MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

My projected income in 2011 is between 0 and 1 million dollars/yens/euros/pounds/peanuts.

MDN Magic Word : Trade. That's what I'm hoping for. Trade.

Nov 26, 09 - 12:13 pm Comment from: silverhawk

Happy Thanksgiving to the Pedroza brothers!

From the vocal protestations and ejaculations of the (two?) PisStar customers posting on this site, one would think the company sold 768,000 units, not 768.

Given the paucity of units involved here, I wonder if Apple will insist on their return/destruction in the "relief" hearing next month. Can't wait to find out.

Nov 26, 09 - 12:21 pm Comment from: iPhoner

In other (welcome) news:

Psystar website has been in terminal spinning gear mode for days.

http://www.psystar.com/

Half of them went to Ratty

Nov 26, 09 - 12:46 pm Comment from: qka

Or maybe "Rattymouse" is also "I'm a PC".

Still lives in his parents basement, still using the low end Dell he got for graduation from High School 3 years ago, still dreaming of bigger things while working at McDonalds.

Nov 26, 09 - 12:48 pm Comment from: breeze

gobble gobble

Nov 26, 09 - 12:52 pm Comment from: qka

768 units????

That's not enough profit to pay rent, let alone utilities and other business expenses.

Like expensive lawyers to wage court cases on both coasts.

This news is going to fuel the conspiracy theories, big time!

So someone has lost a lot of money somewhere financing that sort of output. That put alongside the story about Apple having 48% of profits on retail computer sails perhaps suggests why someone somewhere might have thought the cost would be worthwhile if it succeeded in sabotaging that profit margin. Interesting, lets the rejuvenation of the conspiracy theories.

They were met with incredulity, then insults, and finally laughed out of The Dragon's Den.

Nov 26, 09 - 01:15 pm Comment from: DogGone

OK - now I see what they were up to. They were trying to sell the idea of Mac clones to investors and hoping to get rich quick. Problem is that most savvy investors would never get into anything that has clear legal issues.

These guys probably made $50 on each unit which probably just covered their labor costs.

Of course they have had to spend a lot in legal costs so this probably wasn't the best idea.

768: The number of "Pedraza" listings in the Miami phone book.

Nov 26, 09 - 01:31 pm Comment from: MacRaven

Gee, where's Rattlemouse, Rattymouse (or whatever he morphs to) when you want to abuse him?

I would hate to have been one of those venture capitalists who fell for their bull!

Cause come Monday next theirs going to be hell to pay...

Unfortunately, their site is still up and functional. If you want to read something truly funny (or purely sad, or delusional, or all of the above), click on Community, then About the Case, and read the two (!) comments, that are both obviously posted by Psystar itself.

More comedy gold from Florida, the Sunshine State.

MDN word: "schools," as in "My goodness, what _are_ schools teaching these days when crap artists like the people behind Psystar think that they can build a business based on theft?"

@ DogGone – Actually, if you read the Groklaw writeup for the Psystar case, you'll see that Psystar actually pitched the lawsuit as a way of freezing out competition.

"The on-going litigation will insulate Psystar from competing with other PC manufacturers in the OS X arena" they stated, in a pitch to VC's.

Groklaw concludes that they wanted to get sued, so others would be afraid to do what Psystar was doing until after the trial, and meanwhile the publicity would give Psystar brand recognition and a head start. Indeed the Summary page at the end states it baldly: "Thanks to ongoing litigation and current market conditions Psystar has a unique opportunity." Unique is too small a word for this, I think. Litigation as business plan. So now we know why it seemed to want to get sued. They thought it was a market opportunity and a way to get VC money.

It seems "litigation as a business plan" is coming up more frequently these days…

Seriously, I just ordered $10,000.00 worth of computers from Psystar's web site. They processed my order, gave me a confirmation number and now they're waiting for my check. Right... lol

Nov 26, 09 - 03:19 pm Comment from: Frank

Surely the vencaps pumpimg money into this venture must have known they'd not recoup there investment

I'd like to know, if they actually got anyone to invest?

If so, I would love their contact info!

I am sure I could come up with something for them to invest in

Nov 26, 09 - 03:48 pm Comment from: LordRobin

Rattymouse claims that he is reponsible for four of Psystar's sales. That makes him 0.5% of Psystar's total business! He might be their best customer!

------RM

Could you Americans please learn the correct usage of the following:
'then'
'than'
'their'
'there'

Dear MacDaily, it's Thanksgiving and I'm trying to relax and not tax my brain too much. I have no idea what 'Lah-who-suh-hers' means.
Can you stop being so cute for one day and explain.

Could you please learn not to be so rude? Go stand by the wall, while we Americans dance with the English language.

Nov 26, 09 - 04:36 pm Comment from: tcsdoc

It means 'Loser' and there is a comedian or TV show that uses it as a 'tag line'. I've heard it before but don't remember where.

thats not dancing, it's illiteracy

i thought they didn't keep any records. which is why they had nothing to give the courts about the damage they had done to Apple

looks like they were fibbing.

as for the head start bit. it sounds like a good idea on paper but of course it wasn't going to work. not when you have one shop in the corner of the country and no tech support to offer anyone. not without days of shipping etc. and the only companies fully trained to deal with Mac OS X are authorized repair shops that aren't going to risk that gig by touching your stuff

Nov 26, 09 - 04:59 pm Comment from: twilightmoon

Illiteracy means you can't read. It has nothing to do with not being able to spell or poor grammar.

" Could you Americans please learn the correct usage of the following"

Nope we do it to piss of pompous ass's like you, so their! What a frigtard

Frankly from the prevalence of confusion over the differences between "there", "they're", "their", "it's", "its", "too", etc, I'd say without the least hesitation that the English-'speaking'-Web-world in general and America in particular are about as close to functionally illiterate as it is possible to become, while still being able to recognise that "words 'n' letters 'n' numbers 'n' shit" have meaning.

MDN word: "bad" as in "Most Americans' English is pretty bad."

I read the story yesterday, and my vague recollection is that Macs and Rebel EFI sold a little less than 1000 units, and that there was an estimate of Gross Profit of about $240,000. This struck me as odd, as that would put their Gross Profit per unit at around $240. Seems they have a higher markup than Apple.

Nov 26, 09 - 06:53 pm Comment from: twilightmoon

I'd say without the least hesitation that the English-'speaking'-Web-world in general and America in particular are about as close to functionally illiterate as it is possible to become

1. I'm not sure why America is being singled out here, there are dumb and ignorant people on all cultures and all languages.
2. Is functionally illiterate an objectively definable term?

I love the English lanuage and I try to use it properly, although I'm sure I make plenty of mistakes. Some on pupose and some unintentionally. I don't like seeing their and there and they're misused but sometimes I'll do it myself when I'm typing in a hurry.

I'm not sure given all the terrible things people do to each other that it's that important to get overly pedantic about grammar and language usage.

But each his or her own I suppose.

@iPhoner,

"In other (welcome) news:
Psystar website has been in terminal spinning gear mode for days."

Just been there, out of morbid curiousity, and seems to be working ok and still flogging the same crap, unfortunately.

Along with its calls for restitution, Apple should be demanding the taking down of this site as a matter of urgency.

Nov 26, 09 - 09:47 pm Comment from: AlanAudio

@ twilightmoon
"Illiteracy means you can't read. It has nothing to do with not being able to spell or poor grammar."

Try hovering the mouse over the word 'illiteracy' and press Control Command D

Apple's dictionary will tell you that it means inability to read or write.

It goes on to alternatively define it as lack of knowledge, lack of education.

Nov 26, 09 - 11:51 pm Comment from: shen

but that can't be true! 768?!?

every 5 minutes some windows sufferer says that if OS X would install on any machine Apple would soon rule the world!

Nov 27, 09 - 01:37 am Comment from: twilightmoon

AlanAudio

I was on my iPhone when I posted that as I am still now.

Even as defined as an ability to write even with poor grammar or spelling you can still write and are not technically illiterate in that sense but perhaps it does indicate a lack of proper education.

Nov 27, 09 - 06:40 am Comment from: Swordmaker

Funny! From reading the court reports of Apple's expert witness, It looks as if Apple bought almost 1% of Psystar's total output!

Nov 27, 09 - 10:17 am Comment from: bobchr

@daugav369pils

'Lah-who-suh-hers' decomposed phraseology for the term losers, ref Jim Cary in the "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective" series of films.

It seems likely that the investors who bought into Psystar's original sales pitch are now funding their legal defense. Based on the numbers that Psystar provided in their market analysis and proposal, there would have been a huge amount of profit. Their business strategy (including the welcomed lawsuit and associated publicity) is actually quite savvy, if somewhat distasteful.

Their whole business model hinges on one simple point - that Apple's OS restrictions are not enforceable. It's a huge risk, for a huge gain. There are plenty of venture capital firms out there looking for exactly these kinds of opportunities. They don't go all-in to any one of them, but it only takes one to hit to make stock-market-beating returns on the portfolio. That's how that game works (for those that have enough money to play in it).

But in this case, if Psystar can't defeat Apple's OS restrictions, then they have nothing, and any investments in the company bought only lawyer salaries, court costs, and (I'm betting) excellent salaries, rich comps and benefits and self-prescribed bonuses for the executive officers of the company.

Nov 27, 09 - 04:37 pm Comment from: montex

@Proud Puppy

So you're proud of your ignorance? Do you think standing up for idiocy is a nobel gesture? Are you one of those people who puts down others because they are "intellectual elitists"? If so there is a political campaign that is perfect for you. Palin 2012. She needs more people just like you.

Nov 27, 09 - 06:42 pm Comment from: lurker

Um, montex, that would be "noble".

Nov 27, 09 - 07:07 pm Comment from: lurker

But , I agree with your point. "Idiocracy" seems to be ever more prophetic.

Nov 28, 09 - 02:02 pm Comment from: kenh

"Their whole business model hinges on one simple point - that Apple's OS restrictions are not enforceable. It's a huge risk, for a huge gain. There are plenty of venture capital firms out there looking for exactly these kinds of opportunities."

Huge risk, yes. Huge gain, not nearly so much. Let's say someone is able to find a way to steal Apples work. At that point, you have just bought yourself a product that either can't or won't be developed any further, because what you cannot buy is the efforts of the people at Apple to do any more development.

Yes, you might kill the original artist, but where are you really going to go with your pirate version of your operating system or song? It might seem like something for a year or so, but the buyers of your "product" are very unreliable, that's why they come to you in the first place. Snakes seek out snakes to do business with, death spiral to follow.

As someone who has done graphic art for a living, when the thieves who steal others work get together, they die together.
That is called street justice.

Nov 28, 09 - 09:36 pm Comment from: NCIceman

All this proves is that its not just the OS, its the whole experience that Apple sells and that customers want.

Nov 29, 09 - 11:48 pm Comment from: Tommy L NEEL

So leave to some ass-hat like 'montex' to do what no other poster in this forum has done, tied in sending a quick comment into a forum to Sarah Paln. (Good lord, she's hot). Leave your useless political opinions to yourself. No one cares or wants to read them. So what if someone screws up their comments - it's quick and dirty and meant to leave a thought. We're not writing our final thesis, we're giving our .02 on the topic at hand. So yea, piss off if you can't decipher someone's 'there' or 'their'. It was more than likely an honest mistake.