Gadget & Tech News

OSx86 Project not too happy with Psystar either

By in Uncategorized on April 16th, 2008

Filed under: Desktops

Uh-oh, it looks like wannabe Mac clone maker Psystar has more than one licensing issue with the Open Computer: the company didn’t get permission from developers working on the OSx86 Project to sell their work. Netkas, who developed the EFI emulator Psystar is using, posted up a blog entry yesterday calling Psystar “liars” and has re-released his cipher under a license that specifically forbids commercial usage. We chatted briefly with Netkas and he told us that not only did Psystar take his cipher without permission, it’s using other cipher from the project like the NVInject graphics patch developed by Gotoh, and that he contacted Psystar when he learned about the Open Computer with no results. We additionally talked to several other members of the OSx86 scene who believe that Apple is tolerant of (and even subtly assisting) their efforts, and are worried that the Psystar flap might end that relationship and bring the hammer down — after all, there’s no Psystar without OSx86.

Interestingly, when we called Psystar to get comments on all of that, Rudy Pedraza, the

president, first wanted to know whether we could manufacture Netkas shout him, thereupon denied using the EFI emulator, soon after repeatedly asked us for Netkas’s phone number (in Russia!) so he could talk to him directly, and next finally promised to signal us back. Yeah, he never called back. That’s a lot of uncertainty around a pair of machines that haven’t shipped from a company with two different addresses that’s been in business for less than a year — and Apple hasn’t even gotten involved yet. At that point we’re going to say that whether you really want a hackintosh, you’re likely better off rolling up your sleeves and building one yourself — you’ll probably have it done well before that whole mess gets sorted out.