Psystar: Address Changes, Emulators, And Woz

By David A. Utter - Wed, 04/16/2008 - 5:57pm.

Low-cost Apple cloner viewed with skepticism

The attention-getting tale of a Miami company offering a cheap non-Apple branded personal computer spiraled wildly with several sites offering new aspects of the story.

A little-known company called Psystar attracted attention with its $399 OpenMac offer. Through the use of emulation, the company claimed it could get Mac OS X Leopard to run on a conventional set of PC hardware, at a vastly lower price than Apple offers.

The blogger behind Netkas claimed ownership of the PC EFI v8 emulator, which was designed to do what Psystar offers: provide an emulation layer between Leopard and the underlying hardware. "Redistribution and use in binary form for direct or indirect commercial purposes, with or without modification, is strictly forbidden," the license reads.

When gadget-loving Gizmodo got on the track of Psystar's physical location in Florida, their efforts turned up nothing but a residence at one address listed for them, and an entirely different company at another Psystar address.

"Not only does the Miami Chamber of Commerce and BBB not know anything about any company named Psystar, the actual physical address they listed on their website actually changed halfway through the day yesterday," said Gizmodo's Jason Chen. Gizmodo is calling Psystar a hoax.

If so, they got a lot of people with the gag, including no less an Apple luminary than Steve Wozniak. He told ArsTechnica, "I like the price, so I may get one."

We advise him to hold off on giving Psystar a credit card number anytime soon. Even if Psystar suddenly starts churning out these machines, all it will take is one update from Apple to turn them useless bricks, as they did to people who modified their iPhones.

News Tags: Technology, Apple, Leopard, Clones, Psystar

About the author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Follow me on Twitter, and you can reach me via email at dutter @ webpronews dot com. Why not Mixx this article while you're here?

Comments

Submitted by Consultant (WPN reader) on Fri, 04/18/2008 - 1:42pm.

Speaker scam for the internet era

So how many times they have to list the wrong address in one week?

address (1) 10645 SW 112 St. Miami
address (2) 10481 NW 28th St. Miami
address (3) 10471 NW 28th St. Miami
address (4) 10475 NW 28th St. Miami

If they can't even get their address right, what other things are just "typos?" Perhaps the specs?

Sounds like the speaker scam people calling their address whereever they wind up parking their white van with no windows.

More information on speaker scam:
http://www.scamshield.com/Feature.asp?id=1

Submitted by Consultant (WPN reader) on Fri, 04/18/2008 - 1:26pm.

re: Katerine

Your posting shows a severe lack of knowledge.

Quote: "Every time you buy a MAC it's hardware is already outdated, released like that on purpose."

Did you know?

MacBook Pro 2007: fastest computer in its class at the time
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136649-page,3-c,notebooks/article.html

Mac Pro (2006 or 2007): got the fastest processors months before the competitions were able to use the same processor.

PowerMac G3, January 1999: the case allows the extremely easy upgradability of a Mac compared to the clunky wintel PCs on the market. There are people now still impressed by this almost 10 year Apple design.

Perhaps your knowledge is outdated?

Submitted by Katherine (WPN reader) on Thu, 04/17/2008 - 12:11pm.

Didn't APPLE and HP start off in a GARAGE?

Didn't Apple and HP start off in a Garage? If your really up on it... Apples legal department messed up. A loop hole was discovered about 24 months ago allowing people to use the code legally. Many thousands of users are enjoying OSX on PC yes Intel and AMD hardware. See the Hackintosh project! Get with the times... The Internet is all about the little guy succeding where others failed? I'm glad Google sat picts can show this.... Remember NO ONE ON THE INTERNET knows your a DOG!

I've had great MAC Hardware and also have been BURNED (G3 Powerbook Video issue - see no articles from any publications, yet 10's of thousands are hosed) ! My hat is off to Psystar, someone has the cohoneys to make the rest of the uninformed world that MAC lives regarless of the Hardware used. Apple will continue to flourish with it's innovative product line and GREAT LEADERSHIP. So your APPLE stocks are safe. The only problem from a legal stand point is they are too stupid to put their domain in ARUBA!

Every time you buy a MAC it's hardware is already outdated, released like that on purpose. APPLE has the greatest products in the world. They can't sleep, because all the big boys (Corp's) usually are the ones ripping them off.

Submitted by David A. Utter on Thu, 04/17/2008 - 1:42pm.

Sure they did

The only problem is, no one seems to be able to find Psystar's garage.

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