The Mac Clone That Wasn’t

(Update: 4/18)

It’s amazing how quickly things change these days, thanks to the Internet, and more important, just how dogged some blogging sites have become.

A Florida company called Psystar created a stir on the Internet with its PC white box that runs Mac OS X. It was selling the $399 mini tower under the name Open Computing and OpenPro. I had figured the company would be obliterated by Apple, but now it seems Apple won’t have to lift a finger thanks to some dogged bloggers.

The ensuing flood of customers willing to fork over credit card information to an unknown company skirting the law is alarming, but apparently the company was so inundated it was briefly knocked off line. Its payment processor cut it off, citing the company’s questionable legal standing.

First, the company’s address seemed to change daily, as noted by the UK newspaper The Guardian. Then some people from Gizmodo actually went to an address for Psystar and found that it wasn’t there, and the business at the address had no idea what Psystar was.

Seriously, if you want a Hackintosh PC, it’s very easy to do on your own. Build a computer and get a copy of Leopard and a few utilities off the Internet and you’re golden. You can find plenty of information with a basic Google search.