Two new companies: our computers are Mac friendly, not Mac clones

Posted by Dennis Sellers Jul 26, 2008 at 7:34am

Two new companies, Open Tech and RSOL PC Services, are preparing to sell Intel-based computers that can run Mac OS X. However, they’ll play it safe and won’t sell pre-installed Mac OS X on its machines, calling their machines Mac friendly rather than Mac clones, reports the Palluxo web site.

See our July 21 report for detail on the Open Tech announcement. And, on Saturday RSOL PC announced their low-cost Jive Series Multi-Platform desktop computer that’s purportedly capable of running all major operating systems, including Mac OS X, Windows Vista and Linux distributions of Ubunti and Fedora . However, the company acknowledges that, “Apple’s software EULA for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard specifically prohibits the installation of their operating system onto any computer that is not manufactured by Apple, Inc.”

According to RSOL, the Jive Series Multi-Platform Desktop (shown) is available for purchase through the company’s web site, and the first units are expected to ship on or around August 8, 2008. Inside the Jive Series computers are an Intel E4600 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU with 2MB L2 cache, a 500GB SATA II hard drive, a 20X DVD+/-RW SATA drive with Lightscribe, 2GB DDR2 memory (expandable to 8GB), an nVidia GeForce 7300GS 256MB PCIe video card, Gigabit ethernet, 8-channel digital audio, a USB keyboard and mouse, six USB and two Firewire ports. The only thing that needs to be added by the end-user is a monitor and an operating system if that option was declined at the time of purchase. The base model will be retailing for US$628 plus shipping and applicable sales taxes. RSOL PC will offer the pre-installation of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Fedora or Ubuntu from the factory.

A senior spokesperson from RSOL had this to say in a press release: “We’ve made it clear that our company and Apple, Inc are not affiliated in any manner, and anyone wishing to run Mac OS X is best advised to buy an authentic Mac computer from an Apple authorized retailer. Our computers are not ‘Mac clones’, and RSOL PC does not market them as such. We offer and recommend Microsoft Windows as the preferred operating system for our Jive Series because that’s the only operating system we will be supporting through the product’s limited warranty. We recognize the growing user interest in Linux distributions like Fedora or Ubuntu, so we offer to pre-install them also, but the end-user is responsible for obtaining their own software support. We are also not blind to the small group of folks that like to run OSx86, but if they want to go out and run OSx86 on our machine – which it’s more than capable of doing – then that’s their own choice. They just need to be aware and take full responsibility for essentially running a reverse-engineered version of a copyrighted operating system. They won’t receive any software support from us, and it’s unlikely they will receive any support from Apple. To be absolutely clear, the illegal distribution and use of Apple’s operating system is not something we encourage or endorse at RSOL PC.”

RSOL anticipates that even though there’s a low cost base model (that does not include any pre-installed operating system), most models sold will actually be upgraded units that are pre-installed with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium.

Then, of course, there’s Psystar, which is being sued by Apple for violating intellectual copy rights on its “Mac clones.” Attorneys for the two companies are slated to meet in court in October.

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