Mac Clone Maker Psystar Files For Bankruptcy

StikyPad was one of several readers letting us know that Psystar has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. We've discussed the Mac clone maker's battles with Apple extensively. The company apparently has over $250,000US in debt, and states that it cannot turn a profit in the current economy. "The Chapter 11 filing will temporarily suspend Apple's copyright infringement suit against Psystar, which is currently before the US District Court of Northern California. But once the bankruptcy protection is sorted out, the copyright case will resume." And PC Mag is reporting that, on the other side of the Atlantic, two new clone companies are just getting started. Like PsyStar, FreedomPC and RussianMac promise to deliver PCs with OS X preloaded.

Comments

Re:So XP isn't ready for the desktop either?

[hairyfeet]

Actually my #1 Vista "fix" as demanded by my customers is "Wipe this damned thing off and put a copy of XP on it!" but of course that still doesn't help Linux any, does it? Be snarky all you want. But don't take my word for it, take the hairyfeet challenge. Step right up if Linux is ready for the home consumer. Just go to Bestbuy.com, Staples.com, and Walmart.com and buy these three things WITHOUT RESEARCH. Buy an all in one printer, a USB wifi card, and a USB TV Tuner. You may buy based on the first one listed or the cheapest, but no cheating! There must be NO RESEARCH, because as someone who builds PCs for a living(and is doing quite well,thank you very much) I can tell you that Joe SMB and Sally home user will NOT do research.

Now go to distro foo and see if those items in your basket are supported. Go ahead, I'll wait. Don't work, do they? Because without doing research you have practically a 0.0% chance that you are going to get consumer level ANYTHING to work in Linux. And as I said, consumers will NOT do research and you are deluding yourself if you think you can get the to. If their gizmos don't work it is YOUR FAULT, understand? They don't give a damned about "freedom" or that "MSFT is a monopoly" all they know is it works in Windows because it comes with a shiny disc that has a friendly guy or gal that holds their hand and walks them through installation.

Here is a couple more facts. FACT- if I am a hardware manufacturer I only need to write four drivers to support Windows past, present, and future. If I want to be generous I have a fifth driver written and I even have the niches covered. here let me show you-I have a 98/ME, a Win2K/XP32, a XP64, and a Vista 32/64. Since Win7 supports Vista drivers I have every Windows machine from 1998-2014 and possibly beyond covered. No more development, no more need for support, I can be assured that my device can be sold for years without any more out of pocket expenses on my part. FACT-The underpinnings of Linux is like the shifting sand. Pretty much NOTHING is stable or fixed, from the kernel on up. With every new release you see the forums fill with "new version broke my hardware" stories. There is NO stable framework to write to, and I would be honestly surprised if you could take even a 4 year old hardware driver and get to work on the latest distro with tweaking or recompile. Instead of freezing the underpinnings and working on stability, Linux simply cranks out new version after new version, with new bugs and no backwards compatibility. Is it any wonder that hardware manufacturers don't support you?

So be snarky ALL you want. Enjoy your smug 1% of the market. Meanwhile nobody supports you and the Netbook market has seen a nearly decade old MSFT OS kick the living snot out of brand new Linux distros. Why is that? Because from a support standpoint it is far easier to tell your customer "Google /name of device/ XP driver" than it is to tell him/her "I'm sorry but that will NEVER work. You will have to throw that away and from now on come to forum foo every single time you want to buy a device and do research." I'm sorry, but that is unacceptable. Just as it is unacceptable that the first and usually ONLY advice to fix even the simplest problem in Linux is "open up bash and type". if the consumer has to go CLI you have failed and your product isn't ready for the consumer market. In the 15 years I have been building and supporting Windows machines I can count the number of times I have HAD to go CLI on one hand with fingers left over. And none of those times have been since the switch from 9x to XP.

Your OS has no support for consumer hardware, it often requires CLI because there is always something that isn't detected correctly and needs arcane Unix commands or editing of config files to work, hell I haven't even seen suspend and hibernate work consistently across updates. I am sorry, but your 'free as in beer and freedom" OS from a usability and support standpoint is "free as in worthless " for the average home consumer.

Re:So XP isn't ready for the desktop either?

[hairyfeet]

Sorry to replay to myself, but i am so tired of seeing linux users marking me down when they have NO way to dispute what I am saying. Comparing Linux to OSX is like comparing a 1979 AMC International to a brand new Ferrari. With the Ferrari you are paying top dollar, but you have plenty of dealerships to buy supported gear from. With Linux, just like the AMC, the ONLY support you will get is from other owners. The only difference is the AMC owner doesn't deride you for owning a Ford.

Type in "Windblowz" into Google and see how many forum posts you find deiriding a Windows user. Post after post after post. Why is that? Because there is a very large and vocal part of the Linux community that WANTS Linux to stay a niche. They consider it "leet" and "roxorz!" that Linux is difficult from a usability standpoint and takes research for every little hardware purchase. Just as many a Mac owner would leave in mass if Macs became cheap like Dells, so do the "hardcore" Linux users want to make sure that Windows "luzerz" don't play in their sandbox.

But don't worry, hardcore Linux users! The major corps have already seen what a support nightmare Linux is with its 400% return rate and are abandoning Linux. Case in point, ASUS, who started the whole Netbook craze with the EEE running Linux, has stated they are phasing out Linux completely. So have no fear, with a total lack of support your OS can remain "leet" and have nothing to do with those "nasty" Windows users. Enjoy your 1%! Meanwhile OSX and Windows 7 will give the consumers what they want, which is an OS with drivers and no CLI or research required.

Oh and feel free to mod me down ALL you want! Have fun! I have enough karma to burn, and I am tired of all this "Linux is ready for the home users" BS when practically nothing being sold in any of the major retailers will actually work in your OS. So unless your "home users" have servers with enterprise network printers I really don't think they are going to be going Linux anytime this decade, do you?