Mac cloner serves up half-price Leopard Server

Stephen Withers
Friday, 20 June 2008 07:15

Your IT - Home IT

Florida-based Mac cloner Psystar is treading on Apple's toes again, offering Mac OS X Server as an option on its new range of rack-mounted servers. The company caused a stir earlier this year when it launched systems built from generic PC components but with Apple's Leopard preinstalled.

Psystar's new OpenServ range starts at $US1599, compared with a base price of $US2999 for Apple's Xserve.

Since Psystar launched its budget priced Open Computer range, with an offer to pre-install Mac OS X 10.5, market watchers have speculated about why Apple has not attempted to shut it down with legal action. The inactivity by Apple has led some pundits to believe that either it doesn't mind what Psystar is doing because it grows the OS X market or it is on shaky legal ground.

Since Apple switched to Intel-based systems, the main barriers to running Mac OS X on generic PCs has been Apple's adoption of EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface, the successor to the traditional BIOS) and the availability of appropriate device drivers. Psystar basically coupled the work done by the OSx86 Project to 'liberate' Mac OS X from Apple hardware with an off-the-shelf PC built from components chosen for maximum compatibility.

Psystar's new range of Mac OS X Servers comprises two models, each with a variety of options.

So what choices can you make? See page 2.