Seems that as time goes by, Psystar is becoming more and more elusive when it comes to responding to allegations that they are violating Apple’s license agreement. Their new mac clone has raised a buzz in our world, and it seems as though Psystar are becoming shadier by the minute.

Psystar has now changed their physical address (or so they say). Not only have they done that, but now they are also refusing to take orders. There is a message on their homepage (at least there is as I write this) stating that “We’re in the process of moving to a new location which is now listed on our contact page.” Ok… what now Psystar?

It doesn’t look like things are going to get any better for them. New information has revealed that the company is not only breaching Apple’s license agreement, but also that of the EFI firmware emulation utility. This is the utility they use to fool Leopard into installing on their boxes. Mac User UK has reported that Psystar is using EFI version 8 emulator withour permission of the author.

That’s two strikes Psystar. I think it’s time to take a swing for the fences… But chances are you won’t be able to catch up to the heater Apple’s legal team are bound to be winding up for you.

[via MacNN]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Mac Clones, OpenMac, Psystar

You might have read a report from us earlier about the mac clone maker Psystar and their new, very cheap $399 mac clone. Well, things are getting interesting now and the story is developing.Psystar says that Apple’s restrictive licensing terms violate US antitrust laws… and they want fight them by taking them to court. Shortly after they launched their $399 ‘OpenMac’ their site went down (as I suspected) due to heavy blogging reports and interest around the mac community. I know I certainly wanted to click in to check out what this fuss was all about.

Apple will hold Psystar in violation of their end-user license agreement, which strictly forbids any third-party installations of Leopard. On the other side of the coin a Psystar employee commented that they believe Apple’s terms violate U.S. monopoly laws.

“What if Microsoft said you could only install Windows on Dell computers?” the employee said.

Psystar is going to continue to sell the ‘OpenMac’ system for now. Lets see how long Apple’s lawyers let this drag on for. I would suspect not very long if they can help it.

For more info on Psystar and ‘OpenMac’, it looks like their website is back online. Check it out for yourself. Click here for the finer details and to order ‘OpenMac’.

[via MacNN]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: $399 Mac, Apple Legal, OpenMac, Psystar

Psystar, a little company down in Miami, Florida is selling OpenMac, a Mac clone that comes with Leopard pre-installed for $554. For the price you also get:

• 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
• 250 GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
• 2 GB DDR2 667 RAM
• Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics
• DVD+/-R Optical Drive
• 4 USB ports

Add another $110 and you get an NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT. For another $50 you can have FireWire added. The prices they are selling for are a little higher compared to other OEM PC’s… but hey… Lets chalk that up to the extra cash they’re going to need in their legal fund.
OpenMac is supposed to work with all Mac hardware.

Psystar on OpenMac: 

“OpenMac is a configuration of PC hardware capable of running unmodified OS X Leopard kernels.”

When asked if you can run updates on OpenMac:

“The answer is yes and no. No because there are some updates that are decidedly non-safe. Yes because most updates are not non-safe. It’s best to check on InsanelyMac for this information but when in doubt don’t update it. You may have to reinstall your OS X if it is a non-safe update.”

Lets see how long it takes for Apple to notify their legal team. My guess is they are already on it. In fact, this morning while trying to check their website, it appears to be down. Either they are getting hammered with traffic, or Apple legal has already bitten into them.

[via arstechnica]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Mac Clone, OpenMac, Psystar