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$399 Mac Clone Most Likely a Hoax

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the too-good-to-be-true-usually-is dept.

timholman writes "According to Gizmodo, an investigation has shown that the $399 OpenMac is almost certainly vaporware, as is Psystar itself. The company's address has actually changed twice this week, according to its web page, and Psystar is no longer accepting credit card transactions. Too bad for those who may have already ordered an OpenMac."

18 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Vaporware? Hoax? by 26199 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they've been accepting orders (and credit card numbers) for a product that doesn't exist -- isn't that called fraud?

    I know there can be concern about legal implications in making such statements... but surely the way to protect yourself is to make only statements backed up by evidence? Being vague is certainly not a way to sidestep libel laws...

    1. Re:Vaporware? Hoax? by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 5, Funny

      Maybe it was a Fraudian slip?

      --
      "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
    2. Re:Vaporware? Hoax? by Planesdragon · · Score: 5, Informative

      Libel laws have a lot to do with it if you say someone is committing fraud and they aren't... Libel's only possible if:

      1: It's not true
      2: A reasonable person wouldn't conclude that it is true.
      3: A different reasonable person might believe that you're telling the truth.
      4: Said person's disbelieve causes harm to the libelee.

      Slander and Libel are pretty tough things, but like Assault, they require a common sense test. (Accidentally bumping into someone on a crowded street is not Assault, even if they scream their head off.)
  2. You say "Hoax" by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Funny

    I say "Fraud"

    Let's call the whole thing off.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  3. Re:Not a hoax, just a stupid kid by Frigid+Monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other words...

    His mom found out.

    DUDE You're getting a (knockoff) dell.

    --
    "It's all just meme meme around here"
  4. You just won the Spanish Lottery! by Gat0r30y · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cnet has this article which goes into a little more detail. From what I've gathered it seems they "just moved" to the new building, and got the address wrong the first time (this sort of explains why they put up 3 addresses in 2 days if you buy it). It seems they had to switch payment processing companies from Powerpay to PayPal, because of the rights infringement stuff. But I doubt PayPal's policy is going to be different. Whats next? Cashiers checks to Nigeria?

    --
    Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
    1. Re:You just won the Spanish Lottery! by CowboyNealOption · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hopefully it will be a street address in Nigeria because no way am I sending money to a pobox there.

  5. It's All An Apple Plot by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It's all a nefarious plot by Apple to discredit the very idea of clones running OS-X. Who would ever trust one again after this?

    As far as paying by credit card goes, you're likely protected by your card company against fraud so you shouldn't be too concerned there.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  6. Look at it this way ... by jsnipy · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... people have bought a true Mac Air ;)

    --
    -- if you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine
  7. Will it exist in 30 days by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they've been accepting orders (and credit card numbers) for a product that doesn't exist -- isn't that called fraud?

    Only if they can't create and deliver it within 30(?) days and don't contact the people who ordered it within that time, notifying them of the delay and refunding the money of those who don't consent to the extension.

    Back in the early days of home computing a number of companies started up by selling vaporware, collecting the money, and using it to fund the development. (I don't recall if Apple was one of the companies that started up that way. But Woz and Jobs were pretty hard up for cash back at the start.)

    The FTC tightened up after some con men calling themselves "World Memory Systems" took a picture of a few chips sitting on an unstuffed PC board, ran an ad claiming it was a new peripheral board providing four serial and one parallel port for Altair/Imsai home computers (with a name, 4S+P, similar to another popular product, 4P+S), and pulled a major fraud.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    1. Re:Will it exist in 30 days by Vellmont · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Commodore did that all the time. I'd recommend "On the Edge" (which details a lot of other semi-shady practices of the whole industry).

      http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0973864907/ref=pd_bbs_olp_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208554130&sr=8-2

      --
      AccountKiller
    2. Re:Will it exist in 30 days by JohnWasser · · Score: 5, Informative

      That was "World Power Systems" and I remember the incident well. They were caught when someone noticed that one of the important signals on the S-100 edge connector was not connected.

      You can read about it here:
      http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/wps/

    3. Re:Will it exist in 30 days by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I always enjoy reading stories about that stuff

      SoftRAM is a good story. They sold 600,000 copies of a program that they claimed would compress the contents of RAM, effectively doubling the available amount. It turned out that the program didn't even attempt it.

  8. It's not a hoax by BattleApple · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll be receiving a P-p-p-powerbook from them any day now.. it has firewire!

  9. Re:Hoax? by fohat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hoax -noun 1. something intended to deceive or defraud: The Piltdown man was a scientific hoax. Scam -noun 1. a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, esp. for making a quick profit; swindle.

    It is both a scam and a hoax.

    So, you're saying it's a scoax then.
    --
    Is there heaven? Is there Hell? Is that a Tuna Melt I smell?-Primus
  10. Re:Not really.... by quarrel · · Score: 5, Funny

    After enough -1s, does your account get deleted? Indeed - how many chances are we meant to give this Anonymous Coward guy?!

    --Q
  11. Re:been here before by mustafap · · Score: 5, Funny

    >Then explain George W. Bush and his millions

    Easy. They're not his millions. They're yours :o)

    --
    Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
  12. Re:think people by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 5, Informative

    You either agree to this license, or you have no right to install the software.

    Bullshit. You bought it - you have the right to install it. I have old books that say you're not allowed to resell them, but that's BS too.

    Ok, you can put an "Apple" label on your computer. Then you're in worse trouble with a trademark infringement :-)

    Not if you put them on your own computer, you're not. Trademark only kicks in when you're trying to pass something off as something else. There's an Apple sticker on my wife's minivan, but we're clearly not infringing anything.

    This is not some nebulous "shrink wrap license are not enforceable" concern. If *any* license that is granted as a result of copyright is valid (hint, GPL, creative commons, SCSL), then this one is.

    Does Steve Jobs tuck you in at night or something? No. You're flat-out wrong. That is exactly one of those dumb EULA concerns, especially when you're trying to mingle it with copyright. As you bought the software, you have the legal right to use it so long as you're not installing it on a bunch of machines or distributing copies. It's kind of sad and scary that presumably rational people will try to argue otherwise.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?