- Saturday, 14 November 2009
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Don't plan to sell your first chip - Bob Colwell, former Intel chief architect
Psystar plans Mac Clone notebook and Blu-ray desktop
LAST WEEK we reported how the Apple cloning outfit Psystar had gone to arbitration with the fruit-themed toymaker.
This was not long after both sides threatened to burn the other over Psystar's attempts to stick the OSX Leopard Operating System on something unapproved by Steve Jobs.
One would have thought that under such pressure from Jobs' Mob, not to mention the threat of fanboy suicide bombers, Psystar would be keeping a low profile. Apparently not.
According to Apple Insider, Psystar announced in a press release that it has begun shipping a Mac clone with Blu-ray optical disk drives and the NVIDIA 9800GT graphics card.
In the press release Psystar president Rudy Pedraza publicly criticised Apple for delaying support for Blu-ray.
He added that Blu-ray had already won the format war and there was fully functional and mature support for Blu-ray in other operating systems.
The move is a slap in the face for Apple. After all, someone is using its operating system with out Steve Jobs' permission but it is actually being a bit more innovative and allowing consumers to have what they want.
Apple has long claimed that it was innovative, even when it was sticking ancient technology in new boxes. So we expect that Steve is incandescent with rage about what amounts to a loss of control over any of his products. µ
L'Inq
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If Psystar plans Mac Clone notebook with FW and matt screen for less £ than Apple notebook, I will be interested.
Gals and guys at the Inquirer,

Please go out and have a pint or four and quit trying to be divisive. Thank you.
1 - Psystar can't claim Apple has a monopoly in the market of people who use computers with Blu-Ray drives, because it has a 0% market share.

2 - Psystar CAN use this to show that Apple takes advantage of its monopoly on selling Mac OS computers. If Apple didn't have a monopoly, it wouldn't be able to get away with refusing to release computers with Blu-Ray drives. Apple's lack of innovation is circumstantial evidence of its monopoly power.

I think #2 is a better point than #1. This will play to Psystar's favor in the litigation.
It isn't Psystar's Mac clones or this news that's shit, it's your coverage. You don't HAVE to like Apple. That's your priviledge and your right. Would it have killed you to show just a little objectivity? 

Good on Psystar for making cheaper Macs. Bad on you for covering the announcement in crap
Stop writing this crap already!

I really doubt Apple is "annoyed" or "scorned" by them. I'm willing to bet that the only people who buy Psystar's computers are already tech savvy enough to install OS X on their own PC and are curious or have a friend who could do the same. We're not talking rocket science here. The number of Macs sold is not that high relative to the world market and these guys can't be selling a ton more given they have no more marketing than what news outlets provide.

I think people forget that it isn't illegal to be a monopoly in the US. The only thing that is illegal is doing things to artificially prevent competition. That doesn't include not licensing an operating system. Apple doesn't have to provide a second separate supplier of Macs. Apple not licensing BluRay is not going to hold up as an argument that they're an illegal monopoly. Not including BluRay artificially prevents competition in the market... how? Arguing that any specific detail or feature of a Computer prevents natural competition is ridiculous. 

The only companies that could have possibly argued any sort of illegal monopolistic tactics in court are companies like Umax and Motorola who made Mac Clones in the mid to late 90s. They had their licenses revoked when Mac OS 7.7 was arbitrarily changed to Mac OS 8 and they were forced to negotiate a new and much more expensive license. That may have been illegal under the definition of an illegal monopoly. The fact that Apple thus far has really done nothing to stop people doing this on a personal basis besides update kernels (which even now is ineffective on pcEFI style installs) and device drivers. Those updates are usually quickly patched anyways (the lack of patches are really what makes them "incompatible").

Apple is only going this far with Psystar because it probably doesn't want the validity of it's EULA called into question. I doubt they'll settle for any sum of money. If Apple wanted to they could have bled Psystar dry due to drawn out legal battles that go nowhere. While it's really rally unlikely, there is the off chance that they'll allow them to "compete" with them in the sub $900 market no Apple clone maker has ever wanted to deal in (for it to be worthwhile to Apple, it's not likely to still be worth it to Psystar).

You're not required to buy a Mac and you're not required to run OS X on a Mac for that matter.