backtop

Hardware Apple Hopes To Kill Psystar's $399 Mac
Jason Mick (Blog) - April 15, 2008 10:31 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 183 comment(s) - last by wordsworm.. on Apr 19 at 10:22 PM

Psystar's $399 Mac clones are no more, thanks to some legal pressure from Apple.  (Source: Psystar)
Steve Jobs and Apple are not fans of cheaper Mac clones

The numbers look too good to be true for Apple Inc.'s Mac followers -- A 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB of DDR2 667 memory, a 250 GB hard drive, DVD, and Integrated Intel GMA 950 Graphics, all for a lowly $399.  To put this in perspective a Mac Mini with a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, equivalent memory, a 160 GB hard drive, DVD, and the same graphics processor, will cost you a hefty $949.  Of course the $399 Mac came in a full-size case, and the Mac Mini came in a shrunken footprint, but obviously for some Mac users, the decreased size wasn't worth $550.

Well it turns out it may well have been too good to be true.  The Mac compatible computer, produced by Miami-based Psystar went temporarily offline, amid threats from Apple's legal legion.  Psystar, also known for its Voice-over-Internet, security and networking systems perhaps should have known better when it advertised to users a chance to buy a computer "capable of running unmodified OS X Leopard kernels".

Apple has long fought such moves.  Briefly during Gil Amelio's tenure at Apple a number of Mac clones were allowed, as it was seen that the insistence on proprietary sales was one cause of the downfall of Macs, from their once leading position in the home computer market.  However, with Steve Jobs quickly reassuming leadership of the company, the clones were out the window, and he began a campaign of purging and did not stop until every last clone maker was destroyed.

Still, in the shadowy underground of Apple-loving hackers, following Apple's switch from PowerPC to Intel processors, some users found ways to patch or emulate OS X to get around Mac’s Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), one of Apple's main barriers to cloning.  Other similar barriers were removed, and ever since a small Mac hardware hacking community has arisen.  The Cupertino-based Apple and its CEO Steve Jobs have tried to silence this movement, but their constant cat-and-mouse battle with the hackers has had little impact.

However, Apple found a perfect target to vent its frustrations on when, when Psystar dared to try to make a business undercutting Apple's own marked up hardware.  Psystar came with the EFI V8 emulator which tricks OS X install disks into thinking the computer was an official Mac.  Apple couldn't directly assault Psystar as there was nothing overtly illegal about its hardware.  So they dug.  And they quickly discovered a caveat -- Psystar offered to preinstall users' copies of OS X on the system.  Leopard’s End User License Agreement (EULA) states:

This License allows you to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time.

Apple's lawyers, armed with this clear violation of the EULA promised to challenge Psystar and coincidentally, the site just went down only to come up renamed.  Whether Apple's legal team can lay Psystar's $399 Mac to rest remains to be seen, but its clear Psystar is going to fight what it calls an "illegal EULA" to the bitter end.

While Apple is broadly appreciated as one of the most innovative tech companies, it has also been widely criticized for its draconian legal and business tactics -- from bricking users unlocked iPhones, to killing the leak site Think Secret, and trying to legally block the Big Apple, New York City from using a logo with an apple (which bears little resemblance to either version of Apple Inc.'s logo) in an environmental campaign.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Same garbage
By eye smite on 4/15/2008 10:46:12 AM , Rating: 5
Thanks to things like this, apple users wonder why apple isn't more popular. Steve Jobs just loves shooting himself in the foot.




RE: Same garbage
By Operandi on 4/15/08, Rating: 0
RE: Same garbage
By eye smite on 4/15/2008 11:02:38 AM , Rating: 5
Immensely popular with who? How many of the populace in this country owns or uses a Mac daily? Seriously, I don't see Apple with a vast market share across the world or even N. America. I would say your statment is on the delusional side.


RE: Same garbage
By RamarC on 4/15/08, Rating: 0
RE: Same garbage
By darkpaw on 4/15/2008 11:50:01 AM , Rating: 5
Yet another Mac fiend quoting bad data. If you look at the actual NPD report, it only includes retail sales. 14% of retail sales is a lot different from 14% of the market share.

The larger revenue split just goes to show that Apple is ripping off their customers!


RE: Same garbage
By mforce on 4/15/2008 6:19:56 PM , Rating: 5
And even that percent of the retail sails is probably just in the USA. But the USA is not the world though and I'm sure there are many places where Macs are probably around 1%. Here in Romania almost no one has a Mac and there are probably more people that have Linux as I have said before here.

Macs have their market but it's highly unlikely they'll grow past a certain percent if they don't open up more. Of course things are looking pretty good now for them and maybe they're just satisfied with the way things are.

I used to admire Macs once and though they were so cool but having worked on one I can say I'm not impressed. It used to have its own hardware and OS. Now it's just an overpriced PC running OS X which is nothing more than fancy UI on top of a Unix shell.

Sure the iMac is cool looking and so is the Mac Mini being so small but at the end of the day it's getting the job done that counts for me and not how cute and small it is.

I'm no MS and Windows fan , far from it but I can't really say Macs are better for me it's one proprietary system versus the other even more proprietary Macs. With Windows at least you get to choose the hardware you want to run it on. I won't even go into Linux and open source here.


RE: Same garbage
By Reclaimer77 on 4/15/2008 6:24:49 PM , Rating: 5
Remember that market share can only be determined by PC's sold with Windows already installed. However its impossible to determine how many people a year are buying PC components and building their own Windows machines. PC's have a much bigger market share then those numbers indicate. Because as we all know, you can't build your own Mac.


RE: Same garbage
By AssBall on 4/16/2008 4:52:03 AM , Rating: 2
A devil's advocate argument...

How many companies want to buy 100 to 1000+ Macs that are harder to integrate into their IT model. Yar, you still have the companies that thing that photoshop/digital rendering is better on an Apple, but really... those are the companies out of touch considering current economics.

The fact is that MS owns at OEM.


RE: Same garbage
By mondo1234 on 4/16/2008 8:45:26 PM , Rating: 2
I have owned mostly PC's, but I also have a Linux machine and a Macbook.
I dont eat McDonalds hamburgers because they have sold billions and billions.


RE: Same garbage
By mixpix on 4/19/2008 2:06:21 AM , Rating: 2
But since there's one on every corner and they're open all night probably makes them a little more of an option.


RE: Same garbage
By FITCamaro on 4/15/2008 12:51:21 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
Apple has a significant chunk of the higher end of the marketplace


The only thing higher end about the market share Apple has is the price. The hardware is equivalent to the lower end of the marketplace. A C2D, 2GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, and integrated graphics for nearly $1000 is hardly high end.


RE: Same garbage
By afkrotch on 4/15/08, Rating: -1
RE: Same garbage
By FITCamaro on 4/15/2008 1:00:50 PM , Rating: 5
You don't even have to go that far.

A basic C2D system with 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, 512MB 8800GT, and Vista Premium is less than $1000.


RE: Same garbage
By jimbojimbo on 4/15/2008 1:48:43 PM , Rating: 3
Is that a slight against the PC or against the fact that you can't use it in a Mac at all?


RE: Same garbage
By othercents on 4/15/2008 4:30:39 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
BMW is 'popular' but still outsold by Chevy

Wow you're comparing Apple to BMW and PCs to Chevy? So that means I should get rid of my Suburban, which functions well when I am driving around 5 kids and 2 dogs, purchase a less functional, less reliable, and over priced X5 just because I can afford it?

Oh wait a snap.. Apple is like BMW. Now all we need is those catchy "I own a MAC" bumper sticker, so that other people know you have arrived.

Other


RE: Same garbage
By Christopher Barr on 4/15/08, Rating: 0
RE: Same garbage
By MrPickins on 4/15/2008 1:31:35 PM , Rating: 4
Or you could just secure your PC and have very little to fear from the internet. Oh, and you can do that for free.

And "superior platform" is a subjective term. I feel that the mostly open PC platform is superior for the ways I like to use a computer.


RE: Same garbage
By HighWing on 4/15/2008 1:47:41 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
The premium we pay is worth every cent. Not only for a superior platform but more importantly, for relatively worry free internet use


I'm guessing you don't really check up on tech news that often. First off, I believe only recently on here even it was reported that the mac was the first computer to be cracked at a recent security expo. Second, just because no one wants to waste the time to bring them down DOES not make it superior. Sooner or later, I'm sure some bot-net group is going to get tired of the mac users snubness and bring them down hard. Third, controlling the hardware you run on also DOES NOT make it superior, because by doing that yes you can ensure that you software will never crash, but as is the case you severally limit your consumers options. Case in point, if any part breaks on my computer I can go to ANY electronic store and get a replacement for about $100 +/-. Can ANY mac user clam the same thing? So tell me again how a mac is still superior?