First I want to say that this is the 1,000th post on CyberSurge. I’ve been blogging on this blog for one year 2 months and 15 days and I’m still having just as much fun as I was having on day one. Thanks to everyone who has been here since day one.
Psystar, you know, the OEM offering Leopard pre-installed on generic PC hardware, is claiming that Apple’s EULA violates US monopoly laws because it restricts you from installing Leopard on any hardware on made by Apple.
The first thing I want to say is that it doesn’t violate monopoly laws because Apple doesn’t have a monopoly, maybe if Apple had 90% market share in the personal computer space it would be illegal but since they don’t, it is clearly not illegal.
But, the fact that it isn’t illegal aside, in an interview with InformationWeek, a Psystar employee named Robert openly attacked Apple’s EULA:
But Psystar said Monday that the company believes Apple’s terms violate U.S. monopoly laws. “What if Microsoft said you could only install Windows on Dell computers?” said a Psystar employee.
The employee, who would only identify himself as Robert, said Apple grossly overcharges for the hardware on which its operating systems, including Leopard, come preinstalled. “They’re charging an 80% markup on hardware,” Robert said in a brief phone interview.
He also said Psystar believes Apple’s prohibition against third-party installations might not hold up in court: “What if Honda said that, after you buy their car, you could only drive it on the roads they said you could?”
I actually don’t believe that Apple hardware is overpriced at all, if you compare two computers, one made by Dell and one made by Apple they would be very similarly priced, now I’m not talking about the low end, I’m talking about computers priced at $1,000+ (everyone knows that the Mac Mini is a little overpriced, but I’m not sure if it is really 80%, that seems a bit excessive).
The Honda remark doesn’t make any sense at all, it would make more sense if Honda sold you a car stereo that could only be used inside of a Honda, which in my opinion, would be perfectly fine.
Apple and Cisco have finally settled the dispute over the iPhone name. The result will mean that both companies will be able to use the name and acknokledge that both have the right to use it ending any later disputes that could come about. “Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications” (