When Steve Jobs ended the Apple cloning program after he returned in the late 1990s, he stated that Apple would focus on making its money off hardware sales, not licensing OS X to other manufacturers. Apple had allowed Power Computing to run the Apple operating system throughout the early 90's, but with the creation of OS 8, Jobs effectively ended these contracts and returned complete hardware control to Apple.
That was the final world on cloning until Apple decided to change to Intel-based hardware a few years ago, allowing for OS X to be far more compatible with regular PCs than it has been in the PowerPC era. Communities like OSX86 Project sprung up and patched OS X to run to a surprisingly effective degree on PCs. This made observers wonder how long it would be before some small company began trying to clone Macintoshes again.
Psystar appeared on the scene last April with just that intention, and many thought the company was a hoax at first. After all, who would take on Apple’s enormous and extremely aggressive legal division? Over time, Psystar proved it was real, and released clones running OS X, and even an Xserve clone.
But Psystar’s illegitimate clones have finally caught Apple’s attention. ZDNet is reporting that Apple has officially filed suit against Psystar. No word yet on how Psystar plans on defending itself, but stay tuned for updates.
Also, a question for readers: Would you consider buying a Mac clone, legitimate or otherwise?
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Comments
I definitely would consider buying a Mac clone.
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