Apple Embeds Message to OS X Hackers

zentechno writes "Apple has confirmed it embedded a message in the form of a poem to those who would hack its version of OS X on Intel hardware." From the article: "The embedded poem reads: 'Your karma check for today: There once was a user that whined/his existing OS was so blind/he'd do better to pirate/an OS that ran great/but found his hardware declined./Please don't steal Mac OS!/Really, that's way uncool./(C) Apple Computer, Inc.'Apple also put in a separate hidden message, 'Don't Steal Mac OS X.kext,' in another spot for would-be hackers."

Comments

Re:Lame

[avalys]

What's your opinion on academic or personal-use licenses, then?

I can buy a copy of IntelliJ IDEA for academic use for $99, or a license for personal use for $199. They charge (I think) $599 for the commercial license. All have equal functionality. So, you think it's moral for me to buy the personal license for $199, and then use it to create commercial software? After all, that right do they have to tell me what to do with the software I've purchased? I should be able to do whatever I want with it, regardless of what the terms of the sale were.

You are a slave

[SmallFurryCreature]

Imagine that a company like shell told you what you could and could not do with the fuel bought at their points of sale. Oh you want to put our petrol in a lawnmower? You can't do that, we developed it only to be put into V8's.

Image you went to your local baker and bought a loaf of bread and then were threathened with jail time for hacking it up into little bits and feeding it to the ducks when clearly the baker decided it was only to be used for human consumption.

But computers are different. It causes people like you to behave like slaves who lick their masters asses and swallow everything they deliver.

Apple sells software. Once it made the sale I can do with it what I want for my personal use. If I decide to take it apart and chance it to run on other hardware or to function in a way different then it was before then that is my right.

Oh but wait of course, I get it. Games were never intended to run with trainers. So trainers are illegal. They also never meant for you to use someone elses savegame so savegames are illegal. They also do not come with a walkthrough so clearly walkthroughs are illegal.

Running say program X on a emulator is obviously clearly illegal.

But then I got a bit of bad news for you. Your lord and master Steve Jobs is breaking his own laws. By allowing windows software to run in emulation he is hacking that software to run on platforms it was never intended to run on. Could every windows developer sue whenever a mac user runs a bit of windows software?

No, Apple has a right to cry foul when people give away its software for free but when I buy a copy of Mac OS X in the shops I am then free to use it in anyway I please. I can use it as a coaster. I can run it on mac hardware and I can hack it and run it on whatever I like. As long as I respect the fact that I got right to 1 copy of it running at anyone time I am in the clear.

Anyone who tells you different is a fucking tool.

LEGAL security

[sreekotay]

This isn't really an "ah-hah! gotcha!" kind of thing, or an attempt at humour (though it is a little funny). Its about LEGAL protections - copyright, DMCA, etc. We did something similar at AOL - I had just posted about this at my blog.

Re:Sense of humor...

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple has always had a sense of humor, unlike the darthwader of the sofware kingdom. One thing I remember specifically was when they had an internal code name called Sagan for a new Mac they were working on. When Carl Sagan heard of this, he threatned to sue Apple. Apple promptly renamed the project to BHA (Butt Head Astronomer).

Apple needs a little look at its China operation..

[jamar0303]

It seems that Apple's US operations seem to be running a little behind the times... because here in China, while I can get an iPod Shuffle 512MB for $70 (not a typo), the software comes along much cheaper (like I can buy iLife for about $5), and this is at an APPLE STORE. Also, while they didn't tolerate hacking as much in the US (witness this legal threat), they have done nothing to the main OSx86 BBS (I mean forum, to non-Chinese people) in China, OSx86 China and people at the Apple Store have directed me to that web site once they knew that I wouldn't complain to them if I couldn't make it work.
On a related note (disclaimer)... I have been using an example of an official Apple Store where I live to and what it does, but this store may not necessarily be official, just that they look official, and they say that they are official, and have sufficiently proved to me that they are official (showed me that they have access to internal Apple systems and all that).
What I mean is that they should not be trying to deter hackers, but rather encourage those who are smart enough to hack it, and discourage those who can't.

Change of heart

[Len]

I remember when Apple used to help me hack their OS. I've got an Apple II manual with a listing of the ROM source code - including comments - that let me add some cool features like printing text on the graphics screen.

Now, you're a "pirate" if you try to "decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, modify, or create derivative works of the Apple Software or any part thereof."

Whatever happened to "1984 won't be like 1984"?