Fake Your Own .Mac Server

c13v3rm0nk3y writes "A clever fellow named Otto Moerbeek has publish a short article on getting an OpenBSD box to emulate a .Mac server. Using Apache/DAV/SSL and a roll a duct-tape, he describes how you can get most .Mac functionality without paying Apple for it." This is useful because then you can use apple's backup tools to backup to a local server, and not have to backup over your piddly internet connection.

Comments

Irresponsible?

[cloudscout]

Am I the only one who thinks that it is just a little bit irresponsible to publish an article that condones the use software without paying for it? Granted this is a sort of grey area since some people would argue that you're paying for .Mac instead of for the backup software itself but the backup software is designed to be used with the .Mac service so using it without paying Apple is akin to piracy.

The Slashdot community normally champions the cause of Free Software but ordinarily they limit themselves to legitimate Free Software a la Open Source. I think it is shameful to openly encourage software piracy like this.

Re:Irresponsible?

[cloudscout]

Apple has written software to be used with their .Mac service. The cost of the software is included in the price of the service. When you use the software without paying for the service you are, in effect, pirating the software. You may justify this in your own mind by claiming that the price of the hardware and the OS should entitle you to the use of the .Mac backup software but that's not how it was intended. The backup software is not a part of the OS. It is not included with the computer. It is a download available to .Mac users. It has built-in safegaurds to prevent use by people who do not pay for a .Mac subscription. By circumventing these mechanisms you are pirating the software.

Now, I'm not going to chide anybody for software piracy itself. What I am doing is pointing a finger at Slashdot for promoting the act. If you choose to pirate software, there's nothing anybody can do about it short of a lawsuit but when you openly encourage others to pirate software, you have crossed the line of ethical behavior.

Re:Irresponsible?

[cloudscout]

Actually, anyone who does this is simply using the software they own (it came with OS X, and they bought that, right?) in a manner inconsistent with its design.

Here is where your argument is flawed. The software does NOT come with OSX. You get the backup software when you sign up for the .Mac service. You can download it when you sign up for the free trial account but the software disables itself when your trial account expires. By tricking the software into running after the account's expiration (by setting the trialAccountDaysLeft = -1) you are bypassing the subscription model of the software.

I don't give a flying fsck about intentions. Apple created a product and bundled it with their operating system;

Hello? Is your IQ above 40? The software is NOT bundled with the operating system. The software is bundled with the .Mac subscription which you are expected to PAY FOR. If it was bundled with the OS, you might have a leg to stand on. But it isn't. You have to sign up for the .Mac service in order to get the software. When your subscription ends, so does your right to use the software.

Yes, a .Mac subscription from Apple. But the poster is not cheating Apple; he's not accessing their servers and using their services. And because he's not using THEIR servers, there's no reason that he should pay them anything.

This is ridiculous. So people should be free to use whatever software they want without paying the author as long as they aren't using any of the author's other services? Apple put money into developing the software with the SOLE intention of it being used by paying subscribers to their service. As I pointed out, they even went so far as to make the software disable itself if you stop paying for their service. Someone found a way to disable the subscription check by spoofing server information. That doesn't make it legitimate. It's like software that generates CD keys. Just because it is possible to run Windows without paying for it doesn't mean it's legal. Just because it's possible to run the .Mac backup software without paying for it doesn't mean it's legal either.

But you're out to get something for nothing and that's an attitude you just can't argue with. You feel entitled to something that someone else made and there's just no persuading you otherwise.