@Gulfie
"Apple can't be forced to allow hardware vendors to build the machines that can run OS X, that is true. However, it doesn't make it good business conduct or legal" - If it is so clearly illegal, why has no action been taken to date?
Who knows why they don't, they did with the iPhone. I'm quite sure it's a matter of time and well - Psystar have brought it to our attention.
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- "blatantly tying the consumer and eliminating competitors" - Nobody forces a consumer to buy a Mac - and if Apple hadn't written an OS for their own hardware and done such a good job of it, nobody would be trying to piggy-back off of their success either. In fact nobody was really interested in this at all until Apple moved to Intel hardware. Why should a move to Intel mean that they are now operating a monopoly? Nonsense!
They force you to buy a Mac if you want to use OS X irrelevant of the fact that the hardware is identical to other PCs. And saying that you seem to follow the crowd that believe that apple have "their own" hardware. They DO NOT make hardware. Nothing whatsoever inside your Mac has an apple-label on it. And, that said, going by recent reports, their OS is far from secure either and that's not the only place that is lacking.
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- Apple's practice is perfectly legal and above board. And I'm not 'blinded' by Mr Steve. As I've said in other Apple-related posts, I regard them no more highly than I do Microsoft, they are just much, much smaller and can therefore get away with things that Mr Bill cannot. That doesn't mean they aren't operating legally, though.
When you look at their practices they are.
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- "In relation to phones, correct me of I am wrong, I do not think there is any restrictions preventing you from running an alternate operating system on the hardware" - Well yes, actually, most phones don't even give you the ability to replace the firmware or remove the network's "skin". Show me an alternate OS for my RAZR V3...
There's nothing stopping you from building your own, is there? Or modifying an existing one and putting it on there.
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- "If apple software is FAR superior to Windows software, then they should prove it, and see how they cope trying to support all the different applications M$ have to cater for." - but this is the very reason that Macs have a better reputation. A very small and tightly controlled pool of hardware means that it is far easier to guarantee the stability and performance of the OS, and in turn the applications that run on top of it. My Mac has nevber crashed in nearly a year of full-time use. Yes, applications occasionally stop, but less frequently than their equivalent Windows counterparts.
My PC has never crashed, nor have I suffered from unresponsive applications, driver problems or hardware/compatibility issues. Fact.
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- I work in IT and run Windows at home and at work, have done ever since it became an option on top of DOS, and I've also used Linux and Unix desktop machines, and now I use the Mac full-time when I'm not required to work on a Windows platform. There are very few people who will abuse me to my face about owning a Mac, but very many say they'd like to be able to afford one. I got one because I could, finally, afford one, and I don't regret it.
No one would abuse anyone about owning a Mac, it's quite the opposite. Mac's are not the elite product or the creme-de-la-creme. I'd recommend you pay a visit to Armari.co.uk.
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- Psystar offered people the chance to get a Mac on the cheap, rightly or wrongly, and most of the vitriol I see here is from people who think this should be allowed, either because they see Apple as elitist or because they want a Mac on the cheap. Unfortunately nothing I have read here convinces me that there is any legal reason that Apple should sabotage their own business model when they are clearly not operating a monopoly.
You fail here my friend, people do not want a Mac on the cheap. They want value for money and aside from that, they want to use OS X. I find it funny too that you think Apple would be sabotaging their business model by permitting the introduction of competitors into the OS X market.
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- If I want a Ferrari I have to go to a Ferrari dealer, I can't expect to go to my local Kia showroom and get a Kia body with Ferrari internals....
That made me laugh. It's quite the opposite. You're buying a Toyota MR2 kitted up like a ferrari with ferrari stickers all over it. PC's are just the MR2.