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• In the case of DVD's its to access purchesed data in a scrambled format.
• In the case of Virtual Game Station, they ripped off the whole machine

cya, Andrew...

Here is the press release about their victory in the court case against Sony.

It only mentions plans for a Windows version and the continued sale of the already existing Macintosh version.

What is the license?
The liscense is the typical "Give us $100 and we'll let you have one copy".

What is the cost?
$100. See above.

If it's like the Windows98 version, it'll be a G3, MacOS8, half a gig of hard disk space, 64 megs of ram, and a cd rom.

Will I be able to get this is Debian/other distribution, or do I have to buy the offical redHad?
It only comes with RedHat. If you want Debian, then you have to erase RedHat and install Debian instead.

Will it work in FreeBSD linux emullation?
No, it only works in MacOS.

Will it take advantage of SMP to allow two slower (not half speed) CPUs to do the same work?
Not until Apple fully supports SMP at the system level.

I can make some guesses: Not open source, $40, PII-250 with 32 meg of ram, Yes, Yes, NO. Those are guesses, but they seem reasonable. I'd say that at least one is wrong though.
Nope, wrong on all counts.

Too bad I couldn't find any of that information in the press release.
It's too bad CmdrTaco mislead you by saying this is the Virtual Game Station, instead of Virtual PC. At least we know the stellar fact-checking journalism we've come to expect from Slashdot hasn't changed with the recent mergers/acquisitions, right? ;-)

First off, I actually got my hands on an iBook on a loan from Apple at my company. It does look like a Japanese High-Tech Toliet especially the blueberry one. Its wild and funky on the outside and built like a tank on the inside. Its heavy (6.6 pounds) and rugged (kevlar-like) -- perfect for hardcore travel. I used it for two weekends before I gave it back to my editor. It really turned heads in NYC when I walked the streets with it using its built in handle. Its a Notebook Super Model -- my curvy Apple PowerBook G3/400 is plain in comparison. A very cool machine w/ many cool hardware features like breathing and its yo-yo style power "brick"! My only gripe was the 32 meg of RAM. It really needs to be 64 meg. We are supposed to get an AirPort on loan soon w/ additional RAM. Wireless IRC sessions on the balacony at work while catching the nic buzz a commeth!

Not only can/will the iBook be able to boot a native flavor of PPC Linux, but it is currently able to boot DOS & Windows plus nearly any x86 distro of Linux. There are many pentium emulator proggies out there for the MacOS which the iBook runs it's full form. Ranging in price from $25 to $189. With the Connectix Virtual PC product, I was able to boot Red Hat Linux 6.0 after a net install on my PowerBook G3/400 (World's Fastest Consumer Notebook). I even made a dual boot Windows 98 and RH 6.0 hard drive image.

Now if Mac hardware sucks according to many x86-/.-ers and Mac hardware can emulate x86 hardware then it is logical to say, "Macs just suck less than what you have."

I like my blinders on and my source closed. - Some guy named Bill

Virtual PC from Connectix emulates a Pentium based computer on just about any PowerPC based Mac.

I have heard of people running OpenStep, Win9x and NT on it.

http://www.connectix.com/html/connectix_virtualpc. html

I never used Word6 for Mac, but I heard it was like waiting for paint to dry. I heard stories like 3 to 6 minutes just to start up. Word 97 in VirtualPC ran as fast as Word 6 native. Word 98 is much faster than that, although still not as fast as Word 97 on Pentium or Word 5.1a running emulated. :-P

I think stylized computers are here to stay -- but not everyone will have one. It's kinda like cars. There's the Geo Metro (a $500 celeron system -- cheap but functional), racing cars/Indy 500 cars (custom built Pentium II 450 systems -- fast but not designed for the aesthetics), VW Bug (an iMac -- consumer oriented, more expensive than a Geo Metro, stylized), and the BMW (400 mhz Powermac G3 in a translucent case -- expensive, stylized, but not as fast or economical as a racing car).

On a different note, some people here are comparing their Pentium II systems to an iMac. Okay, a 233 mhz iMac isn't that great. But let's step back for a moment -- what does Apple offer to the geek crowd?

Today you can buy a 400 mhz G3 system (which is faster than a 450 mhz Pentium II system, according to the bytemark benchmark), Rage 128 graphics, Ultra2 SCSI, with up to a gig of memory. USB and firewire. Integrated 100base-TX networking. It can display on 2 to 4 monitors, if you happen to plug in more video cards. And it all happens to be in a stylized translucent case. That kicks ass!

And what can I run on this sweet machine? MacOS X Server aka Rhapsody aka OpenStep aka NeXTStep aka BSD 4.4. FreeBSD and OpenBSD and NetBSD users should rejoice! Unix users should rejoice! The fact that you can run BSD 4.4 (Rhapsody), MacOS 8.5, Redhat Linux for Intel, and NT on the same machine at the same time is pretty cool. When was the last time you could get Solaris or Linux bundled with your Compaq or Dell? When was the last time you got video/ethernet drivers for Linux/Solaris when you bought a video card or ethernet card? Well, Apple makes hardware and software that works under Unix. (And even open source unix -- MkLinux is mostly their doing) The fact that at least somebody in the mass market computing industry is trying to push this kind of technology (Unix) and philosophy (supporting open source) and aesthetics (translucent curved cases) should be reassuring.