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iBox Episode 2
coolgeek writes "According to this article on Wired, the iBox (original SlashDot post), later renamed to the CoreBox, has run into some trouble. Their strategy is to clone Mac computers using spare parts from repair centers. Evidently, the supplier of the repair parts was reminded by Apple Computer's Legal Department that supplying to a computer manufacturer was a breach of contract. Consequently, the supplier has chosen to stop supplying parts. More information on at the CoreComputing website, and they say the game isn't over yet..."
I was under the impression that every Apple-authorized repair center had a similar contract with Apple, which is why I didn't put too much stock in the original story (I expected this to happen - similar things have been tried before). Where are they going to find reliable suppliers who are not authorized by Apple?
I remember that one of the CPU upgrade makers had a deal where they'd send you a new CPU and daughtercard, and give you a major discount if you sent in your old daughtercard (so they could swap CPUs and resell it, since they had no other way to obtain the daughtercards the CPUs were soldered to). I don't think that strategy would really work in this case.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
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the supplier of the repair parts was reminded by Apple Computer's Legal Department that supplying to a computer manufacturer was a breach of contract
I wonder if it's okay to supply parts to a (non-business) individual, for 'DIY home repair'? Could be a good way to put together an OS X box on the cheap.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
Exactly, Apple, Sun and even some Linux vendors and Open Source users have been considerably more evil that Microsoft have ever been and they get a free ride here. If you actually look for any philosophical consistancy in life you can go mad reading /.!
One has to wonder what would happen NOW if Apple suddenly allowed clones.
I guess it doesn't fit into their ultimate scheme of things. They don't really seem to care about overwhelmingly taking a huge chunk of the market (only enough to be "profitable")...err, only enough at their pace.
Colossians 2:8
If you aren't happy with the prices for the specs, do a BIY at the apple store, leave out the RAM and big hard drive, and buy your own from a third party. Since apple's hard drives and RAM are too expensive, you will get a major discount if you leave them off.
Apple 1) gouges on hardware to subsidize their software and 2) charges for the convenience of getting a system with all the stuff you want preinstalled. As a consumer, you can't get around 1. You can get around 2.
Because when you reverse engineer the BIOS and write your own, you're not using the original IBM parts anymore. THis person was using original Apple parts.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
I understand the mindset of the Apple fanatics.
When Apple makes a move to shut someone down, they are doing it because they have to in order to survive. After all, they have less than 10% market share. They need to be a lot more defensive of the position that they have.
Namely killing off PPC Mac clones, Purchasing NeXT instead of Be, Refusing to give Be the engineering specs that they needed to support the Be OS on post 9600 Macs, Killing off the iBox, whatever it happens to be.
Steve Jobs understands that people who seem themselves as David, fighting for survival against a monsterous Goliath will give more and tolerate more than other people. "Sure we have to pay a premium for Apple hardware, but when they gain market share we will be able to reap the rewards. Economics of scale always applies, so even though I overpaid for this G3 tower, by the time the G5 is out, the prices will be lower."
The mentality that leads to "One platform over all others." is one that is filled with logic defects. Listen to a Mac user who will slam someone who chooses windows because of availability of games, but they jump up and cheer when Apple uses a gaming chipset for the graphics cards in their new model. They did this with the ATI Rage, and GeForce cards as they were introduced.
Take it from me, I used to be one of them. You can't save them. You can't convert them. All you can do is not tease too much when one of them wakes up and decides that his wallet is the best place to find most of his money and that not being able to run a program is not the same as not wanting to run that program.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
However car companies understand what an asshole that would make them look like, and instead they just make their engines expensive to build from parts ordered from the shop. Not only that the automotive industry makes a ton of money on parts; The more cars that carry their engines, the more money they make on parts.
Once again; Analogies are flawed by their very nature. The only thing you can REALLY do to make a valid comparison is to compare apples to apples; Compare Apple refusing to sell parts so that other people can make Macs to Sun refusing to sell parts so that other people can make their own Sparc machines. Of course, THAT isn't the same either, since the SPARC specification is open, and Open Firmware is (and had better be) open, so anyone willing to put in the work can make their own machines which are compatible with Solaris. However, the Apple PROMs are closed (though they do use Open Firmware as well, I understand that they still contain proprietary and nonstandard code which MacOS looks for and/or depends on) and so you cannot build your own Mac-compatible without violating the DMCA and/or copyright law depending on how you do it.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
BMW *will* let you buy all the spare parts and make your own, because you'll find it way cheaper to just buy a new BMW.
The problem is not the hardware or the vendor, but that the logic is hardwired into a bunch of silicon chips.
A single gp processor on an fpga is not going to outperform a PPC or a Pentium, but with affordable gate array sizes increasing into the tens of millions over the next few years you could add as many processors as you want and outperform any hardwired single cpu.
At that point, who needs to be restricted to any hardware vendors hardwired logic implementation.
Of course then we can complain about Xilinx and Altel ruling the world instead of the IBM, Microsoft or Apple.
Interesting you should say that. I took one look at the dodgy kit on his shoddy looking website and bought an eMac instead. Same price, ten times sexier ;)
I'd quite fancy something non x86 for a bit of fun.
But is building a clone mac too expensive? Being able to run osX would be nice.
What's the alternative if I forgo osX and accept using Gentoo exclusively?
A blog I run for the wealth
Seriously, where do you get off with this religious conviction that everyone should open their source to the world and think that they could still afford to stay in business?
Gee, I dunno... maybe from the fact that they are making money on open source code?
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!