Mac Clone Maker Details CoreBox on Radio

iMacRobert writes "John Fraser, who is developing a bare-bones Mac clone, plans to answer questions many Mac users have in a live interview. Questions will be accepted during the show and in e-mail."

Comments

Online Mac Community vs. Market

[Enkerli]

Does anybody else think the Core Box has more to offer as news for the online Mac community (those who read every Mac-centric publication and post comments) than to an actual market? ;-)

Re:Online Mac Community vs. Market

[Llywelyn]

Prettymuch.

This guy is doomed from the get-go. He can't install a Macintosh Operating system on the thing--it is in the licensing that you cannot install it on a non-Apple system, IIRC--and the users can't legally install one, he will be completely unsupported by Apple and prone to their every whim, and is going to have all sorts of hell getting off the ground just as a startup in this economy.

That being said, it is a fun news item to see up and one that keeps getting bounced around the community :-)

Re:Online Mac Community vs. Market

[NeuroKoan]

I believe that this stuff is all running refurbished Apple hardware, which means it should be legal to install your own version of OS X (if you have an aditional license lying around).

Or if you just don't even want to worry about that, there is always PPC Linux.

Website looks dead.

[ElGanzoLoco]

Has anybody had access to Core Crib's website? (http://www.2khappyware.com/corecrib.html)
Ever since the Wired article appeared, I have tried to access the website. Nothing. Google's cache only lists www.2khappyware.com, which is PC-centric and talks about some sort of PC-upgrade pay-per-month program (websites looks like done in Notepad or TexteEdit).

Looks like one big hoax to me. I hope I'm wrong, I'm really looking forward to buying a dirt cheap G4 (or even G3) system to host my 1-hit-a-year webpage and file server :)

Has the guy talked about sales outside the U.S. (France, for that matter)?

Problem with Supply

[goodchef]

I don't think it's a hoax, I just can't see how it could work. He plans to use refurbished & surplus parts. Ok, but there's only a limited supply of these, AFAIK they're not being made anymore. Also, by the laws of supply and demand, once he starts churning them out, the demand goes up, the supply goes down, and the price for those specific components goes up. Perhaps he could go with a rolling spec, using up his supply of one speed of G3/G4, then move onto the next notch up, and hope Apple makes enough newer Macs to provide a steady stream of older ones. If we've learned anything from Apple & Motorola, that's a nasty situation to get into, and a horrible one to willingly start out from.