“Sources indicate that OSx86 10.4.3 – which, as reported in this space, contains increased hardware restrictions – has now been cracked in the same fashion as 10.4.1. It was initially thought that these restrictions would slow the progress of hackers, but it appears that it has done little to deter those tackling the challenge,” Mashugly repots for OSx86 Project.
“While Apple has promised to lock their operating system to their hardware once its released, one must wonder what method they will use and if it will be stronger than the current TPM restrictions. While the TPM technology is itself virtually uncrackable, hackers have been able to fool the OS into thinking it doesn’t need the TPM authentication,” Mashugly writes. “Will Apple ever be able to create a truly hack-proof OS? Right now it seems the score is Apple: 2 (leaked) releases, Hackers: 2 releases. With Intel Macs likely on the way in January, it’s game point and Apple’s move.”
Full article here.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s either genuinely surprised that this happened and very upset about all of this or this is phase three of the “Harrell Dvorak Prophesy”* (ominous organ music) which states:
“Apple will give thousands, possibly millions, of people a taste of Mac OS X running full speed on their own PCs. Apple’s giving their potential future customers a free taste, that’s what they’re doing. It’s a try-before-you-buy deal.” – Harrell
“Allow for Apple to pretend to fight the OS getting out into the wild, so it can then say, ‘There was nothing we could do. This is the OS that people apparently want and need.'” – Dvorak
Could the otherwise frighteningly smart people at Apple really have thought that ‘OSx86’ wouldn’t leak to ‘generic’ PC hardware?
*The “Harrell Dvorak Prophesy” is sort of like Shoemaker Levy. Not as icy, but highly prone to violent collision with software’s current vaporous gas giant, Microsoft. Harrell gets top billing because he called his sighting in first.
Related articles:
Linux advocate calls for Apple to destroy Microsoft by selling Mac OS X for all PCs – November 20, 2005
Will future Intel-based Apple Macs offer multiple OS worlds via virtualization? – November 16, 2005
Apple patent application designed to prevent Mac OS X from running on non-Apple hardware – November 09, 2005
How Apple can win the OS war – October 19, 2005
Intel’s built-in virtualization tech could be one way to run Windows on Intel-based Apple Macs
Intel-based Macs running both Mac OS X and Windows will be good for Apple – June 10, 2005
Why buy a Dell when Apple ‘Macintel’ computers will run both Mac OS X and Windows? – June 08, 2005
Will developers stop writing Mac applications if Apple ‘Macintel’ computers can run Windows? – June 08, 2005
Windows users who try Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger might not want to go back – June 07, 2005
Microsoft: The safest way to run Windows is on your Mac – October 08, 2004
Macs with DNA analysis to prevent hacking.
Hey buy a nice pc and get mac os x free!
Wasn’t it Dvorak that said this was Apple’s plan all along? Allow the hackers to crack the protection to give them the excuse for a general all-PC release.
I still hope whoever said that is wrong. OSX on a Dell. Ugh.
I think apple is using the hacker community as a public beta without having to deal with the risk of bad publicity with a public beta. If some hardware doesn’t work with it or if it runs slowly or badly or crashes Apple says it is not an approved way to run it. It doesn’t seem like any of those things are happening but these hackers are doing a lot of research into how the OS will work on hundreds of different x86 configurations.
I can’t think of any sort of lock or encryption that has never been broken if enough crackers want to break it. DVD Jon or some other hacker will break anything he or she wants.
I think Apple knows that locking it down will never really work. A team of hackers will be working on it day and night for months until they break every lock on it, and all they need is one cracked executable version to spread amongst themselves. Apple is expecting this and is prepared for it somehow.
The new Intel Chips will have excrement analysis DRM built in. Take a stool on your MacTel and if you’re not the owner you will be smeared in your own faeces.
The key point here that Dvorak is missing entirely is that Apple doesnt have the will, desire, or resources to SUPPORT OSX on generic PC hardware. They aren’t going to suddenly throw up their hands and say ‘oh well, if it breaks, call us’.
These hacks are for a very very limited audience of people and aren’t going to find their way into the mainstream. The same audience that hacks this thing is the same audience that somehow feels that it isn’t neccessary to pay anyone for anything, so they aren’t losing much.
Part of the installation should require the consumption of a packet of refreshing kool-aid disolved in cool water!
I don’t think SJ has any problems with hackers getting OSX onto machines that Apple has already been running it on for the past 5 years.
Cheap testing, allowing Windows users a taste, and another great build up to the Intel switch. Apple has nothing to lose right now with OSX ‘in the wild’, since its still being modified, patched and updated. Leopard is on its way and then we’ll see what direction Apple is going.
‘slowly’ One step at a tme, the Apple way
OS X on a generic PC will have as much impact as Linux on an Xbox.
I wish somebody would hack the thing so it would run good on my hinkey old low end iMac G3.
It’s funny that the security via obscurity myth doesn’t seem to hold up in the case of the OS, but I guess virus writers still aren’t very interested in the platform…
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it is inevitable. you can’t stop hecking mac os X86 now. it’s been late. for a long term, finally mac os x will be possible to run any computer no matter what you concern. I think that this is not problem but more benefit to spread mac os x with macintosh for market share. on the other side, MS windoze will finally be fallen to the hell. for me, it is good one.
I think it’s importnat to remember why the PC business is sucha mess now( well we all know the Windos sux), but another huge factor is that there is no control over the end useres experience with the system as a whole. It’s no wonder that Apple computers outlast a generic PC, because Apple has controls what is allowed to be experienced by the end user. This approach is what makes ipod+ itunes such a great customer experience. Now compare that to having a poor shmuck with a Rio connected to a clone and downloading files from Napster. Sure, it will work, but i’ll bet it wasn’t as hassle free as with itunes. Back to computers, One of my pet peeves is when people get the cheapest possible companents to replace the computer parts and the year after there wondering why the same componant failed again.
(sigh) Hackers. It’s happening right under their nose, and they still don’t get it.
How long has it been since the x86 version of 10.4.3 was released? I don’t remember, but it sure as crap has been longer than 48 hours, which is how long the Slashdot crowd was predicting the hack would take. Each release of this OS has taken longer to be broken, yet once it happens, the hacker community crows victory.
APPLE IS USING THESE IDIOTS FOR RESEARCH! Apple will take a look at this hack, see how it was done, and use that information to make 10.4.4 even harder to hack. Of course, the hackers will succeed after four or more weeks of trying (and do their “we rule” dance on the Internet). Then Apple will study that hack and around we go again.
The end goal is not an unhackable OS (that’s impossible), but one that can only be installed on a PC via a process so convoluted, no one but hobbyists will bother. They’re pretty close now. Have you seen the hoops you have to jump through to get OS X running on a PC?
Hackers think they’ve beaten Apple. But Apple is winning because they’re fighting for a different goal. You don’t need to prevent something when you can just make it so difficult that no one bothers.
…all that to say that OS X open to all PC’s could possibly destroy the reason why Macintosh’s are such great computer:Control
Here’s what will happen. OSX86 comes out with new Macs. It gets hacked to work on any old hardware, but the virus writers have an absolute field day planting malicious code in the bittorrent disk images so the poor suckers who install it end up with the first ever virus-infested OSX machines.
Story is picked up by the press. “Macs no longer virus free,” they’ll cry. “OSX as vulnerable as Windows.”
Apple issues a very public “we don’t support OSX on non-Mac hardware. Installing illegally obtained copies of OSX on generic Intel PCs will probably result in viruses and other problems infecting your machine. Only buy a Mac if you want to run OSX virus-free.”
Story is picked up by the press again. General public becomes aware that only Macs, not PCs, running OSX, are virus free. Apple’s hardware platform is secured against loss of sales to PCs running hacked OSX86.
World is safe again.
Timeline for this to play out: about 12-18 months.
This is some of the best free advertisment Apple can get.
So little Stevie Dickens will surely stomp it out. Nothing scares that man worse than advertising.
As Apple releases ‘Developer Previews’ of OS X for x86, the hackers are doing some of Apple’s work for them. By watching HOW they circumvent the software, Apple can close the holes before they ever release the ‘Official’ version or Gold Master.
To me, having a leaked OS X for x86 is like giving away a trial version. I doubt anyone will use it for more than curiosity. And that can only lead to more potential sales rather than lost sales.
More people getting exposed to OS X is good for Apple. Regardless of what platform the user initially plays with it on.
The cost of support for non-Mac hardware would be a big issue for Apple. Not only do they not get revenue from sales of hardware, they have to pay for the troubleshooting of generic PC machines.
Not officially allowing use of OS X on generic PCs will save them more in terms of support costs, but they will also lose money in terms of revenue from OS sales.
Maybe in the short term Apple will be forced to offer limited OEMing of OS X provided that the hardware design of those machines is restricted to Apple approved designs. That way they get revenue from OS sales whilst minizing their support costs.
I think some people are missing something important…
The potential problem is not that copies of X will circulate in the wild (it does and it will). Some people will bother to jump through those hoops just for the sake of getting something for free and beating the system.
Although we will probably not see a recurrence with OS X of the MS DOS pirating triumph that helped to catapult M$ to the top all it will take is for enough of these freebies to find their way onto substandard boxes and laptops that the perception shifts in the public eye that X is just as bad as Windows. Just as non-geeks do not care that whether there is a PPC chip or an Intel chip in their box they will not make the distinction that Apple does not support their system, only that it doesn’t work correctly. Remember that the Mac is the computer “that just works”.
Political concerns must always be taken into account when stepping into a foreign theatre for battle. Apple is the underdog and is rooted for like no other. That could change if market share increases enough to alter the perception of Apple as the little/good guy/underdog. Apple must prepare better against the unauthorized installation of its’ OS. Apple has the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any computer maker http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/story/0,10801,103959,00.html and they know they must protect that or “the alternative OS for the masses” will cease to exist. Better is only better if people buy it. I don’t believe that Apple could survive another 5 – 10 years like they did under Spindler and the like.
This may seem odd but there is an analogy in beer in the 80s. What is purported to have happened should be a lesson for all in the business world. An ad exec at Joseph Schlitz Brewery advised the company that by cutting the cost of brewing ingredients they could earn more profit with only 10% of their customers being able to notice the difference. That 10% did notice and they stopped drinking Schlitz. But…they also told their friends (who presumably could not taste the difference) that Schlitz had turned to excrement water. The perception that their beer was high quality evaporated in only a couple of years (that is a fact). Schlitz was sold to Stroh’s in 1982. Take it for what it’s worth.
I can sell people on the Mac. It has gotten easier with Windows most recent problems (and no reported fix in sight). That will not be the case if Apple does not harden their fortress.
Hackers need to lay off OS X until after it’s a cemmercial reality. Right now all they’re likely doing is giving Steve a case of the hives and helping to ensure that OS X on Intel winds up as copy protected and restrictive as that other commercial OS is.
Okay, I’ve got it.
Instead of a trial version, it will be “hacked version.”
Make it hackable after an ENORMOUS amount of time and effort, but the kernel will know it’s been hacked and move into “hacked mode”.
The display will glitch and flash, the system will freeze with no response, and it slows down to a crawl. This will happen every 3 minutes, but only last for 5 seconds at a time.
It will be such a relief to run a real mac system with mac hardware, even if it’s the cheapest mac out there.
…….Or maybe, Apple just don’t give a rat’s ass. It’ not like the hacked versions are going to go mainstream. That wouldnt be illegal. plius, notice these are people who have tinkered with computers. The average user wouldn’t be able to do this.
Apple thrives on OS X. Liscensing it would be suicide. Not to mention a stupid move. Apple is above and beyone its competition. They don’t need to sell out to prove it.
One effective approach to stop widespread copying is to lock OS X to a 64-bit CPU.
That will leave all the existing 32-bit x86 boxes out until hardware manufacturers get around to build machiens with the same processors Apple will use.