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Psystar Exits Bankruptcy, Launches New Xeon-Based Systems Running OS X
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I'm all in favour. Now the Dell Mini 9 is no more there isn't a perfect OS X Netbook out there anymore.
They should take that route and make themselves some serious money.
They should take that route and make themselves some serious money.
actually, M$ could crush apple in a sec by stopping support of office mac, and making other options incompatible with the pc version. Most educational and corporate users need good compatibility, esp with word and excel.
Dont be fooled, MS holds the cards. But apple market share is so small, it is not on the radar screen.
Psystar is doing good work, and it is interesting. Competition is good.
Now we just need someone like Psystar to start selling to the international market.
With Apple overcharging more than ever here in New Zealand (the entry level Mac Pro costs US$3550 here) they have literally priced themselves out of the workstation market.
With Apple overcharging more than ever here in New Zealand (the entry level Mac Pro costs US$3550 here) they have literally priced themselves out of the workstation market.
Here Here.
For the Mac Pro my sister needs she could by a car for how much it costs here. We get overcharged even compared to Aussie. Damn Renaissance. The other kick in the nuts its that the only way to get such massive amounts of Power and amount of ram is through Apple. We cant even get Nehalem Xeon workstations from Dell or HP.
That's not the only problem for Microsoft. If Psystar were to win the argument that EULA's are invalid, then any company could buy the family versions of their software instead of the full commercial versions. I mean when Microsoft sells you a "Home User" version of Microsoft Office for three home users for $100, what gives Microsoft the right to tell a company that it can't use that $100 version for three of its employees? (The answer is of course: The same copyright law that gives Apple the right to limit use of MacOS X to Apple-labeled computers).
Apple couldn't prevent anyone from giving money to Psystar. However, Apple will ask the court for damages which will most likely exceed any amount of money that Psystar would ever be able to pay; if say Microsoft were behind that (just for arguments sake, I highly doubt they are), Apple might be able to make them pay the damages. And since we read that making 24 songs available in your file sharing folder is apparently worth almost two million dollars in damages, that might end up being an amount that would hurt even Microsoft (very slightly).
Oh Winni, not again. In Germany, when a company (and Psystar is a company) enters a contract (and buying a copy of MacOS X is entering into a contract), then the terms of the contract are one hundred percent binding. If they don't read the contract before entering it, tough. Germany has excellent consumer protection laws. Consumer protection laws, as one might suspect, protect consumers; they don't protect companies in any way.
So for a company in Germany to install MacOS X on a non Apple-labeled computer is breach of contract first, then it is copyright infringement, and selling the machine is again copyright infringement. And yes, I know that there is a guy in Germany with no phone number and no verifiable company address who claims to be selling computers with MacOS X installed; seems like Apple doesn't take him serious.
There is actually DRM in MacOS X. However, it doesn't check whether you are installing the same copy of Leopard on two dozen Macs; it checks whether you install it on a non-Apple computer. And it is not at all hard to circumvent; it is quite possible to build a computer that tricks MacOS X to believe that it is a Macintosh when it isn't. The DRM is just enough to have the desired legal effect: To make getting MacOS X to work on a non-Apple labeled computer not just copyright infringement, but also a DMCA violation.
Pearc?
I wonder if Mac rumors did ever write something about Pearc?
They are selling Mac "clones" inlcuding an i7 based system in Germany.
They started selling Mac clones in February and it seams Apple has not taken any legal action against them yet.
They say, they feel secure because of German and European law.
Christian
I wonder if Mac rumors did ever write something about Pearc?
They are selling Mac "clones" inlcuding an i7 based system in Germany.
They started selling Mac clones in February and it seams Apple has not taken any legal action against them yet.
They say, they feel secure because of German and European law.
Christian
Wow epic fanboyism taken to a new level. Wishing death upon a company challenging Apple's business practices.
You know, with Leopard now being a full UNIX on its own, no longer based on BSD, methinks the Open Source part of OS X has disappeared. It may well be that Apple owns the entire OS now.
So I guess you support all those companies who violate Microsoft's Windows licences? I mean, after all - if you're going to be consistent in your argument of 'free love, freedom and all is groovy'.
*
exactly...I was about to write the same thing...one can wish it would start at that price
There in lies the problem...
Mac towers used to start at $1499!
No more.
This is a problem Apple needs to solve. I don't want an All-In-One iMac or a ridiculously underpowered Mini that's less powerful than my POWERPC PowerMac G5!
I want something mid-range priced, still expandable and versatile.
Apple doesn't have such a product anymore like that at $1499.
If they did, there would be no such thing as Psystar!
It's obvious Psystar is out of bankruptcy through some benevolent contributor who wants their name not revealed in bankruptcy proceedings. The whole bankruptcy thing sounds like it was a delaying tactic to me.
The next phase will be discovery in the trial and I don't think it's certain Apple will win.
The only thing we know for sure is that Psystar has more money to fight Apple.
I like competition.
Btw, some of the Fanboy comments in here remind me of Michael Jackson's Jesus Juice!
LOL
Actually I wish Phystar would die too. Not because they're competition. But because they're using someone else's work to make money while the original owner says no. Programming Ethics my University called it. I call it douchery. Its something you develop when you start programming, pirating is now a bitch slap in the face instead of a student's retreat.
There in lies the problem...
Mac towers used to start at $1499!
No more.
This is a problem Apple needs to solve. I don't want an All-In-One iMac or a ridiculously underpowered Mini that's less powerful than my POWERPC PowerMac G5!
I want something mid-range priced, still expandable and versatile.
Apple doesn't have such a product anymore like that at $1499.
If they did, there would be no such thing as Psystar!
It's obvious Psystar is out of bankruptcy through some benevolent contributor who wants their name not revealed in bankruptcy proceedings. The whole bankruptcy thing sounds like it was a delaying tactic to me.
The next phase will be discovery in the trial and I don't think it's certain Apple will win.
The only thing we know for sure is that Psystar has more money to fight Apple.
I like competition.
Btw, some of the Fanboy comments in here remind me of Michael Jackson's Jesus Juice!
LOL
What is wrong with an all in one - I keep hearing the whining and yet every time a person brings it up, under scrutiny the demand for a mini-tower turns out to be little more than a monument to their own ego to show off to friends than anything to do with functionality.
Just let those feelings out. Glad you feel so confident in IP law and in the interests of everyone in the free market.
It'll be nice to see what the US Courts decide.
BTW, I can't seem to find "ignorati" in any English dictionary.
It's an obvious play on "Literati."
Technorati
Blogorati
Culturati
Glitterati, etc.
LOL, this.
No mini-tower from Apple = no demand for it.
Desktops are at the ass-end of the market. Portables/notebooks/handhelds are the way to go. This isn't 1998.
Why don't you call Apple and let them get in on this incredible revelation they've missed. Then they'll make one JUST FOR YOU and the 4 other people here who want one.
Psystar exists because someone/entity is injecting their fly-by-night operation with cash. Not because they're making sales.
Well, it is true though. I know end users who swore that they really, really, really needed a mini tower and shunned my all in one. Well, three years later and they admit to me that the only time they opened up their case was to put in a larger hard disk and add more memory - all of which one can do with an iMac.
So yes, I've see people like HyperZboy, and what they want is the 'Ego Stroker 2000' rather than a computer. The same sort of people who boast about driving 'stick' but can't actually drive a manual to save themselves. Boast about 'audiophile' hardware but when it comes to blind tests they can't tell the difference between a $7000 Pear Anjou Home Audio Speaker Cable and a kettle cord.
Yes, there are those who need a tower, but that is what the Mac Pro is for - its a workstation. Unless you're in need of a workstation, the iMac is more than sufficient for 99% of end users.
Regarding the last part of your post regarding them being here because someone is injecting money - I only can think of one person who has bought one; and the guy was a bit of a doufus to begin with. With such 'spectacular' sales, I don't see it being a business standing on its own merits without something or someone backing it.
We'll flip a coin.
Heads, you get to be the one to tell professionals that they have to do all of their work on laptops from now on.
Tails, you get to be the one to tell professionals that they have to do all of their work on laptops from now on.
So professionals are the rear-end of the market...
I still wouldn't want to be the one to tell them that.
What contract?
Are you saying that according to German law merely mentioning that "if you open this box you agree to the following..." or "if you continue to use the software you paid for you agree to the following..." constitutes a contract?
I don't think that German law allows the changing of a contract after the sale, not even with "I agree" buttons on a computer screen.
It also doesn't allow the modification of copyright law provisions by one party. What copyright forbids, in Germany, is the distribution of copies of copyrighted works without permission of the copyright holder. It does NOT prohibit using one's legal copy in any way one wants (even on a non-Apple computer) nor does it prohibit the selling of a legal copy to a third party (i.e. if I buy a newspaper I can give it to my neighbour, but I cannot make copies and distribute them).
A company who happen to own legal Mac OS X DVDs from somewhere do not necessarily have a contract with Apple that says that the software must not be installed on non-Apple machines. The EULA, in Germany, does NOT constitute a valid contract (I am surprised that it apparently does in the US, it just opens the door to so much fun). And selling people legal copies of Mac OS X DVD does NOT constitute a "distribution" of copyrighted material in the sense of having made illegal copies of such material and distributing those.
If you look at their bankruptcy filing; #1 creditor is one of their directors, which means he personally lost lots of money (about $120,000). Paying back that loan would be very, very dodgy if they don't pay their lawyers as well and keep money around to pay damages to Apple. It is quite possible that these guys just don't have any business sense and you just can't make money selling cheap MacOS X compatible computers.
So professionals are the rear-end of the market...
I still wouldn't want to be the one to tell them that.
Pros who actually need the power of a Mac Pro workstation obviously do not represent the ghost-town at the Best Buy desktop aisle. We're not talking the average consumer here.
For Pros, a Mac Pro or similar workstation is what they need for work. It is an investment that is expected to get them returns. And a lot of them are getting their employers to pick up the cost, which is normal, or finding alternative ways of financing if they can't immediately pay out of pocket. It's always been this way.
Remember that I am talking about contracts between companies. If Psystar was in Germany, this is what the law would expect them to do: Psystar CEO goes into an Apple store. He picks up a box with MacOS X. He doesn't see the exact license terms. He can't just say "I can't see the license terms, so I guess there are none". His first step would be to ask an employee. And that employee says "Mmmh, dunno, maybe it's somewhere on a web site". So the CEO should check the website to find the contract. If he can't find it, call Apple. If they don't answer, and if he can't find the contract terms, there are two things he can do: He can either not buy the box and not enter the contract. Or he can buy the box and accept a contract that he hasn't read, which is an utterly stupid thing to do - because he would be bound by that contract. What he cannot do is claim that he didn't know the contract and expect any German judge to be the least bit interested in that argument.
And of course you forget that the exact license for MacOS X is actually available on Apple's website and it shouldn't take anyone who wants to read it more than a minute to find it. I think it is available in German, but there is precedence that for a German company in the computer business, a contract written in English is just as acceptable (basically, a German company in the computer business can be expected to understand contracts written in English language; that came up in a case about GPL'd software).