Vendor touts PC's Mac OS X compatibility
But won't sell it with Apple's OS.
Apple Legal, we laugh in your face! Brassy computer company Open Tech is cocking just such snook Jobs-wards, though we note it's not brave enough to publish an address on its website...
Undeterred by Mac clone maker Psystar's recent run-in with Apple's lawyers, Open Tech has announced Open Tech Computer 1.0, a $620 bog standard system based on a 3.4GHz dual-core intel Pentium D 945 - yes, we're surprised there are still some of those around too - 3GB of 667MHz DDR 2 and an Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT graphics chip. It's got 500GB of 7200rpm hard drive storage and a DVD writer. 802.11g Wi-Fi's built in too.
Crucially, it's billed as compatible with Mac OS X 0.5 - aka Leopard. To be fair, it's also said to be compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Linux, but you'd expect those to be supported.
Open Tech's Open Tech Computer 1.0: DIY Mac
You'd expect them to be bundled with your system and pre-loaded too, and indeed they are. But closer inspection reveals Open Tech isn't going to be shipping systems pre-loaded with Leopard. It's not even going to include a Leopard DVD.
Open Tech will include a "do-it-yourself kit", which can be used, the company claims, with a copy of Leopard you've bought to get the Apple OS running on the Open Tech Computer.
We suspect, the DIY kit comprises the tools and instructions you can get by searching any of the 'hackintosh' online forums. In that respect, it seems no more open than any other x86-based PC.
Which begs the question, why buy a machine from Open Tech when you can build or buy your own no-name PC, a copy of Leopard and manipulate it onto the hardware, as one fellow did with his MSI Wind?
COMMENTS
Old new
Hell a lot of modern pc hardware is osx compatable if you know how to get it installed and can find the correct kexts. I have osx 10.5.4 running on my HP laptop niceley (I damned well wasnt going to keep the preinstalled vista that it came with), everything working as it should and didnt take that much effort (partly because hardware wise its almost identical to a macbook anyway).
For those that go on saying OSX is just linux with a candy GUI, go play with a vista laptop then an osx laptop of the same size, the GUI is so much nice and inteligently designed. Just the use of screen space for example (vista you have half your screen taken up with stuff you dont care about). Plus OSX is build on a BSD core anyway so its not actually linux no unless you want to say linux is really unix/minux etc.
I work with a lot of techies and they all have mac's because of the "it just works factor". The spend all day fixing broken computers they dont want to have to fix or have hastle or worry about compatability with their own.
Personally though I dont run OSX on main pc because im a gamer, I spend silly money on that box (more than a good mac pro would cost), and while osx does run great on it doesn't play the games I want to play so sadly is XP x64 for me on that box.
At the end of the day joe public (and most of the retail market) dont care about the technical side/brand loyalty side etc, they just want something that does the job they want from it without any headache.
more sales => more copycats
Apple is becoming more popular, they sell more macs, they make more money and that also means they attract more copycats, nothing unusual.
As for lack of drivers and lack of applications, more popularity and more sales of macs will also attract more companies to develop apps and drivers for macs, just a matter of time.
@ Anon coward
"Oh, I forgot. Mac users are just users not techies."
Been building and fixing PCs for 15 years, so I qualify as a "techie". I just BUILT a spare Mac, "from parts" that is file serving, torrenting, burning DVDs for my tape archive project, AND is the heart of my entertainment system for about $75 total cost. Dual 550 G4.
Could I do that with a 2000 era Windows box? With a supported OS? With decent performance?
Most of the tech people I know are going to, or have gone to Mac. I don't care what's trendy, what's popular, or what's "pretty". I just like an OS thats usable, stable, secure, and requires no maintenance.
Yes, its a pain to pay a little more, but my $2.500 macbook Pro is twice the computer My $2000 Dell Inspiron was "though now the Dell is a great Linux box" the fact that the Mac is sleek and eye pleasing is nice, but I didn't buy it for how it LOOKS, I bought it for how it works, and it works great! Its a joy to own and a pleasure to use and thats reason enough.
Who needs Windows? I already HAVE a gaming system!
Apple are a hardware company
@Richard Cartledge
I think you are being unduly pedantic. Apple are a hardware company who outsource the actual manufacturing to factories in the far east, just like every Dell, HP, Acer etc.
They are very definitely _not_ are a software company. They use the perceived "qualities" of their software offerings as a carrot to induce people to buy their hardware. That is why apple don't licence software in _any_ of the markets they participate in, even to the point of keeping their fairplay DRM to themselves. If they were like MS (a software company) then they would have fallen over themselves to licence fairplay to all and sundry and take a cut from every MP3 player sold on the planet.
It is clear that this is not their business model. They want people to buy ipods so they use their exclusive access to itunes+fairplay as a means to "encourage" people to buy ipods.
Angel Jobs, because even though he may be an arsehole, he's a genius at business.
So?
Isn't this just the same as saying it works with Windows, it works with Linux and it doesn't not work with OS X (as long as you're prepared to hack it a bit).
By the way, when will 'Anonymous Coward' grow some brain cells? You're just embarrassing yourself on a daily basis on here.
