Posted 06/09/09 at 11:30:00 AM by Roberto Baldwin

OS X is out there. You’ve seen it in coffee shops, on TV, in the laps of hipsters at the local taqueria. There‘s no shame in wondering what all the fuss is about. Hell, it’s healthy to mix it up a little bit. If only the idea of sending Steve Jobs and the rest of Apple, Inc. thousands of your hard-earned dollars didn’t send you into a cold sweat that only a game of Left4Dead can cure. Still, OS X is the subject of many glowing reviews. Even hardcore PC users are singing its praises. If you have the itch to try out OS X, but you’re not down with shelling out the cash for a new Mac, we have one word for you: Hackintosh.

When Apple announced the move to Intel processors for its computer lineup, the search was on for a practical way to install OS X on non-Apple hardware. Over the years, the best way to achieve this feat was to patch a retail version of the OS X install from Apple. Users would scour the Internet for the patches—always hoping that what they downloaded was indeed the correct patch, and not some virus or trojan horse ready to wreck havoc on their PCs.

But these days the quest for OS X needn’t be so perilous. Read on to see how an inventive little USB device can let you easily dual boot OS X on non-Apple hardware, using a legitimate copy of OS X.

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Posted 05/27/09 at 05:00:34 PM by Andy Salisbury

RussianMac is the latest company ballsy enough to tempt fate, and enter the fake Mac market.

On their site, they state that all of their machines come with a full version of Mac OS X Leopard pre-installed. They also state that the operating system will be able to receive automatic updates from Apple once everything has been installed. However, Apple has been able to dominate the Mac market because the OS X End User License Agreement (EULA), which clearly states that no one may install their software on hardware that hasn’t been sold by Apple. This clause has successfully shut down the entire Mac clone market.

But, in a twist, RussianMac claims that since they have bought the OS directly from Apple, they’re not in violation of the EULA (though, they are yet to explain how they’ve installed it on Apple’s hardware). It should be noted that the German company PearC was able to use that defense in order to sell machines in Germany, so perhaps this defense could work in Russia as well?

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Posted 02/09/09 at 06:32:38 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Legally besieged Mac clone maker Psystar has registered its first legal victory against Apple. U.S District Court Judge William Alsup has given the permission necessary for Psystar to continue its countersuit. The judge lent his assent to those revisions to the countersuit that had been suggested by Psystar after its antitrust charges against Apple were dismissed in November 2008.

Now Apple will have to defend itself against charges pertaining to copyright misuse. “Moreover, if established, misuse would bar enforcement (for the period of misuse) not only as to defendants who are actually party to the challenged license but also as to potential defendants not themselves injured by the misuse who may have similar interests,” Alsup said on Friday.  The court’s latest fiat has rekindled Psystar’s hopes of surviving its legal ordeal upon which its actual survival hinges.

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Posted 12/29/08 at 02:09:40 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Cygnus Systems, a Michigan-based networking firm, has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, Apple, and Google, for the alleged infringement of a patent that it owns. The patent in question pertains to the use of thumbnails in operating systems. Cygnus has issues with the use of thumbnails in Vista, OS X, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, Safari and the Apple iPhone.

According to papers filed in a U.S District Court in Arizona, the patent pertains to "methods and systems for accessing one or more computer files via a graphical icon, wherein the graphical icon includes an image of a selected portion or portions of one or more computer files." The patent was awarded to the company as recently as March, 2008.

If it is able to make its case successfully, a windfall awaits Cygnus as it has two of the leading operating systems, three of the major web browsers and the insanely popular iPhone in its crosshairs.

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Posted 12/03/08 at 05:32:15 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Apple is finding it extremely difficult to avoid being in Greenpeace’s cross hairs. Nearly a year ago, Greenpeace branded the iPhone as “toxic”. Now, the organization has flayed Apple’s pompous claim that its Macbook line of notebooks are the greenest there are.

The Macbook range of notebooks scored a highly disappointing 4.3 out of a possible 10 points on the organization’s green index. Greenpeace did laud Apple, though very frugally, for doing away with bromide flame-retardants and other toxic plastics. But it clearly believes that Apple should take more steps to substantiate its towering claims.

Greenpeace has put the ball in Apple’s court by asking it “to commit to phasing out additional substances with timelines, improve its policy on chemicals and its reporting on chemicals management.”

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Posted 10/30/08 at 08:33:43 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Psystar, a leading Mac clone manufacturer, has stolen a march on Apple by launching the very first OS X-compatible PCs outfitted with Blu-ray drives and GeForce 9800GT graphics cards. Psystar president Rudy Pedraza lampooned Apple, in a press release, for having still not embraced Blu-ray despite the fact that it has already won the HD format war.

He heavily extolled Blu-ray, which he believes is a huge asset for media editing professionals and enterprises - a demographic that Psystar can now serve.

Psystar is certainly trying its best to get under the skin of Apple whose patience must be wearing thin. Around a fortnight ago, Apple and Psystar agreed to an “Alternative Dispute Resolution”. Prior to that, in July, Apple had slapped a lawsuit against Psystar. The latter soon returned the favor by filing a lawsuit of its own against Apple.

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Posted 10/13/08 at 10:00:00 AM by Will Smith

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Posted 07/25/08 at 02:35:23 PM by Pulkit Chandna

OS X has remained an Apple fiefdom and any attempts at liberating the OS have been frowned upon by the company. Earlier this month, Apple initiated legal proceedings against Psystar that sells a Mac-clone. However, the law suit seems to have had very little deterrent value as yet another manufacturer has announced plans to launch its own Mac-clone, though, with a difference – not an endorsement.

Open Tech Inc. has announced the Open Tech Home and the Open Tech XT open PCs that will easily allow users to run OS X. The similarity between Psystar’s outright Mac-clone and Open Tech’s upcoming PCs ends here as the latter’s offerings won’t come with OS X pre-installed, instead, users will have to install it on their own using a meticulously crafted set of instructions. Open Tech believes that this move will shield it from any legal action. But Apple's legal department might hold a different opinion.

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