'OpenCore Computer' Launches Commercial Hackintosh in Violation of Apple's macOS Licensing Agreement [Updated]

[XXPP]

Good for them, I hope they are real. Competition is good.

Competition? This is theft.

 

[Maximara]

Any legit business would have an address and offer something more accessible than a an untraceable/anonymized payment system.

Psystar had an address, or rather five in four days, and their processing company bailed due to "for three primary reasons: product/services not as represented in application, sales volumes grossly exceeded, no address verification utilized" so even having that doesn't mean things are on the up and up.

Of course since per Apple's court case with Psystar this violated federal law (DMCA) no matter what shell game they engaged in as it involves acquiring or creating "code" that "avoids, bypasses, removes, descrambles, decrypts, deactivates or impairs a technological protection measure without Apple's authority for the purpose of gaining unauthorized access to Apple's copyrighted works."

This so much a 'second verse same as the first' situation (especially in light of the OCC Announcement) that one has to ask just what did they were thinking as the old adage of 'there is no such thing as bad publicity' has been proved to be false so many times it isn't funny.

 

[jlc1978]

To get this straight: You don't want an AIO, and you don't want a compact box. You want a $3.000 tower you can tinker around with. You want upgradeability. You also want more power than iMac (Pro) and Mini can offer. That means 6 or 8 core CPU and a dedicated GPU. So, basically you want a base Mac Pro for half the price.

Keeping Apple's desired margin in mind, where do all the people come from who have to buy this thing to make it attractive to Apple to build and sell it for that price?

My guess is very few, for a number of reasons:

1. Laptops outsell desktops 2 to 1; and the gap is widening, indicating a weakening demand for desktops
2. At that price point there are a number of nice AIO Macs; and I would suppose many desktop buyers never crack theirs open, let alone upgrade; so an AIO is a good choice especially since a desktop requires adding a monitor and getting on as good as the AIO Macs is not cheap.
3. The Mini already provides a desktop option and Apple probably looks at their sales and sees no reason to add another because it will probably cannibalize Mini and Pro sales rather than expand their market.

If they did offer such a box, people would start complaining they can't upgrade their box to be as powerful as a Mac Pro on the cheap.
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Trouble is, at the moment, they seem to think they can get people who really want a "proper desktop" to compromise on an iMac or Mini with zero expandability - or stump up 3x the cash for a Mac Pro with 3x more expandability than they need... which will work for the next quarter or two until the "pro" mac market is killed by slow attrition. You can't keep telling chunks of your customer base to go fish.

Sure you can. If they aren't profitable enough your better off dumping them and putting the money into higher margin products.

 

[jlc1978]

ISTR there were licensed clones and unlicensed clones.

The only "licensed" one I remember was the ITT 2020 which was briefly made for the European market and supported PAL video (PAL vs. NTSC was a big issue for computers crossing the pond at the time).

Bell and Howell sold a rebranded ][; Laser did a clean room reengineer of the Apple ROMs so they avoided Franklin's fate.
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When you have a number of PC tech youtubers showing their viewers that a hackintosh computer can be built that will either equal or outperform a real apple mac and do so at 30-40% of the cost of the mac, many people are going to take notice and do so seriously.

I doubt more than a few harcore enthusiast will do so; a number that isn't even a blib on Apple's radar. Most people want a machine that works out of the box, is reliable and runs software they need; kit bashing a Mac is too much of a hassle.
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In the PC market, iMac prices will get you a high-quality tower PC in a nice case.

and Windows 10...

 

[cmaier]

Bell and Howell sold a rebranded ][; Laser did a clean room reengineer of the Apple ROMs so they avoided Franklin's fate.
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I doubt more than a few harcore enthusiast will do so; a number that isn't even a blib on Apple's radar. Most people want a machine that works out of the box, is reliable and runs software they need; kit bashing a Mac is too much of a hassle.
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and Windows 10...

Reminds me of the HP-branded iPods.

Back in the day our school had one of those franklin clones. Whoever came into the room last was stuck using it.

 

[shaunp]

Why can't Apple make a normal desktop around $3000? It shouldn't be a problem. If you disagree, then you have a problem.

Because Apple aren't normal and actually providing your customers with a product they want is so uncool. ;o) People have been asking for this for years, which is why the 2019 Mac Pro is so insulting to existing Mac Pro customers. Apple didn't need to reinvent the wheel hear, they just needed a credible desktop that isn't an AIO and they would sell loads of them. Clearly they don't want to do that though and would rather charge you 5k for a 2015 spec machine that only makes sense if you are looking for a workstation costing 10k+ and are willing to spec it out accordingly. The rest of us just get the middle finger - pay or go away.

There will be plenty of people in here quick to jump to Apple's defence and claim if we only want to spend around 3K we aren't 'Pro' enough and any business should be able to afford 20K, no problem. They are totally unrealistic. Every other manufacturer has solutions at different price points, just as every business is different and has different IT requirements. For some a 3K computer is enough, for others it's 20K and for some the Mac Pro just isn't Pro enough because of it's limited scalability (single CPU Socket, only 1.5TB RAM), single PSU and woeful support options.

So when anyone tells you that you aren't Pro enough or you don't get it. You do. You just aren't willing to be ripped off by Apple. Sit back laugh, and buy yourself a nice PC.
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Bell and Howell sold a rebranded ][; Laser did a clean room reengineer of the Apple ROMs so they avoided Franklin's fate.
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I doubt more than a few harcore enthusiast will do so; a number that isn't even a blib on Apple's radar. Most people want a machine that works out of the box, is reliable and runs software they need; kit bashing a Mac is too much of a hassle.
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and Windows 10...

And Windows 10.....

Sorry, don't get you. Please explain.

Most professionals can manage with Windows 10 without issue, and there are plenty of training courses out there if you are struggling to understand it. I've been running Windows 10 since it was released and have had 0 issues on multiple machines. It just works. The community on here do seem to have lots of issues with Catalina however. I also hear the same on other forums with mixed Windows and Mac users. It seems like MacOS is more of an issue than Windows is these days especially when you compare the amount of noise to the install base.

 

[edubfromktown]

I spent all my BTC's on pizza years ago haha

 

[jlc1978]

So when anyone tells you that you aren't Pro enough or you don't get it. You do. You just aren't willing to be ripped off by Apple. Sit back laugh, and buy yourself a nice PC.

No one is saying someone isn't pro enough, rather Apple sees no valid reason to make the machine people on this thread claim they need to make.

And Windows 10.....

Sorry, don't get you. Please explain.

Humor. Either you get it or you don't...

 

[iBluetooth]

Sorry what? It's ok for you a 'normal user' to break the law but not a company to do it. That's what you're saying right.

Crime by company for profit is not the same as an individual just experimenting with getting an OS to work.
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I'm down to three, listed by priority:

1. Bento: another great app that Apple killed
   • I can export as CSV, import into FileMaker, Tap Forms, Records, Airtable, Ninox... or worst case scenario, Excel or Sheets, and then do a full week's worth of tinkering, so I'm debating if it would make more sense to just open it in a virtual machine.
2. FastTrack Schedule 10: they have a 64-bit beta but are battling Catalina bugs to ship the release
3. VW_Keyboard-Mac v2: not a must-have dealbreaker by any means

May I ask. Why don't you use FileMaker Pro instead?

 

[chucker23n1]

This makes me laugh you must not use apps.

lolwut

(What does that even mean? I leave it on Springboard all day?)

Tons of apps don't know how to handle the notch and cut off information.

Such as?

I have a few apps that haven't been updated for the iPhone X form factor (which, honestly, two and a half years in? weaksauce), but "cut off information"? I haven't seen that. Certainly not in "tons of apps".

 

[Marx55]

It would be awesome to have Mac clones allowed by Apple. Competition is good.

 

[cmaier]

It would be awesome to have Mac clones allowed by Apple. Competition is good.

If they were "allowed by apple" you could bet they wouldn't be "competing" with anything Apple was interested in selling.

 

[jlc1978]

Crime by company for profit is not the same as an individual just experimenting with getting an OS to work.

The only caveat I would add unless they own a legitimate copy of MacOS they're in a gray area, IMHO.

May I ask. Why don't you use FileMaker Pro instead?

Much more complicated. Bento was much easier to use.

 

[LeeW]

an individual just experimenting with getting an OS to work.

lol, ok, just experimenting, I built a computer specifically to run macOS, only to see if it worked, not going to actually use it.

 

[babe_girl]

So this was posted on Facebook hope maybe this might help to go after this guy as it is so terrible to the community an the looks to another site for laptops.

 

[boyorion]

Why should they is there question. They seem to be doing well without it.

Not with desktops they aren't. The entire line is floundering.

 

[throAU]

64-bit applications were supported even on Leopard, though the kernel became 64-bit only in Snow Leopard. The most significant reason of using 32-bit apps on macOS is running 32-bit Windows games through Wine (including Steam).

Yup, WINE (and ported Windows games) is a problem, but there is work happening right now to get it working with 64 bit properly.

Worst case, you can run most/some of those things in a Windows virtual machine if you have to.

Yes, there is breakage and some people won't like it but games are not a mission critical application for macOS. If games are essential to you and macOS is your only gaming platform of choice you've got rocks in your head tbh. Apple has never cared about games seriously, even Apple Arcade is a bit of a token effort.

I'm not saying losing that doesn't bother me at all, but there are work arounds (VM, etc.) and its mostly software that was never Mac native in the first place.

 

[jlc1978]

Not with desktops they aren't. The entire line is floundering.

Considering desktops are losing market share to laptops and tablets investing in them is probably not a long term solution. AIO will probably be the last to go.

 

[DFP1989]

The Opencore Computer website already looks to be down.

 

[louij2]

The Opencore Computer website already looks to be down.

Yes

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

You have no clue what’s going on in the Mac ecosphere if you think there’s no market for a $3k box. Google xMac and be amazed. 😐🍸

The average workstation PC is like $300; I posit that YOU have no clue if you think there’s a big market for computers 10x that cost.... but (for whatever imagined reason) those purchasers would balk at the current 15x cost.
Lol, what a weird line to draw in the sand!

 

[seek3r]

The average workstation PC is like $300; I posit that YOU have no clue if you think there’s a big market for computers 10x that cost.... but (for whatever imagined reason) those purchasers would balk at the current 15x cost.
Lol, what a weird line to draw in the sand!

There's a huge market for $3k and above desktop workstations, Apple's bigger problem in selling a machine in that category is it's not big in a lot of the spaces those are big, but price out an HP Z8 or Dell 7820 and you'll easily get to $3k, and far far above

 

[feldpos]

GLWT

And, in this case, illegal. In case this isn’t clear, you also can’t steal the recipe for KFC and then “compete” selling fried chicken.

it's a good thing you can't buy the KFC spices online... oh wait you can https://marionkay.com/product/chicken-seasoning-99-x/

edit: and if you don't believe me, you can read a firsthand confirmation in Harland Sanders biography which states that Marion Kay's blend is the *original* recipe https://www.amazon.com/Colonel-Sanders-American-Discovering-America/dp/147731475X

 

[Flint Ironstag]

The average workstation PC is like $300; I posit that YOU have no clue if you think there’s a big market for computers 10x that cost.... but (for whatever imagined reason) those purchasers would balk at the current 15x cost.
Lol, what a weird line to draw in the sand!

Good luck getting any work done on a $300 ”workstation”, bud. 🍸

 

[milkrocket]

When I decided to try out OSX, instead of doing it by violating the licensing agreement, I simply bought a used Mac on eBay. Not sure why this is so difficult. You know very well that many others are not moving to Macs and are just plugging along using their Hackintosh, which means Apple is losing all those sales. But even if they all were converting, that doesn't justify the initial dishonesty (whether done in ignorance or in full knowledge). No one has a right to use their operating system. It consistently amazes me how often otherwise respectable people try to justify dishonesty. I know none of us are saints, but I can at least respect people who own up to their behavior when confronted instead of trying to justify it.

You do realize that piracy has been proven to boost software sales, right?