Stan's List

There is little doubt Psystar is shipping real products. The problem is that these “Mimicking Macs”, running Mac OS 10.5.2, cannot be updated, or re-installed. Furthermore, these machines sound like aircraft taking off, as it appears the Mac OS does not control the fans. To top it off there have been reports of connections dropping forcing a manual reset every 15 minutes. Initial verdict: not for everyone, in fact, it should not be your main Mac.

Is Psystar in need of a defense fund? I would not call this as a return of the clones. The true clones could run the current Mac OS due to Apple providing the necessary ROM and support chips. The fact is they are technically in violation of the EULA which prohibits running the OS on non-Apple branded hardware. Will Apple take action to put a stop to Psystar?

News.com’s Tom Krazit, placed an order, has not received a shipping notice, but his credit card was billed.

Orders are being shipped in the order that they were received—don’t worry; you’ll get yours soon,” says PsyStar on their site. “Upon shipment, an e-mail notification, including tracking information, will be sent to you automatically.

The last recommendation to sit on your wallet, still stands. Putting the charge through before shipping is bad form.

ComputerWorld interviewed PowerPay, the company that shut down PsyStars credit card transaction last week:

[PsyStar] processed almost 200% of [its] anticipated annual volume over just a few days,” said Stephen Goodrich, chief executive, PowerPay. “In doing so, the applicant never used AVS (address verification services) which is a vital part of validating cardholder consent. This, coupled with the fact that [its] product was substantially different from what was described in the application left PowerPay no choice but to suspend services.

Waiting for reports of delivered cloned Mac boxes. All will be well then. I may even order one.

So far, they have taken the online store down due to their inability to process credit card transaction. They have changed their address 3 times. Gizmodo recommends sitting on your wallet till this all sorts out. Gizmodo sent a team down to Florida. They have pictures and updates on what they have found. Not good.

PsyStar announced they are selling the OpenComputer, a generic PC, loaded with Leopard for $554. Initially calling the PC, OpenMac, wisely changed its name. The price without Leopard is $399. A GeForce 8600GT 512MB video card is an $155 option. How long will Apple allow this to continue?

Wired is suggesting Apple will fight the clones by altering Mac OS X. A major advantage to be in control of the OS. According to Wired PsyStar might be within their rights.

Basically, when people go to a store or download software, they have a license with Apple to use this patented software on their computer, said Raj Abhyanker, a patent lawyer who used to write patents for Apple. But breach of contract is one of the weakest forms of legal disputes.