Amazingly, the commercial hackintosh maker Psystar (whose efforts in building non-Apple machines running OS X we've covered at some length) still hasn't been beat down by Apple Legal and now they're back for more. They are releasing the OpenServ series of rackmount servers which they offer with a variety of OSes including OS X Leopard Server.
There are two models: the 1U OpenServ 1100 (starting $1599) and the 2U OpenServ 2400 (starting $1999) either of which can be purchased with OS X Leopard Server pre-installed for an extra $155 (no clients), $525 (10 clients), or $1025 (unlimited clients). This machines are obviously in direct competition with Apple's Xserve. Frankly, I'm amazed that Psystar is still in business, and they keep pressing their luck. I wonder if this will be enough to push Apple over the edge.
[via Gizmodo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-23-2008 @ 3:17PM
Randy said...
Seriously, who is this marketed at? No company in their right mind would spend money on a questionable "solution" such as this, with no support.
I wouldn't be surprised if apple is building a case as we speak to shut these guys down in one swipe.
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6-23-2008 @ 9:05PM
bart hanson said...
Apple could shut them down legally in an instant, but we use a real Xserve and cannot imagine the hassles you'd have getting one of these puppies to run.
6-23-2008 @ 3:19PM
Randy said...
Seriously, who is this marketed at? No company in their right mind would spend money on a questionable "solution" such as this, with no support.
I wouldn't be surprised if apple is building a case as we speak to shut these guys down in one swipe.
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6-23-2008 @ 3:37PM
Tornadus said...
Maybe Apple is allowing them to make enough of a profit come around the time they decide to bring them into court. This way they have some cash ready for Apple.
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6-23-2008 @ 3:46PM
ChuckEye said...
How exactly does a "no client" license work?
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6-23-2008 @ 4:03PM
Mat Lu said...
You'd use this if you were just serving web pages, etc.
6-23-2008 @ 4:34PM
ChuckEye said...
Yeah, but Apple doesn't even sell a zero-seat option... at least not through their normal retail channels...
6-23-2008 @ 3:50PM
Rodan said...
I'm not advocating the integrity or reliability of this company, but it really is interesting that Apple hasn't struck yet. They may be preparing their legal case, or perhaps their is some merit to Psystar's legal argument? It has been commented in the past that if the same standards that have been applied to Microsoft were applied to Apple, they would have been broken up a long time ago. As to Apple waiting for them to accumulate cash, now thats a huge joke. Apple makes more in 10 hours than this company will make in 14 months. Or are you suggesting that Apple is waiting for them to make enough money to just cover court and filing costs?
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6-23-2008 @ 3:50PM
MadMike said...
Psystar could be a guinea pig for Apple. They unofficially allow Psystar to operate to gauge the way the market reacts. If they fail, Apple can stay quiet or just say that they were unauthorized and leave it at that. If they succeed, Apple could weight its options to allowing 3rd party hardware builders whilst keeping some sort of control over the hardware used.
I am sure someone over in Cupertino is watching them very closely.
They don't need to go completely open, but allowing Dell, HP, Lenovo to build Mac OS X based PC's will really put the second nail in Microsoft Window's coffin (The first was Vista).
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6-23-2008 @ 3:57PM
Todd Bradley said...
Isn't some part of Mac OS X considered open source? How much of it? Would it be possible to make a system like this that uses a clone of Apple hardware and the open source part of Mac OS X which would run Mac applications?
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6-24-2008 @ 2:18AM
Justin said...
Not much. You might as well run Linux. It would be better supported and more reliable.
6-26-2008 @ 1:53AM
Maclover said...
The kernel, much like Linux, is Open Source. It's because of that fact that the whole run Mac OS X on vanilla Intel, or OSX86, is able to happen. Some other core systems, like WebKit are also Open Source. However, Aqua, the windowing system or what makes a Mac a Mac, is *not* Open Source. Do a search for Darwin, or go here http://www.apple.com/opensource/ for more information. The short short answer is, no, enough of the Mac OS is not Open Source to make a forked copy that will run Mac applications. Linux/UNIX apps, yes. Mac apps, no.
6-26-2008 @ 9:31AM
Todd Bradley said...
Holy smokes. I'm not sure we needed that comment posted 18 times!
6-23-2008 @ 4:13PM
Kev Orng said...
Seriously, I could almost see a market for the consumer grade stuff. The Mini-tower crowd (of which I am sometimes a part) should *theoretically* be all over the Open computer and the OpenPro, although I know they are held back by stability concerns and Apple's potential legal response.
But this server thing, there is no real market for. Any self respecting business will spend what it takes to get the proper equipment and the proper software, not take chances on this kind of thing. Me, I might be up for a box that needs tinkering and workarounds; my company, not so much.
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6-23-2008 @ 4:48PM
Simon Arch said...
Psystar isn't selling any proprietary Apple tech. It would be one thing if Apple still had a physical boot ROM, or were using a proprietary mainboard, but they're not. Since Psystar is selling a computer which CAN run MacOS X, but not a system designed SOLELY to run MacOS X Apple really hasn't got much of a case against them. They'd have as much luck suing Dell because people can install MacOS X on an Inspiron.
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6-23-2008 @ 5:38PM
brian said...
its not that they make the hardware.. its that they hack the software for profit
6-24-2008 @ 12:33AM
mabhatter said...
I don't think there's enough of a case against them yet. The hardware they sell is bog-standard, so that's not any kind of target. The hacks they use aren't theirs, but created by other people. They are supposedly buying the OS from Apple's retail channel, so that gets really stick for Apple to fight technicalities of whether they bought the "shiny" disc and whether the hardware tying license term is legal or not. Good chance is that the hardware tying terms of the EULA are not legal and Apple is simply ignoring them so they go away rather than lose and let the "cat out of the bag" and get everybody buying their OS not to run on their hardware.
I think this is like the company trying to make Mac Tablets... Apple is letting them buy the hardware and waste time hacking it. If they happen to do something vaguely interesting Apple will simply swoop in and copy them, and under price whatever they're doing... THEN pull out the lawyers.
6-24-2008 @ 12:26AM
Tony Santos said...
This has nothing to do with the iPhone, so Apple could care less. Lately I have the feeling Steve and the gang forget they make computers still. It's all about iPhones and iPods now.
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6-25-2008 @ 8:22AM
mutz said...
Indeed... i'm still waiting for leopard 10.5.4 update to get me out of the shit i'm having... i can't save from indesign to my brand new xserve without the risk of corrupting my documents... the graphic industry saved apples ass some years ago and now they're only interested in selling iphlod crap. We need good computers with a good & stable OS.