The Mac clone that isn't

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 15 April 2008 02:10

Opinion and Analysis

However, the company warns that it may or may not be safe to install Mac OS X updates on the system, and the result may be that you need to reinstall the operating system. To make the latter process easier, Psystar provides a custom restore disc if you buy Mac OS X with the hardware. Do you really want a computer that might be incapable of accepting security updates?

Apple's probably resigned to a relatively small number of enthusiasts using the work of the OSx86 project running Mac OS X on generic hardware, but Psystar's early change from calling the system Open Computer rather than staying with its original choice of OpenMac suggests Apple Legal got involved and is probably looking closely at exactly what the company is doing.

Tucked away at the end of the terms of service for the Psystar online store is this clause: "Psystar is not responsible for any legal repercussions brought upon you due to your use or involvement with the Open Computer and/or OpenPro."

At the time of writing, the Psystar site shows the Open Computer as "Not Available". Whether this means the company has been overwhelmed by the demand or if other hurdles have arisen remains to be seen.

Apple did experiment with a clone program around ten years ago, but it was short lived. As much as some people liked the idea (remember the "cold, dead hands" t-shirts put out by one vendor?), the scheme didn't survive the return of Steve Jobs to the helm. The main problem seemed to be that there was little in the way of incremental sales, so whatever profit Apple made on the sale of a copy of Mac OS with each clone, it missed out on the profit associated with selling a Macintosh.