buck selling unlicensed software, and that Hackintosh quote struck us as impossibly arrogant and extremely foolish. The OSx86 community is already wary of Psystar, and we're guessing no one's going to rush forward the next time these jokers need some help.
hmmmm, right.
Bye bye Psystar, you may have just nailed your coffin shut!
Well, when this is all over, I think the Dictionary definition of Psystar will read something like this:
Psystar |ˌsīstär| - (pronounced 'pwnd')
adjective:
company who's employees suffered hallucinations and apparent expansion of consciousness beyond normal reality. (*see nut-jobs)
• relating to or denoting a style of misinformation, characterized by arrogance and possible drug-related dementia. (*see omgimsohigh)
• denoting or having an intense, vivid colors or a swirling abstract star pattern : (*see psychedelic hippy T-shirt)
noun:
a stupid company.
• the first against the wall when the revolution came.
• Hans Reiser's cell mates (*see prison bitches)
What's the deal with hating on Psystar?
If someone really wants OS X without giving Steve Jobs an arm and a leg why not consider a Psystar?
Because they are profiting for stealing code, not just from Apple but from all the programmers allowing this to exist. And they even manage to say they made it themselves and managing to piss off Apple. I'm glad Apple has them by the neck. Psystar I got two words for you guys:
FUCK YOU!!!
@John Titor -- Because what they're doing is illegal? Maybe that plays into one's decision?
it may be illegal but so is jailbreaking so who cares if its illegal
it's not exactly stealing when they are buying the retail product, and you guys don't seem to rate down comments about regular Hacintoshers
they sure will leave a legacy behind if they open-sourced their bloody boot loader ... i feel apple needs to buy this company and get rid of it ... i want apple to make money so that they keep providing s/w of this quality
@(Unverified)
Seriously, Jailbreaking isn't illegal, that's one of the stupidist things I've ever heard. The reason it's illegal for what these guys are doing is because OS X's EULA states that you cannot put the software on a device not manufactured by Apple. That's why there's no Boot Camp for the PC with Mac in it, but Windows doesn't have that term so Windows can go on a Mac. Of course Jailbreaking can lead to illegal things, like downloading cracked apps, but Jailbreaking itself is perfectly legal.
meh
Your Avatar disagrees
Fine, then it's an enthusiastic meh
"selling unlicensed software"
Pretty much a truism when you consider that Apple doesn't offer a license.
Not using Product Keys is not the same as not offering a license. There is a license that comes with the software.
just because they don't offer it doesn't mean you can step up and do what you want without asking.
what is amusing is that they lack the paper trail to prove that they actually bought anything. for all we know they pulled a five finger on those disks. and even if they did pay, they are still breaking several laws. regardless of the state of the EULA decision
frankly it seems pretty clear that they copied from the hackintosh community and violated the open source license. I hope they get sued over it.
as for the Florida case, I won't be shocked if the notion of a Premium Computer Market is tossed or at least deemed moot since they are selling out of that market. and if the judge rules that for all intentions and purposes Snow Leopard is the same as Leopard and follows the guidance of their sister court in California.
@Chris: Just because the software is legally obtained, and that it contains a license, does not mean that Psystar is using it within the terms of the license agreement.
The license only allows for installation on Apple-branded hardware. And, the license only allows for upgrading your current Mac OS X software... there is no boxed version of OS X that allows for a non-upgrade install. And Macs are the only computers that contain a licensed OS X installation, therefore they are the only computers eligible for an upgrade.
I believe that's what Sisyphus meant by that comment. Argue all you want whether that's right or wrong or fair or unfair (I'm not arguing either way), but that's what the license says.
Sounds like someone needs to tell Psystar there is more than one way to peel an apple.
Thank you for that :D
I audibly laughed at that hackintosh statement when I read it also, good to see I wasn't the only one.
I wouldn't touch Psystar now with a ten meter cattle prod.
"they cracked OS X,"
Thats a big twinkie!
I don't know why this is any surprise, these guys had 'asshole' tattooed on their foreheads from day one. Why are people just now figuring this out? Has anyone bothered to take apart their new software tool and find all the Hackintosh FREE software being used inside? Who wants to bet what percentage it is?
Who wants to lead the torches and pitchforks to their door?
I'm from Ft. Lauderdale, and I have never heard of Miami New Times until this article. That should tell you something.
same here. sun sentential, Miami herald, those are two of the bigger papers down here, there are others, i'm just not naming them.
It's a free street press that you can pick up in boxes at the side of the road. Not exactly pro journalism. It's likely the author is making articles for free for New Times as an inroad to becoming a journalist.
@Chris Living in Ft. Lauderdale does not qualify you as knowing anything in or about Dade County or Miami. Broward people can be so clueless about Dade just like Chapel Hill and Raleigh folks are about Durham.
Miami New Times in my opinion is bird cage liner for the most part but that paper has been around for sometime.
New Times is only good for upcoming event ads and the majority of it consists of phone sex/hooker ads in the back. I feel sorry for the author as this probably wasn't intended to make it to Engadget.
lol psystar blows. if you want a mac either buy one, or build one yourself.
The WWW was invented by Tim Berners-Lee who is most definitely not American.
That wasn't supposed to go there.
Making money off someone else's work and taking all the credit for the work.
That's the American way!
No, I think that's the Chinese's way. Americans are actually innovators of the world.
Lawl.
When america invents something other than the sandwich board let me know.
hey, leave Apple alone!
@sam: When america invents something other than the sandwich board let me know
You mean other the the personal computer that you are typing that message on and the world wide web that you are sharing this message with? Or perhaps the AC power distribution system that provides power to your computer?
@Sam
umm... lets see, for starters something called the light bulb, the modern televison, and to cut the list short the internet.
@tmarks11, not to undo your wonderful argument, but Sir Tim Berners-Lee - the creator of the world wide web - is British. Americans have invented an awful lot, but not the WWW. ;)
I believe America invented: The Lightbulb, The Telephone, The Telegraph, The Artificial Heart, The Sewing Machine, The Computer, The Flashlight, The Microwave Oven, The Escalator, Credit Cards, Cotton Candy, Blue Jeans, Bubblegum, Crayons, Blaclights, The Zipper, Nuclear Weapons, Napalm, The Videotape, The Airbag, Ferriswheel, etc etc. Electricity was discovered in America. Where would we be without Electicity, the lightbulb, telephones or computers...?
America, America, you mean the world to me.
America, America, from sea to shining seaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I agree. Sure America has invented plenty, but those who make the money off the inventions are rarely the inventors themselves.
Just read about Tim Paterson and QDOS, Microsoft wouldn't be who they are today if it wasn't for him. What did he get for his work? $75k...
@Dale -
Al Gore is American.
@derrik : Sorry to point you out but Graham Bell is from Canada not US. As for electricity, AC was invented by Nikola Tesla who is SERBIAN not American.
@Goopy
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison are basically the fathers of Electricity and bell was born in Scotland and moved to Canada so he isn't Canadian
No, that's the British way of making cars. America invented the first modern car - the 1919 Cadillac- with the modern, three-pedal layout you see today. The British merely took that and implemented it in the cheaper Austin 7.
@derrik
I think you will find that Americans invented all of those things. America hasn't invented anything, being a country. You can keep your nuclear weapons. There is only so much destruction you can inflict.
As for discovering Electricity, I think the first guy to be hit by a lightning bolt would argue that he discovered it first. Americans may have found a use for it, however I am sure he felt it first...
Per capita, you probably cannot beat Australians anyway. Periscope, Penicillin and others are pretty good, however I wouldn't take credit for them just because the people who developed them were born in the same nation as me...
grey invented the telephone. bell stole it
@Zero : Thanks for the correction but still he wasn't american like Derrik claim. For the invention of electricity, Edison invented DC not AC. He despised AC more than anything else that's why he invented electric chair for New York state prison to make it looked bad.
@everybody!
America is populated by people who moved here and the descendants of those who moved here, so if you are all going to get all OCD on the matter, true american's have no recorded inventions because everyone else moved in, killed them all off, and took credit for anything that they did.
i thought the American Way was to make buttloads of money off frivolous lawsuits...
@Derek that's quite a long list of mostly incorrect 'American' inventions right there...Alexender Graham Bell was Born in Scotland, worked in the US and stole his 'invention' from an Italian. The first computer design is considered to be over 2k years old and greek but babbage got a bit further in the 1900's with his incomplete mechanical computer and the brits undoubtable made the first valve based computer furing ww2 as part of the enigma cracking effort. Nuclear weapons is an interesting one. Ofc the first ones where made in the US as part of an international effort but the Heisenberg principles behind it are German in origin but thats just one of many countries contributions to it. Mechanical sewing machines existed in europe long before the US based on printing press designs. In the grand scheme of things the US hasn't 'invented' a great many things in comparison to its population but has certainly developed ideas further in thousands upon thousands of cases.
If you want a country with a ridiculously high invention rate check out Scotlands list. population of 5million and it woops most countries asses in the field of inventors!
1900's should be the 1800's*