Mac Clones are Hard to Stop

Did Steve Jobs put in a call to Psystar to stop production of the Mac clones? It’s hard to tell.

After an identity crisis, the OpenMac became the “Open Computer.” Psystar, the company developing these computers, tweaked its marketing a bit before the web site was finally available again (after being down due to “heavy traffic”).The newly named “Mac alternative” is described on the site as “a PC that works just like a Mac with Apple's latest operating system OS X 10.5 a.k.a. Leopard.” Hmmm…doesn’t this still sound like a violation of End User License Agreement (EULA)?

Unfortunately, this situation might be hard for Apple to control. Raj Abhyanker, a patent lawyer who worked previously as a patent writer for Apple, told Wired news that the EULA issue—essentially a dispute and breach of contract—is one of the “weakest forms of legal disputes." Another attorney said that since 99% of the hardware on the Mac is the same as the PC, the situation is even worse. Even though Apple is a mega-huge company, they may be stuck with this one.

Psystar also advertises computers that are compatible with other operating systems, including Windows Vista. Will these computers take off with popularity or will true fans do all they can to convince friends to steer clear? [Wired]