Apple demands Mac sites remove OS X on x86 videos
Apple's legal department this week sent "aggressive" emails to several web sites that support and advocate its products solely because they linked to videos showing a hacked version of the company's Mac OS X operating system running on off-the-shelf PC hardware.
In an editorial, the site's publishers said that they immediately complied with Apple's requests, but added: "we deeply think that it will not change anything."
The site, along with others, had used the videos to support news reports that hackers had successfully circumvented Apple's Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which was designed to prevent versions of Mac OS X for Intel from running on non-Apple certified systems.
By issuing e-mail-based cease and desist orders, Apple is effectively validating the the claims made by the news sites, as well as the work of the hackers in conquering the TMP scheme.
At Apple's World Wide Developers Conference in June, the company announced a switch to the Intel processors and began providing developers with a version of Mac OS X capable of running on proprietary Apple developer test systems that are based on the Intel architecture.
Copies of the operating system soon leaked to Internet file sharing sites and BitTorrent trackers. Following the unauthorized widespread distribution, it took only about a month and a half for hackers to successfully crack Apple's TPM scheme and allow the version of Mac OS X to boot on virtually any Intel-based PC.
187 Comments
I think the finished product will be like iTunes. Every time you run software update it will re-patch the OS to make sure it is running on the correct hardware and cause owners of illegal copies endless problems to keep it working. Apart from a few hackers I can't see this being a big issue.
Apple are perfectly, 100% within their right to do what they are doing.
I can't see how this is unexpected. These are some very resourceful people, and it comes as no surprise that they are able to circumnavigate Apple's scheme to prevent OSX being installed on "off the shelf" PCs.
Rather than prevent this from happening, which is inevitable, Apple should simply create a version of OSX for PC and sell it. They would at least make money that way. They aren't going to make anything from the cracked copies that will be circulating on LimeWire.
I can't see how this is unexpected. These are some very resourceful people, and it comes as no surprise that they are able to circumnavigate Apple's scheme to prevent OSX being installed on "off the shelf" PCs.
Rather than prevent this from happening, which is inevitable, Apple should simply create a version of OSX for PC and sell it. They would at least make money that way. They aren't going to make anything from the cracked copies that will be circulating on LimeWire.
You have any idea what a huge and expensive support issue that would become? There's no way they'd be able to make money with people phoning in because their copy of OS X is having trouble on some custom-built hardware.
Apple wants to sell hardware, plain and simple. OS X is the software that powers that hardware.
Apple are perfectly, 100% within their right to do what they are doing.
i don't think anyone is contesting that.