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.
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Member since:2005-07-03
Well, I'm bringing the FOSS to the table because most people that insist on doing this (that is, using Apple SW on non apple hw) have mentioned the FOSS somehow. It is my impression that is "these" people the ones who are more interested in this. My uncle is not going to go to Apple.com and buy OS X for his new Dell notebook, as much as he's not going to install Fedora. So there's a slight connection between these two groups. Windows users who want to move away from Windows are not the types of users who have a computer tied at work and/or use it to check email and talk to their relatives through skype. Those couldn't care less.
Regarding your question about "my point": The truth is I don't have a point. I just think that I prefer Apple to keep their ecosystem working as it is. Opening OS X would be a mess. The company will suffer from every corner. Angry users, things not working, sues, blamings, etcetera. We all know this is what's gonna happen. But then "those who wanted OSX" will be happy. But it's clearly a minor portion of the people. There may be many here on OSNews, there may be many "around", but in the end, the "world" doesn't care about issues like this.
I think Apple would suffer, that's my fear. And this is not about being "elitist" or thinking: "i've paid for Apple, you pay too if you want it". No, far from it. It's just an idea. If it works, don't fix it. Apple works (as a Company). Don't disturb it, because there are people out there, who are happy the way it is.
Apple is not harmed when you install Windows/Linux/Etc through BootCamp, etc. because to do that, you have to have OS X before. You use (or used) OS X and either you disliked (could happen) or you need other OS. But I don't think that buying any Apple computer and wiping OS X is something you'll see very often. Old boxes perhaps, to run some unix, but a brand new MacBook Pro? iMac? Wiped just to install Fedora? There may be somebody doing it, but it's -imo- defeating the true benefit of the Apple Hardware. And that is marriage between HW/SW.
"we" the Apple Users (not the fanboys with flags and t-shirts), are mostly happy with it. We have problems, we hate apple from time to time because of this or that, but we're incredibly happy with the way things work. I speak for the majority of the Mac OS X users I know around "me". And you can read the same stories all over the net. So In General the Mac crowds make fun of the "other" OSs and users who do not enjoy their computers.
But this is way off topic. I think that by now you may disagree or not with me, but you understand my point. Or that I hope. 
By the way, it doesn't look like Apple needs to sell OS X for all to start making money, does it?
Member since:2007-02-17
I'll take this one. It harms Apple because Apple is a hardware company, the software they do develop they sell dirt cheap compared to their competition in the same market to entice users to buy their hardware. Being able to run other OS is a selling point of their hardware, it does not harm Apple in any way in-fact it helps sell their system. Hacking OSX and then selling to run on commodity hardware harms Apple because they already sell their software far lower than their competition in certain areas and if everyone can run OSX, why would they buy Apple hardware, how will Apple recoup their investment?
Member since:2005-10-17
People would still buy apple hardware because of it's reliability and form. It's pricing isn't too far out of line compared to other hardware.
Lot's of companies sell only hardware and do fine. Others sell only software and do great. Apple can simply do both. They sell tons more copies of OSX as well as their other software and would continue to sell hardware.
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.
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Member since:
2005-07-08
I think I may have missed most of your point. Somehow you're bringing FOSS and your apparent distaste for it into a discussion about tying certain software to certain hardware - at least it seems like that's what you're trying to do. I simply cannot grock your argument.
Can you please explain your thoughts on how it harms Apple to have people use purchased Apple software on non-apple hardware?
To flip things around, do you believe that Apple is harmed when someone buys Apple hardware and installs Windows or Linux or what have you on it?