There is some news about Apple's case against Psystar. Now it appears that Psystar was planning on selling millions of Macintosh OSX clones through 2011.

According to Gregg Keizer on Computerworld, Psystar was found guilty of violating the DMCA act by copying and creating special versions of OSX that could be installed on non Apple PC hardware. However, both companies are still fighting it out in Federal court.

Another article by CNET's Chris Snow detailed how Apple lawyers had combed through Psystar's records to discover an ambitious plan to take out a segment of Apple's business through lower priced clones running OSX. The cash strapped company was promising new investors that they had plans to unveil a laptop with OSX and to sell up-wards of a million clone computers by 2011.

Digging deeper into the story of Psystar, the company had already made plans to license their own bootlegged editions of OSX to other OEM vendors. When that plan failed, they started promoting their software Rebel XI which was supposed to install OSX on non Apple systems. Psystar's website is still running and offers clones with OSX. Not to be overwhelmed by all of its court troubles, the company has revamped its open source software offerings for more projects on using OSX more effectively on non Apple hardware.

Over the past year and half, the company has been in and out of courts, fighting off lawsuits with Apple. However, the company continues developing new software to crack newer versions of OSX, selling more clones, and then promoting schemes to lure in new investors on questionable future sales. Psystar's representatives have argued unsuccessfully so far that they are battling a monopoly owned by Apple's exclusive use of OSX.

This brings back memories of clone makers back in the 1980s who tried to either re-engineer IBM's patented bios or create new bios chips that could be at least partially compatible with IBM's PC DOS and MSDOS by Microsoft. IBM had contracted out to Microsoft the duty of producing a disk operating system which it then tied into IBM PC hardware with special bios chips. However, Microsoft was able to still sell its own version of PC DOS as MSDOS and IBM compatible machines were made without much legal trouble by using other bios chips by companies such as Phoenix.

In the case against't Psystar, the company went further than the old clone makers of IBM PCs. They took apart OSX, modified it, and used software to install it on non Apple hardware. OSX, in its unaltered, state, has built in protection mechanisms that keep it from being installed on non Apple systems. One has to either modify OSX or work around these coded protections to install OSX on Windows machines. That is how hackers have installed OSX on so called "Hackintosh machines".

While individual hackers or groups of hackers may work nefariously in the unknown realms of the Web, it is truly amazing to see a company with assets put their neck on the line as Psystar has done. What is worse is that Psystar could have stopped creating OSX clones and just sold regular PCs. The whole case brought by Apple probably could have been settled back in 2008 or early 2009. However, Psystar has continued on what it calls its "bringing the torch to Intel" campaign down the road to possible bankruptcy and liquidation. Perhaps Psystar wanted to somehow make a mark again'st Apple or even make some type of statement. However, now the picture looks bleak for Psystar with its upcoming trial set for January 2010 in federal court.

Here is my own idea of how a company like Psystar could have copied OSX and made legal clones. Mind you this is pure fantasy and I tend to view Apple as the copyright owner who is protecting their assets. However, if a company like Psystar wanted to sell OSX or build OSX Mac like clones, there is a far easier way to do so without being sued by Apple. They could do what IBM clone makers did in the 1980s.

First take a version of Unix or even Linux and build a customized interface using a Windows interface. This would not mean copying actual code or modifying OSX code but building a near copy of the OS. This has been done to some extent by Windows theme makers and certain software developers. However, the new OS would also have to have a resemblance of functionality along with an appearance of OSX. This would be the challenging part.

In fact, one open source project has done so with Windows XP. React OS is compatible with Windows software, has the same appearance of Windows, and runs on standard Intel hardware. While it is still in the alpha stage of development, it is legal. Couldn't't there be a similar project done with OSX? It might take several years and constant refinements to create a OSX like OS but it could probably be done, at least on a basic functional level.

This may seem overly simplistic or a rather laborious effort but it would probably be legal, at least if done without copying outright code or even visual elements. If IBM clone makers could utilizing non IBM designed bios chips that ran IBM compatible software, than why couldn't't another company do so today with OSX?