Over the past couple of days news has broke of a company that offers a low-cost computer they claim to be OS X compatible. Many Apple fans have already said Psystar, the company behind the computer, will fail. I won’t really say whether or not they will fail because I honestly don’t know, however, I will say they could easily start the first true Apple EULA battle.
For the past few years many companies such as Apple and Microsoft have snuck incredibly anti-competitive clauses into their end user license agreements. Such limited EULAs do nothing but hurt the tech industry by limiting choices and killing innovation. Apple, for instance, does not allow you to run OS X on any non Apple computers. I don’t know what hardcore Apple fans would call that - but personally I’d call that A) abusing the contract and copyright laws, and B) having a monopolistic spirit. Shall we pull out the dictionary?
Straight from Webster:
Main Entry: mo·nop·o·ly Listen to the pronunciation of monopoly
Pronunciation: \mə-ˈnä-p(ə-)lē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural mo·nop·o·lies
Etymology: Latin monopolium, from Greek monopōlion, from mon- + pōlein to sell
Date: 15341 : exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action
2 : exclusive possession or control
3 : a commodity controlled by one party
4 : one that has a monopoly
Indeed, I would say a company who forces users to use software only on their system a monopoly. I am generally all for the free market (yay capitalism!) - but this is one of those cases where some sort of intervention is needed. When a company blocks out any chance for competition they are a monopoly, plain and simple.
I personally don’t think they should be forced to support all products, but I also don’t think they should be allowed to make their customers into criminals just because they want to shop around for computers. That would be like a company who packages sliced pepperoni making it illegal to use the pepperoni on anything other than their brand of pizza dough, pizza sauce, and mozzarella cheese. It is just silly.
Even if Apple allowed users to use OS X on third party hardware, most users would still choose to buy a Mac for the simple reason that it will “just work”. The reason the clones in the 90s caused so many problems was because Apple was so mangled and every chunk of hardware they sold was grossly overpriced and they refused to compete. Nowadays Apple is organized much better, and they have demonstrated on a few occasions their willingness to change prices to more market-friendly levels. Now they just need to end their anti-competitive attitude, and they might become a halfway decent company.
I’m sure there’s probably a few people reading this who are thinking “if you don’t like it don’t buy Macs, that’s how the free market works, right?” Well, that is true. I totally agree, if you hate a product don’t use it. If you hate a company don’t use their products. Take your money elsewhere. Plain and simple.
Unfortunately most users are not willing to put their money where their mouth is. Personally, unless Apple changes I won’t be buying a Mac as my next computer - and I’ve been using them for 12 years. Apple has lost my faith by repeatedly demonstrating just how anti-competitive they are.
They blame everyone else for their own problems. If a company made a OS X compatible computer and Apple lost millions as a result of bad hardware sales, they would cry like a baby and blame the other company (think clones) instead of blaming themselves for not being competitive enough.
If Apple doesn’t start making big changes to their business model of “our way or the highway” they will be in jeopardy of losing many more loyal customers in the coming years. I guarantee it.
If you have an intelligent non-fanboy thought to add to this discussion, please feel free to leave a comment. If you are a fanboy please remember I’ve used Macs since before I was 6, but I also use Windows and several Linux distros on a daily basis.
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April 15th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
I hope apple will just give in and let people run their OS on a PC! It’s illegal not to!
April 15th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Indeed, not only is apple blocking out competition but they are also being overcontrolling about what you can and cannot do with something you’ve purchased. While I don’t think Apple needs to support third party manufacturers, I do think they need to at least allow them.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
[…] and if you’re wondering I’ll be sticking to what I said yesterday - unless Apple changes their EULA and ends their monopolistic practices or unless someone pays me a […]