Mac cloner tells Steve Jobs to take that

The “that” is a clone that’s a helluva lot cheaper than a Genuine Mac™.

Psystar has started shipping the unauthorized clones. (Mac hasn’t had an authorized clone in what, 15 years? As to whether that was a smart business move either then in the short-term or for the long term is still an open book.)

Psystar is calling it an “open clone” and not a Mac clone, to be precise, and this is how the company is doing that:

The company claims it will ship either with a choice of preinstalled operating systems that includes Ubuntu Linux 8.04, Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Apple’s Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Ubuntu is free. Vista or XP costs an extra $150, while Leopard costs an additional $155, according to Psystar's Web site.

Psystar says its Mac clones cost about one-quarter of what Apple-branded systems go for. The company charges that Apple marks up the cost of the hardware on which its operating systems ride by as much as 80 percent.

I don’t doubt that at all, because you’re buying the brand name of Genuine Mac™. That’s as in Genuine Mac™ being abbreviated to GM (and, of course, the Mark of Excellence).
But, the magnificent, although not municifent, Steve Jobs, certainly won’t take this one lying down:

One version of Psystar's Open Computer features Apple's Leopard operating system ported onto generic PC hardware that includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2.66 GHz, a 250-GB hard drive, and an Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT graphics card.

The system is priced at $804.99. A similar Apple-branded computer would cost more than $2,000.

The problem: Apple’s end user license agreement expressly forbids installation or sales of its operating systems on third-party hardware.

Psystar changed the name of its Mac clone from OpenMac to Open Computer last week — perhaps in response to anticipated legal pressure from Apple. “The name ‘Open’ has been selected to reflect the fact that ANY consumer operating system can be installed and run on it,” said Psystar.

I say, bring the lawsuit on, especially if Psystar has some third party to go its legal bills.