“Apple and Mac clone maker Psystar traded barbs last week in federal court as they simultaneously asked a judge to end the case that began more than 15 months ago,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld.
“Florida-based Psystar took the unusual step of conceding to an injunction, saying that it would agree to stop using Mac OS X 10.5, aka Leopard, on the machines it sells,” Keizer reports.
“The two companies have been battling since July 2008, when Apple sued Psystar over the latter’s practice of installing Apple’s Mac OS X operating system on generic Intel-based computers,” Keizer reports.
“Psystar said it would agree to an injunction preventing it from using Mac OS X 10.5, aka Leopard. ‘Psystar will happily submit to an appropriately tailored injunction … limited to Psystar’s allegedly illegal activities involving OS X Leopard, since it is only OS X Leopard that this case concerns. Since neither Psystar nor Apple sells OS X Leopard any longer, it is no great burden for Psystar to agree to such an injunction,’ its lawyers said in the competing Psystar motion,” Keizer reports. “That concession, however, is meaningless, since as Psystar noted, it now sells Mac OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard, with its computers.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: When all is said and done, the amount of bad karma amassed by these illiterate wiseasses at Psystar and their unprofessional amateur-hour “legal team” will be enough to blow a hole in Florida bigger than Okeechobee. Lake Psystar is bound to be filed with raw sewage, no doubt.
OK, who would fund this silly-season nonsense? Either Gates is just trying to mess w/Jobs and bug him, or Soros has too much time on his hands and this is his idea of a joke. In either case, U.S. federal courts are allowing others to waste their time and our tax dollars.
Send ’em to jail for squandering tax payer money, the louts.
So now a new lawsuit for Snow Leopard. Only Leopard has been resolved, Snow Leopard is still on the table it appears.
Plenty of parties other than Microsoft would benefit from Apple ceasing to exist.
Psystar is also pushing a motion seeking to allow it to reveal to the public the details of the technological security measures in OS X. http://www.edibleapple.com/psystar-and-apple-fued-over-whether-the-security-measures-in-os-x-should-be-made-publicly-available/
But if Snow Leopard is only available as an upgrade to Leopard, and they quit using Leopard, how can they use Snow Leopard?
Groklaw has an interesting take that Psystar’s case is more an attack on FOSS (open source software) than on Apple. I really wish we could follow the money—that would answer a great many questions.
Microsoft has the most to lose if Psystar wins. It would result in an OS option for Dell, HP, etc.
It is the hardware manufacturers that stand to benefit from this.
Every boxed copy of OS X any version is an upgrade.
@ Palmer – Not necessarily. Microsoft knows their business model is unsustainable without a monopoly position. If they can make it legal for OS X to be installed on cheapo POS crap from Dell and others, Apple would have a very difficult time keeping OS X development profitable under such an onslaught.
Of course, Apple would most likely turn towards some other approach to OS updates aside from purchasing a boxed disc from a store shelf (online only purchases, perhaps, tied to a known valid license per Mac), though almost anything they do would be decried by the Usual Suspects as “too closed”.
So it’d be a risky gambit for Microsoft to take, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean they’re not at least partially involved. Particularly with Groklaw’s thoughts that the Psystar case also involves an attack on FOSS licensing.
All Psystar has to do is stop including OS X with their machines. Make the user buy their own copy of OS X (or Windows or some other form of Unix)
Most people looking for a cheep bargain would know how to install the OS on their own.
The rest can install Windows.
I can see this as just a neverending story.
Next the trial will start on Apple vs Psystar for 10.6 all the while Psystar continues to sell 10.6 during the time leading to trial.
by the time the trial gets close, OS 10.7 will be released and Psystar will “happily” agree to injunction to stop selling 10.6
Psystar is doing this on purpose and wasting everyones time, but who’s money?
@ do not understand
I had the same exact thought. Snow leopard can’t be installed without Leopard. What gives?
@ do not understand and @ gRen
Snow can be installed over any machine if you purchase the full license with iLife and iWork ($169). Makes an even better clone then.
@Do Not Understand, gRen, and EdwardD20,
Snow Leopard can be installed on any supported Mac even if you don’t buy the $169 package. Buy the $29 version and install it over Tiger, Panther, whatever. The $169 version is no different than the $29 version. Apple never really enforces those things – witness Leopard running on my vastly unsupported 450 MHz. G4 Cube.
Absolutely. I installed SN quickly and easily on a HD with no previous system on it. Lots of people did the same- erase their HDs and install a nice fresh copy of SN.
ShiteStar wouldn’t hesitate to do the same..
@ Do Not Understand.
Snow Leopard is more than just an update to Leopard on the $29 Disc.
I’ve been able to do a clean install of Snow Leopard on My iMac. I had 10.5 Leopard on it, so I am being honest to Apple in my case. I Zero & Wiped out my HDD an just installed 10.6.. I just don’t like the idea of Installing an OS over another like the $29 disc was intended for. Whatever old junk you may have had will still be there. Nothing like a fresh install on a clean HDD.
About Psystar: I am on Apple’s side, but I do give Psystar some credit for making it this far and still selling PC’s with Mac OS X. Me, I came to Mac in 2005 because of the OS, not because of Apple Hardware. But I have to pick favorites in Apple’s Lineup cause there isn’t much choice. But I do get complimented on the looks of my iMac and even more so with my old Mac Mini G4. People see a Psystar & they’ll think it’s a noisy Wintel Box.
“That concession, however, is meaningless, since as Psystar noted, it now sells Mac OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard, with its computers.”
This is quickly becoming a situation in which a baseball bat will need to be applied to someone’s knees. Naughty, naughty Psystar.
The Apple ninjas should have taken care of this months ago.
Looks like it’s time for some new ninjas.
@ Do not understand
The “retail” Snow Leopard disc that costs $29 is intended as an upgrade of an existing Leopard installation (all retail Mac OS X retail discs ever sold are technically “upgrades” since every Mac already comes with some version of Mac OS). However, that Snow Leopard disc is a full installation disc. There is nothing technical that will prevent Pystar from doing the same thing that they did with Leopard. Since they were violating the Leopard license before, why would they feel suddenly compelled to pay attention to the Snow Leopard license. From their warped perspective, if they can buy it, they can do whatever they want with it.
Shyster was losing the case over Leopard, badly, so cut their losses and move on to suing over Snow Leopard. What a bunch of feces.
Gabriel writes:
“If they can make it legal for OS X to be installed on cheapo POS crap from Dell and others, Apple would have a very difficult time keeping OS X development profitable under such an onslaught.”
This is a very interesting point. Let’s put it in conjunction with another piece of recent information, that Macs represent just 40% of Apple’s revenue (mentioned in a recent MDN article). If iPhone and perhaps the mythical iTablet — basically the whole iApp architecture — explodes and grows the way some expect, Macs, even at higher sales rates than today, could shrink to a small fraction of Apple’s revenue (south of 10%). When that happens, what harm would Apple experience in licensing OS X to other hardware makers? The conditions would be strictly controlled, perhaps limited to a handful of partners, especially initially, but then Apple could grow market share in huge leaps and bounds and still sell high-end hardware. Profits wouldn’t be hurt much at all.
Intriguing scenario, isn’t it? Several years away, but could be coming.
— Marc
Does anyone know anyone who has bought one of these machines? Are they even selling any?
If the iPhone and mythical iTablet explodes and grows the way some expect, the revenue that Macs represent would increase proportionally. Halo effect? You bet.
Whether it accounted for 40% or 4% of their revenue, however, the harm Apple would suffer in licensing out OS X would be the death of the Mac platform. The whole “let’s allow 3rd parties to sell Mac clones!” business has been tried before. It didn’t work. It catastrophically didn’t work. It’s not like Steve Jobs killed it on his return just for kicks.
Don’t get why your Poll gives Rush Limbaugh as an answer. Rush has been a die hard Mac fan even through the hard time 1980’s. He brags profusely about his Macs and can afford to buy as many as he wants. What interest would he have in supporting Phystar?
Hopefully you added it only to tweak some people, but on the whole it made no sense.
The Psystar business model makes no sense, especially if you add legal overhead. Those who think something else (paid by some body else) is going on, are probably on to something. Psystar’s lawyers have been professional enough so far to have dodged disclosure of their backers, and I don’t think they care how much bad karma they create. Psystar does not appear to be a real computer business, but rather an underhanded legal challenge.