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Psystar offers Blu-ray option for Mac clones
Macworld's Jim Dalrymple reports that Psystar, the makers of legally-contested Mac clones, are offering Blu-ray drives for its products. Two Blu-ray burners can be added to Psystar's Open and OpenPro line of computers, a $310 6x Blu-ray burner, and a $350 6x Blu-ray burner that includes a 16x DVD±RW DL drive. It appears that both can be added to a single system. Apple has not added Blu-ray to any of its products, and Steve Jobs called the licensing terms for the technology a "big bag of hurt," though Apple is on the board of directors of the Blu-ray Disc Association trade group. Aftermarket, external Blu-ray burners are available for Mac around $450, and internal burners for Mac Pro start around $370. External players start around $270. Psystar is in the midst of litigation with Apple surrounding its inclusion of Mac OS X with its line of clones.
Psystar says rumors of its demise are greatly exaggerated, still selling Open Computers
So the rumors swirling around would-be Mac clone maker Psystar are getting pretty wild out there -- we've heard everything from "Apple has shut the company down" to "Psystar is going to challenge Apple's EULA in court" in the vacuum following the company's site meltdown yesterday. That's a big spread, so we hit up Psystar's president Rudy Pedraza for some answers. Rudy was relatively cagey on the phone, refusing to answer any questions about Apple's EULA or copyrights -- or even confirm if Apple has talked with the company -- but he told us that he's got a "team" of people working on an official response and that the Open Computer (and the new quad-core Open Pro, pictured above) are still for sale. What's more, he told us that "a few" orders placed before yesterday's flood of interest have shipped, which means we're curious to see if any of these early adopters actually surface in the next few days. Rudy also told us that Psystar isn't out to infringe any copyrights or trademarks (really?), and that he has no idea how Information Week got a quote from someone named "Robert" indicating that the company was going to challenge Apple's EULA in court. Sure thing. Rudy promised us a machine either today or tomorrow, we'll see what happens -- honestly, it seems like things are chaos at Psystar's HQ in Miami right now.P.S. -Remember MGM v. Grokster? In that case the Supreme Court ruled that a company that based its business around the knowing copyright infringement of customers was still liable, even if it didn't infringe directly. Kinda shoots a hole in the "just don't pre-install Leopard" theory, no?Read - Psystar Open ProRead - Information Week ("Psystar vows to challenge Apple EULA")Read - DailyTech: ("Apple Kills Psystar's $399 Mac")
