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Second Mac Clone Maker Set To Sell, With a Twist
CWmike writes "Another company is preparing to sell Intel-based computers that can run Apple's Mac OS X. But unlike Psystar, a Florida clone maker that's been sued by Apple, Open Tech won't pre-install the operating system on its machines. Open Tech's Home (equipped with an Intel dual-core Pentium processor, 3GB of memory, an nVidia GeForce 8600 CT video card and a 500GB hard drive) and XT (which includes an Intel Core 2 quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, an nVidia GeForce 8800 video card and a 640GB drive) machines will sell for $620 and $1,200, respectively. Open Tech is prepared to do battle with Apple if it comes after Open Tech. 'We definitely would defend this,' said [Open Tech spokesman] Tom. 'The only possible case that Apple can make, the only one that has any chance, would be based on the end-user licensing agreement.'"
On the contrary, I fully support them "making a profit on Apple's brand." I also support other companies making a profit on Ubuntu's brand, as they market computer systems specifically designed to be Linux-compatible. Apple makes a decent operating system, and I fully support the right of the consumer to choose what hardware that OS runs on.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying - if Apple lets this one go, but turns around and decides to sue all of Open Tech's clients... Well, I think I'd rather pay a little more to Apple than to have Apple lawyers knocking on my door with a subpoena.
Gotta get me one of these!
Congratulations on purchasing OSX. I'm surprised Slashdot didn't have that story on the front page. Will you be selling any licenses? I would like one if the price is reasonable.
Before someone flames me, I'm not disagreeing with him, I'm only pointing out there is a difference between 'buying' a piece of software, and 'licensing' one.
Over 50% -- yes over 50% consumer in these area build computer themselves. I just happen to be one of them.
Only in your wet dreams. Only those with self esteem problems have any wish to assemble a computer they can get off the shelf.
Apple and Apple store computer salesmen did me and my parents what I consider a great dis-service when I was about 8 years old (around 1982) - They sold my parents an Apple IIe when the Mac had been released for some time, and at an extortionate price (more than the Macs were selling). My parents should have known better than to spend something like an eighth of the family's income that year on the machine. Unfortunately they didn't know a thing about computers and were wanting to give me the best education they could afford. I would say I should have known better, but hey I was 8 years old.
At the time you could buy Apple software from department stores. Soon after I bought the thing, Apple decided to deal exclusively through their stores. There were a few rogue mail order places that you could buy things from but if you wanted to look at the box and work out what you wanted to buy I'd have to get my parents to drive an hour and a half each way to the nearest Apple store.
Slashdotters (and Mac zealots) think I'm unreasonable to hold a grudge over these things, now over 20 years ago, but I've never forgotten it and the company has never done anything from my point of view that might redeem them. From what I've seen Apple have always been hostile to their end users and developers when their interests are challenged. Something in the geek fanboy psyche likes the elitism and considers any collateral abuse a small price to pay. They perputuate the false notion that somehow MacOs and Apple products are more stylish when all evidence I've seen is that many of their products are deeply flawed, priced more highly than the competition, and missing features others would call industry standard. Stylish? When before or since did seethrough plastic make a product suddenly stylish?
Me? I say fuck Apple. For almost 20 years I bought nothing from them and have always shunned the Mac. I did begrudgingly buy 2 iPods (one for me, one for my wife) a couple of years back, but that was a mistake - neither work quite right and the original return process drew the ire of the local consumer body. Then they closed off features on iTunes that allowed sharing (oh no all sharing must be piracy!). Typical Apple. Dictate how your products are used. Dictate what you consider stylish. Fark off.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
aliquis wrote:
I haven't the faintest idea what you could possibly mean by this sentence. Apple sells at least 1 million copies of OS X per year (on average. They sell about 1 million copies in the first month or two after a new release, and then it tails off over the next couple years, until the next release). That means they make almost $130 million per year off of OS X sales (not counting the copies bundled with each Mac sold), which is enough to maintain a staff of 650 engineers whose average compensation is $100k. I would guess (entirely uninformed) that the engineering staff for OS X is much smaller than 650 people, probably closer to 65 people. At that rate, OS X upgrade sales alone pay for the entire OS software division several times over.
just a ghost in the machine.
I dunno, $129 for an OS seems like a lot to me. I mean, I get mine for free.
And no, I don't see a difference between Mandriva and Apple. Neither makes the entire OS - they borrow from someone else's work. Neither is a non-profit company - they're both trying to profit from this. In fact, the biggest difference is that Mandriva only produces an OS, while Apple produces many other products that can help pay for the OS development. So, if anything, you would think OSX would be free. I suppose Apple does probably have better tech support for their OS, but I think $130 is a bit excessive for support.
I find it amazing that most people on Slashdot still do not understand the Apple business model.
I understand it just fine, and fail to see why it or any other business model should be backed up with government guns.
As a Mac user I hope the clone company goes down in flames
As a Mac user and also a US citizen, I've had quite enough of property rights being trampled by overbroad copyright laws. I'd much rather have Apple slightly inconvenienced than continue the march towards a system where we never actually own anything and just pay for things that we can only use in the manner dictated by the seller.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
This all hinges on the fact that Apple is supposed to be a hardware company. Nothing could be further from the truth. Apple sells an image, an /ideal/ to people. The idea they're selling is that they, as they so eloquently put it, think /different/ and if you buy their product so do you. So Apple is neither a hardware company nor is it a software company. Apple is a cult of personality, which sells pieces of itself. You become a customer of that ideal the moment you buy a piece of their personality.
>Apple's choice of business model is its problem, not ours!
[warning]bad car analogy ahead[/warning]
lol, you're the kind of guy who would make the first payment on a new car, then take off never to be seen again screaming 'see you later fuckers! I gave you some money and you gave me a car, it's a problem with your business model not mine!"
Oh lord... the famous "choice" line from Debian. The OS who claims to only put in the BEST software for a particular purpose, but then instead includes every possible shitty version of every possible application ever written for Linux so the user has "choice".
Read the founding ideals behind Ian's OS sometime there chief, and then start filing some RC bug reports to rip out some of those 40,000 packages of shit and get down to the things that WORK properly for the end-users.
Long time Debian fan here, but seriously -- the packages have become the Linux world's biggest mindfuck ever... "we only package the good stuff" isn't what Debian is anymore and hasn't been for a decade.
They fell off the horse of usability and quality a LONG time ago.
+++OK ATH