Psystar Corporation, the self-described “leading manufacturer of OS X-compatible PCs,” is now shipping PCs with Blu-ray optical disc drives and the nVidia®9800GT graphics card. Psystar is shipping Blue-ray and 9800GT equipped computers before Apple’s release of these peripheral products on their own computers.
According to Psystar, Apple, the developer of what Psystar calls the “OS X operating system” – conveniently dropping the “Mac” from the operating system’s name, “has chosen to delay support for Blu-ray with Apple CEO Steve Jobs citing it as ‘a bag of hurt’ during the recent release of the new Apple notebooks.”
Psystar president Rudy Pedraza, “Blu-ray has already won the format war. Not only is there fully functional and mature support for Blu-ray in other operating systems but you can now rent Blu-ray discs from almost any rental chain. Blu-ray has become pervasive technology that is being widely adopted by consumers everywhere.”
Pedraza also pointed out that “Blu-ray is not just for movies. The ability to burn 25-gigabyte discs is a feature that can help users in media editing or enterprise environments keep archives of large file sets. Our systems, regardless of configured operating system, can now provide this functionality.”
MacDailyNews Note: From Psystar’s FAQ: Blu-Ray Read/Write capabilities are fully functional in all operating systems offered by Psystar. Blu-Ray video playback requires support from the media player software. There is no Blu-Ray software capable of playing back Blu-Ray video for Mac OS or Linux.
Psystar has also brought nVidia’s GeForce 9800GT graphics card to its line of OS X compatible Open Computers. The GeForce 9800GT brings increased graphics performance for high-end game play and media editing. The GeForce 9-series has become ubiquitous in today’s PC hardware market although Apple currently does not currently offer the 9800GT on any computer.
Source: Psystar
Separately, a spokesperson for Psystar told one AppleInsider in an email that the company is hard at work on its first Mac notebook clone, which it plans to price aggressively
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s Power Computing all over again, but without the license.
Well, Psystar is obviously not selling to ordinary consumers, so those who buy it will know exactly what they are getting. It is funny, though that they don’t even know that there ARE Blu-ray software solutions for Mac; they just don’t play back DRM-infested Blu-ray discs.
Thes guys are really begging for more legal trouble. Rather than keeping a low profile, hoping they could gain sympathy from some uninformed juror(s), they keep poking the hungry bear.
Do they really believe they can win?
Didn’t I just read a week or two ago that Apple and Psystar were settling this whole thing privately?
Either Psystar is really stupid, or they have a “wink wink” deal with Apple to keep on creating these systems.
Anybody?
Isn’t Psystar in court for this? They are provoking Apple and making fun of the judiciary system!
Good for them! If Apple refuses to make systems using the technology that users want, then somebody else will. Perhaps this will give Apple the kick in the pants it needs to get off its high horse and start giving consumers what they want rather than what they tell us we want.
If Psystar was making a book this would be called Plagerism. Somone else writes the code intended for distribution in a manner that they developed and then someone says “we’ll just take that work and turn a profit” I dont see how they could defend their right to steal Apple’s core product [sic]
They’re already in it so deep what more do they have to lose. Can Apple kill them twice?
@Chester Cheetah
Yes it certainly would be nice to get a blue ray in the mac, but you know that people would then complain even more for no good reason as usual for the increase in price for putting one in. Now don’t get me wrong I’m all for putting blue ray drives in the machines I’m just against the idiots who would buy them and complain they aren’t DVD drive prices.
‘”wink wink” deal with Apple to keep on creating these systems.’
Or they have a wealthy friend who’s recent dumping of ridiculous amounts of cash into advertising their product has failed miserably and is getting trounced by Apple Inc. more and more all the time.
I notice they don’t mention that the 9800GT is virtually identical to the 8800GT, which Apple does ship.
I might be wrong on this, but I believe there’s a reason Apple agreed to non-binding arbitration with Psystar – they know that the EULA is legally untested, and if they were to lose, the ramifications would dismantle Apple’s restrictions on OS X.
My guess is Psystar will eventually go away quietly, but only after paying Apple a healthy royalty. Until then, it’s business as usual for Psystar.
power computing made some good machines. i thought the psystar stuff was junk?
Its about time a company listens to what consumers want instead of dictating what it believes they need.
Psystar is rapidly turning into the small hero battling the big bad giant (sound familiar?)
This is yet more compelling evidence that Apple must be forced to licence OS X to open up customer choice and drive competition. Mid-range headless ‘Macs’ and matte-screen laptops are both products which have a LARGE potential market – and yet Apple is purposefully denying this market any product to fulfil their needs… and instead forcing customers to into an extremely limited choice from a constrained range of Apple-branded hardware.
Considering the thousands of dollars most users have invested in Mac-based software – tying them into the system – Apple’s business-practices must be bordering on the illegal. The new laptop fiasco – with its wilful disregard for the varying needs of the company’s wide customer-base (many of whom are long-term investors in the company) – has proven what happens when a company has manoeuvred itself to be without competition within its product area.
Licensing OS X would force Apple to pay more attention to fulfilling customer needs… rather than attempting to dictate them. In so much, it can only be a healthy move.
MW: ‘change’. Exactly.
To:MacDonald
Dont forget what Henry Ford said to reporters when asked why he didnt give them what customers asked for.
They said they would rather have a faster horse.
It takes someone like Jobs to see around the corner and anticipate where, when and how they wish to get there. If you believe that unfettered access to others work and take credit for their labors is ok then your job would be in jeopardy too.
Power Computing all over again?
Not quite. For those of use that did buy a Power Computing Mac clone, it was actually better then the Apple counter parts it was competing against. They designed a way for the processors to have large cash access. They INNOVATED. This is not innovation, this is simply getting new available parts and throwing them together.
Besides, what good is it to have an unsupported BluRay Player on your Mac?
@Twenty Benson
Rubbish. hero my ass. They are blatantly infringing copyright law, their is nothing heroic about that.
blu-ray is nearly dead (4% market penetration? Not even $150 players will save it)…and Psystar is going suffer badly. Sorry…but it’s just a ridiculous effort. Who wants an unsupported system, likely to become an orphan…that sounds like a tiny chain saw?
rattymouse ate bad cheese
@Chester Cheetah
I want a Solar-Powered, Hover-Car, with the latest specs, and I want it for less than $500.
I want you to provide it to me NOW.
If you don’t give me what I want, when I want it, I will do illegal things to you and your company and then my defense will be merely that I wanted it and you didn’t give it to me.
In the Court of Chester Cheetah, I would, of course, be found Not Guilty, plus I would be awarded legal costs and damages for “emotional harm”.
Psystar is the 2×4 that’s needed to get Steve Jobs to add Blueray and an advanced graphics card in future macintosh hardware.
“… the way of the future with OS X”? So Pystar are going to take on the task of developing OS X are they? I think not.
@Rattymouse
Deal with this. Even if Psystar wins, the only thing they will win is a plethora of competition. Do you think for one second that the likes of DELL and HP will not jump on this bandwagon. Or even Chinese made Mac clones. Psystar is fighting a losing battle. Even if they win, the lose.
@sugar grove
“Dont forget what Henry Ford said to reporters when asked why he didnt give them what customers asked for. They said they would rather have a faster horse.”
Yawn. We’ve got past that stage in proceedings. Horses aside, Henry Ford had to accept competition using his own innovations eventually. The time has come for Jobs must do the same… if Apple’s Macs are so ‘insanely great’ he’s got nothing to worry about from a bit of competition.
@Mac-nugget
“Rubbish. hero my ass. They are blatantly infringing copyright law”
No, the law is an ass – if it is the friend of a monopolist who is preventing the customer a freedom of choice in meeting his or her needs, and the manufacturer the freedom to build open hardware to meet those needs. Laws get amended.
@Rattymouse
It might not matter to you, but it will matter to Psystar being the way of the future for OSX.
If Apple is forced to open OSX to licensing, forget getting OSX $129 a license. Also, it could seriously undermine Apple’s ability to continue OSX development. You know that currently, it’s subsidized by hardware sales. With out them, what is the incentive?
@Twenty Benson
OSX + Mac = Apple Solution = $$$ = OSX development
OSX – Mac = No Apple Solution = 0$ = no OSX development.
You get it.
@Chester Cheetah
Go home please.