Would reading some of the OS X software license agreement help spell things out a bit clearer for you?
2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.
A. This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time. This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time, and you may not make the Apple Software available over a network where it could be used by multiple computers at the same time. You may make one copy of the Apple Software (excluding the Boot ROM code) in machine-readable form for backup purposes only; provided that the backup copy must include all copyright or other proprietary notices contained on the original.
C. Except as and only to the extent permitted in this License and by applicable law, you may not copy, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, modify, or create derivative works of the Apple Software or any part thereof. THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.
3. Transfer. You may not rent, lease, lend, redistribute or sublicense the Apple Software. You may, however, make a one-time permanent transfer of all of your license rights to the Apple Software (in its original form as provided by Apple) to another party, provided that: (a) the transfer must include all of the Apple Software, including all its component parts, original media, printed materials and this License; (b) you do not retain any copies of the Apple Software, full or partial, including copies stored on a computer or other storage device; and (c) the party receiving the Apple Software reads and agrees to accept the terms and conditions of this License. You may not rent, lease, lend, redistribute, sublicense or transfer any Apple Software that has been modified or replaced under Section 2B above.
Is your "hackintosh" an "Apple-labeled machine"? Nope, not by a long shot. Copy-protections in place on the OS X disks that you buy at the store prevent you from installing it on a non-Apple computer, so to get it working, you either have to a) download a hacked version of OS X, or b) hack it yourself. Either way, you're breaking even more clauses of the agreement (as if one wasn't enough). :icon_rolleyes:
I wouldn't call that a 'grey' area of the law.
John A
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What exactly is an Apple-labeled machine? Can anyone label a machine as "Apple"?
Perhaps a machine labeled by Apple? Actually, the license that I pulled off the web was a bit old; here's the updated section 2.A from the Tiger license agreement:A. This License allows you to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time. You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so.
John A
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Throw one of those apple stickers on it, the ones that come with ipods. Problem solved, they left too much room for interpretation, a good lawyer could fight this case.
Hmm, that only leaves, oh, software piracy. Remember that off-the-shelf copies of OS X have protection in place which prevents itself from running on non-Apple licensed computers (and even if you did manage to reverse-engineer a legal copy that you bought, you'd be in violation of section 2.C, see above.)
John A
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>Why is making a kernal extension allowed then?
Because the kernel is open source. Apple obviously has a different licensing policy for their open source code. Where the open source ends and the closed begins is at a certain closed-source kernel module which checks to see if it's running on a genuine Apple machine. If it is, it'll happily decrypt the Finder and Dock binaries during runtime. If not, well, then you just have a really nice Unix shell.
>Still anything is possible with a good lawyer.
Just curious, would you say that software piracy is a grey area of the law?
John A
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So are you saying the hackintosh should be approved off and it is right to do that?
jingda
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