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Mac Clones Coming Back?

I lived through the John Scully era at Apple. This long-departed CEO did a few things wrong (can you say Newton?), but one thing he did absolutely right was to allow Mac clones. Scully was ultimately let go; Steve Jobs returned and promptly killed the clones.

There is one feisty clone maker out there: Psystar of Palo Alto. Psystar apparently has some kind of license for the Mac OS which the company thinks gives it the right to make clones. Apple, of course, sued. Unexpectedly (at least to me) Psystar sued back, claiming that Apple has an illegal monopoly over its operating system.

I hope Psystar wins. For many shops, the Mac is simply not an option since it comes from a single vendor. If there are multiple sources, the Mac becomes a possibility -- and this competition puts pressure on Microsoft to improve the desktop.

Posted by Doug Barney on September 03, 2008


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