<IT WORLD>
Mac attack over PC's Leopard capture
By Martin J Young

HUA HIN, Thailand - A Miami-based IT company has found itself in the middle of a legal battle with industry giant Apple over its end-user license agreement (EULA) and use of Apple software on its own new line of enterprising products.

Psystar began selling clone Macs this week for just under US$400 using, standard PC hardware and Macintosh OSX. The "Hackintosh" doppelgangers were first marketed as Open Macs, but following some strong-arming by their fruity opponents the name has been changed to Open Computer.

Essentially they are built from off-the-shelf PC components. The entry level machine consists of an Intel Dual Core 2.2GHz processor, two gigabytes of DDR2 memory, Intel GMA 950 graphics and a 250 Gigabyte hard drive. The equivalent Apple product, Mac Pro, would cost in the region of $2,000 and come in a sleek case. Using readily available software to emulate Apple's firmware and a few additional drivers, Psystar has installed onto the budget conscious machines Apple's latest operating system, Leopard.

Psystar's website, which was inundated earlier this week, offers the system with Leopard pre-installed for only $399 claiming, "The highly extensible Open Computer is a configuration of PC hardware capable of running unmodified OS X Leopard kernels. If you purchase Leopard with your Open Computer we will not only include the actual Leopard retail package with genuine installation disc, but we also preinstall Leopard for free so you can begin to use your computer right out of the box."

As expected, there are no happy campers in the orchard and Apple has begun legal proceedings on the EULA violation, claiming that Psystar does not have software distribution rights.

The agreement states that you can install and run one copy of OSX on a single Apple-branded computer, the latter being the operative statement. It seems though that this move was anticipated, as the company responded by stating that the terms of Apple's EULA are in violation of US antitrust laws.

Apple has an 80% markup rate on its computers because nobody else is allowed to sell them with Mac OSX. Additionally, if Psystar physically purchases legitimate versions of the operating system from a distributor it cannot be sued for copyright violations, and any damages Apple may claim would be the original equipment manufacturer price of Leopard, which will not amount to a great deal.

Open source aficionados and consumer and business advocates have also been giving Apple a hard time over its closed-access mentality. Users are locked into specific service terms and prices if they want an iPhone or want to use iTunes and access its music libraries - its the Mac way or the highway.

At the time of writing, Apple has yet to comment on the pending litigation. Its response may be a more technical one, with additional security built into its frequently released updates and patches for the operating system.

Needless to say, Psystar has been swamped with orders for its new Open Computer, its website has been up and down like the proverbial yo-yo, and its official company address seems to have changed a couple of times also in the past week. Its appears the company was not ready for the attention its has generated with the replica Macs, but it is persevering with the enterprise despite the weight of a very large Apple bearing down on it.

Software
With all the hype and horror stories about the recent release of Service Pack 1 for Vista, many consumers have forgotten about the most popular operating system Microsoft has made and its long-overdue update.

Service Pack 3 for Windows XP is due to hit the mainstream at the end of this month and it promises to pack in almost four years of patches. April 29 is the release date when users can log in to Microsoft's download center or get the patch via their automatic update system. There will be no additional functionality in this, the first service pack since 2004. It is unclear whether there will be a fourth, but going on Microsoft’s lack of enthusiasm for keeping the operating system alive it is unlikely.

The kind of devotion often seen by Mac users or Linux buffs has rarely passed into the realm of the dominant operating system on the planet ... until now. Since Microsoft announced that it will retire Windows XP this year and no longer offer support for it, users have been emerging in droves to permeate the web with petitions for it to be saved. Superiority to Vista is their main cry as Vista's well-documented compatibility and hardware requirement problems have failed to sway most Windows users to make the move.

A minor panic has begun as many users face the risk of no longer being able to download security patches for their system or get support for it. The alternative with Vista is a sluggish and bloated operating system and a hundred annoying security pop-up messages every time you want to run a third party application or do something that Vista doesn't approve of.

A number of Save XP petitions have been set up online, some attracting over 150,000 signatures in support of the operating system. Many users threaten a move to open-source Linux or even Apple should Microsoft go ahead and phase out a stable and accepted product for one that has been seen as inferior.

Researcher IDC's analysts estimate that by the end of 2008 around 60% of Microsoft consumers and 70% of businesses using the company's operating systems will still be running Windows XP. Full support including warranty claims is expected to be terminated in April 2009.

Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand. (Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)