Since last summer's announcement that Apple would be shifting its entire computer product line to Intel processors, PC enthusiasts have been trying to answer two questions. Would we be able to run Windows natively on Macintel hardware, and would we be able to run Mac OS X on commodity PC hardware? So far, the answer to the first question has been negative, with little or no prospect for success until Vista ships later this year. The second question is a different matter. Apple doesn't want Mac OS X running on anything other than Apple hardware, and as a result, has slapped the OSx86 Project with a DMCA violation notice.

After Pentium 4 developer systems and Intel-native builds of Mac OS X were shipped out, copies of the x86-native Mac OS X began showing up in the usual places. Naturally, people started trying to get it running on commodity x86 hardware, and with some success. They needed somewhere to collaborate as well, so the OSx86 Project was born. Several months prior to the shipment of the iMac Core Duo, enthusiasts were able to get Mac OS X 10.4.3 running on PCs. Once the iMacs began shipping with 10.4.4 installed, hackers were having a much more difficult time getting OS X to run on non-Apple Intel and even AMD hardware. (One Russian site claims to have a workaround for 10.4.4).

The EULA for Mac OS X states explicitly that the OS is only licensed to run on Apple hardware. Apple may have been content to more or less ignore the OSx86 Project in the months after the transition began; now that there are Intel-based Macs available, Apple wants to be sure that its high-margin hardware sales are not eroded by people running its OS on Dells, HPs, and home-built systems. As the OSx86 Project forums were arguably the best resource for figuring out how to do exactly that, it makes sense that Apple would bust out the lawyering stick on them.

For the time being, visitors to the forums are greeted with a message that they are closed while the OSx86 Project "evaluates its contents to remove any violations present." The problem for Apple is that the hacking community will continue to function, likely on servers out of the reach of Apple's lawyers and the DMCA. Apple will continue its efforts to lock down Mac OS X so that it runs only on Macs, whether with the Trusted Platform Module, or by other meansincluding some poetry embedded deep within the OS and decrypted via the TPM.

Your karma check for today:

There once was a user that whined

his existing OS was so blind,

he’d do better to pirate

an OS that ran great

but found his hardware declined.

Please don’t steal Mac OS!

Really, that’s way uncool.

(C) Apple Computer, Inc.

Unlike Lexmark and TracFone, Apple may be using the DMCA appropriately in this instance. In order to get Mac OS X running on non-Apple system, it is necessary to circumvent Apple's technological protections along with the EULA included with Mac OS X. As nice as it would be to buy a cheap Dell or build yourself a sweet dual-core Athlon system and dual-boot into Windows and Mac OS X, Apple doesn't want that to become commonplace. Ultimately, hacking will happen, and Apple realizes it. What the Mac maker will do is make it as much of a hassle as possible to ensure that only the truly hardcore hackers do it.