
There are probably lots and lots of lawsuits going on every day in the technology world, and generally, they are quite uninteresting to all of us. Exceptions exist, of course, and the case of Apple and PsyStar is definitely one of them. It's a lawsuit that could test one of the most debated issues in the world of software: the EULA issue. To refresh your memory: PsyStar started offering Macintosh clones
earlier this year, which caused quite the uproar in the Mac community. Apple was silent on the issue at first, but a few weeks ago the company decided to
take legal action against PsyStar,
claiming PsyStar violated Apple's copyright and license agreements (EULAs), and motivated others to do the same. While several legal experts agree that Apple's EULA will
stand the test of court in The Netherlands, the situation in the US might be completely different. PsyStar seems prepared for the worst, as they have
hired lawyers from Carr & Ferrell LLP, a firm who successfully fought Apple in court over IP issues before. I'm breaking out the popcorn, because this is hopefully going to be a big one.
Member since:
2005-07-08
OK, but making the reasonable assumption that none of the people who are buying clones would be buying Apple's hardware in any event, I still fail to see how it harms Apple. I am, of course, speaking of people who have bought and paid for the OS not unbridled piracy.
As far as price goes, Leopard is for sale on Amazon for $120 while vista ultimate upgrade is $185. Vista home premium upgrade is $95. I chose upgrade prices since we are discussing a situation where that is the equivalent since if you have apple hardware by definition you must have purchased their OS as well. If you want to discuss OEM prices, the ones on newegg are similar to these prices. An Ubuntu ship-it cd is $0.00. In any event, given these prices, the idea that Apple is giving their OS away for a song while the competition is bankrupting their customers is obviously bogus.
Now, all this said, I don't have an agenda here at all. I was just interested in discussion that wasn't knee-jerk level "PYSTAR FTW!!!" or "APPLE FTW!!!" w/o some discourse.