Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 14th Apr 2008 21:44 UTC
The website of a Miami-based networking and security solutions reseller became inaccessible Monday, shortly after the company began advertising an unauthorized Mac clone for a fraction of the cost of Apple's cheapest system. Dubbed OpenMac, the USD 400 offering from Psystar Corporation is described as 'a low-cost high-performance computing platform' based on the ongoing OSX86Project - a hacker-based initiative aimed at maintaining a version of the Mac OS X operating system for everyday PCs. The website is back online now, and the machine has been renamed to Open Computer. Update: Psystar says they will continue to sell the Open Computer system, despite the fact that it appears to violate Apple's EULA. "We're not breaking any laws," they insisted.
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Member since:
2006-03-28
The OS sells Macs, but recently, Apple has been making the majority of it's revenue from iPod+iTunes sales. It probably wouldn't affect them much to "allow" people to install OS X on third-party systems. This is especially true given the fact that most people that buy Macs in recent years do so more as a fashion statement than anything else.
That said, Apple has the right to create their OS in such a way that it is difficult to install on third-party hardware. However, I as the purchaser of the software have the right (see quote from Title 17 section 117 of the US Code below) to modify that software in order to run it on a computer.
"it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine"
Link: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/usc_sec_17_00000117----000-.h...