You've always wanted to learn how to build software yourself—or just whip up an occasional script—but never knew where to start. Luckily, the web is full of free resources that can turn you into a programmer in no time.

Since the invention of the internet, programmers have been using it to discuss software development techniques, publish tutorials, and share code samples for others to learn from and use online. If you’re curious about how to become a programmer, you can get off to a running start using tons of great free web-based tutorials and resources.

First Things First: Don’t Get Hung Up on Choosing a Language

A common pitfall for beginners is getting stuck figuring out which programming language is best to learn first. There are a lot of opinions out there, but there's no one "best" language. Here's the thing: In the end, language doesn't matter THAT much. Understanding data and control structures and design patterns does matter very much. Every language—even a simple scripting language—will have elements that you'll use in other languages as well and will help you learn. In classes I took to get my degree in Computer Science, I programmed in Pascal, Assembly, and C—languages I never actually got paid to program in professionally. I taught myself every language I've used in my career, reusing concepts I already knew, and referring to documentation and books to learn its syntax. So, don't get hung up on what language to learn first. Pick the kind of development you want to do, and just get started using one that works.

There are several different kinds of software development you can do for various platforms, from the web to your desktop to your smartphone to a command line. In this article, we’ll outline some of our favorite starter tutorials and resources for teaching yourself how to program for each major platform. We’re going to assume you’re a savvy user, but a newb when it comes to wrangling code snippets, so we’ll keep things at the beginner level. Even just following through a beginner programming tutorial, you’ll be happy to see how far you can get.

Desktop Scripting

The easiest way to try your hand at programming for your Windows or Mac desktop is to start with a scripting or macro program like AutoHotkey (for Windows) or Automator (for Mac). Right now hardcore coders throughout the Lifehacker readership are yelling at their monitors, saying that AHK or AppleScript are not "real" programming. That may be true—technically these types of tools just do high-level scripting. But for those new to programming who just want to get their feet wet, automating actions on their desktop, these free tools are a fantastic way to start—and you'd be surprised at how much you can do with them.

For example, Adam developed the standalone Windows application we all know and love, Texter, using AutoHotkey, so this scripting language is capable of far more than just small-scale automation projects. To get started with AutoHotkey, check out Adam’s tutorial on how to turn any action into a keyboard shortcut using AutoHotkey. (Then, check out the source code for Texter to see the innards of a full-fledged AHK-based Windows application.)

Web Development

Instead of being bound to specific programming languages and the look and feel of a particular operating system, you can put your killer application in the browser and run it in the cloud, as a webapp. Welcome to the wonderful world of web development.

HTML and CSS: The first thing you need to know to build any web site is HTML (the page markup that makes up web pages) and CSS (the style information that makes that markup look pretty). HTML and CSS are not true programming languages—they're just page structure and style information. However, you should be able to author simple HTML and CSS by hand before you begin building web applications, because a web page is the frontend to every webapp. This HTML tutorial is a good place to start.

JavaScript: Now that you can lay out a static web page with HTML and CSS, things get fun—because it's time to learn JavaScript. JavaScript is the programming language of the web browser, the magic that makes dynamic in-page effects go. JavaScript is also the stuff of bookmarklets, Greasemonkey user scripts, and Ajax, so it’s the key to making all sorts of web goodies. Start learning JavaScript here.

Server-side scripting: Once you're good at making things happen inside a web page, you're going to need to put some dynamic server action behind it—and for that, you'll need to move into a server-side scripting language, like PHP, Python, Perl, or Ruby. For example, to make a web-based contact form that sends an email somewhere based on what a user entered, a server-side script is required. Scripting languages like PHP can talk to a database on your web server as well, so if you want to make a site where users can log in and store information, that's the way to go. Excellent web development site Webmonkey is full of tutorials for various web programming languages. See their PHP Tutorial for Beginners. When you’re ready, check out how to use PHP to talk to a database in WebMonkey’s PHP and MySQL tutorial. PHP’s online documentation and function reference is the best on the web. Each entry (like this one on the strlen function) includes user comments at the bottom which are often as helpful as the documentation itself. (I happen to be partial to PHP, but there are plenty of other server-side scripting languages you might decide to go with instead.)

Web frameworks: Over the years, web developers have had to solve and resolve the same problems and rewrite similar code to build dynamic web sites. To avoid making everyone reinvent the wheel for every new web development project, some programmers have come up with development frameworks that do some repetitive work for you. The popular Ruby on Rails framework, for example, takes the Ruby programming language and offers a web-specific structure for getting common web application tasks done. In fact, Adam used Rails to build his first serious (and impressive!) web application, MixTape.me. Here’s his take on how to build a web site from scratch with no experience. Other popular web development frameworks include CakePHP (for PHP programmers), Django (for Python programmers), and jQuery (for JavaScript).

Web APIs: An API (Application programming interface) is a programmatic way for different pieces of software to talk to one another. For example, if you want to put a dynamic map on your web site, you want to use a Google Map instead of building your own custom map. The Google Maps API makes it easy to programmatically include a map in a page with JavaScript. Almost every modern web service you know and love has an API that lets you include data and widgets from it in your application, like Twitter, Facebook, Google Docs, Google Maps, and the list goes on. Integrating other webapps into your web application via API’s is the final frontier of rich web development. Every good, major web service API offers thorough documentation and some sort of quick start guide to try it out (here’s Twitter’s, for example). Go crazy.

Command Line Scripting

If you want to write a program that takes textual or file input and outputs something useful, the command line is the right place to do it. While the command line isn’t as sexy or good-looking as a webapp or desktop app, for rapid development of quick scripts that automate processes, you can’t beat it.

Several scripting languages that work on a Linux-based web server also work at the command line, like Perl, Python, and PHP—so learning one of those baddies makes you conversant in two contexts. My path never took me too far down the Perl road, but I taught myself Python using the excellent and free online book, Dive into Python.

If becoming a Unix ninja is one of your programmer goals, you absolutely must get good at shell scripting with bash. Bash is the command line scripting language of a *nix environment, and it can do everything from help you set up automated backups of your database and files to building out a full-fledged application with user interaction. Without any experience writing bash scripts beyond a dozen lines, I wound up developing a full-on personal to-do list manager in bash, Todo.txt CLI.

Add-ons

Nowadays, modern webapps and browsers are extensible with with bits of software that bolt onto them and add features. Add-on development is gaining in popularity as more developers look at existing software, like Firefox or WordPress, and think “But if only it could do THIS…”

You can do a whole lot in any web browser with just a mastery of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Bookmarklets, Greasemonkey user scripts, and Stylish user styles are created with the same bits of code that make regular web pages, so they’re worth learning even if you just want to tweak an existing site with a small snippet of code.

More advanced browser add-ons, like Firefox extensions, let you do more. Developing Firefox extensions, for example, requires that you’re conversant in JavaScript and XML (markup that’s similar to HTML, but way more strict in format). Back in 2007 I ran down how to build a Firefox extension, a skill I picked up after I stumbled upon a free tutorial.

Many free and well-loved web applications offer an extension framework as well, like WordPress and MediaWiki. Both of those apps are written in PHP, so comfort with PHP is a prerequisite for getting started. Here’s how to write a plug-in for WordPress. Developers who want to ride the cutting edge of Google Wave can get started writing gadgets and bots in HTML, JavaScript, Java, and Python. I wrote my first Wave bot following this quick start tutorial in one afternoon.

Web Development for the Desktop

The best part about getting started programming in one context is when you can take those skills and apply them elsewhere. Learning web development first is a great way to start because now there are ways to put those skills to work on desktop applications, too. For example, Adobe AIR is a cross-platform run-time environment that lets you build your app once and release it to run on the desktop for every operating system AIR runs on. AIR apps are written in HTML, Flash, or Flex, so it lets you apply your web development skills in a desktop context. AIR is a great option for deploying desktop apps like one of our top 10 apps worth installing Adobe AIR for.

Mobile App Development

Mobile applications like the ones you run on your iPhone or Android smartphone are all the rage right now, so you may have dreams of striking it rich in the iTunes App Store with the next killer app. However, for the new coder, diving headfirst into mobile development can be a rough learning curve, since it requires comfort with advanced programming languages like Java and Objective C. However, it’s worth checking out what iPhone and Android development looks like. Check out this simple iPhone application development example to get a taste of what iPhone developers do. Android apps are written in Java, and here’s a friendly video tutorial of what building a “Hello Android” application workflow looks like.

Patience, Elbow Grease, Trial and Error

Good coders are a special breed of persistent problem-solvers who are addicted to the small victories that come along a long path of trial and error. Learning how to program is very rewarding, but it can also be a frustrating and solitary experience. If you can, get a buddy to work with you along the way. Getting really good at programming, like anything else, is a matter of sticking with it, trying things out, and getting experience as you go.

This article is just one self-taught programmer’s top-of-mind recommendations for beginners. Experienced programmers: What did I miss? No matter your skill level, add your thoughts and recommendations for beginners to the comments.

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker’s founding editor, thinks the best programmers are self-taught. Her weekly feature, Smarterware, appears every Wednesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Smarterware tag feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

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Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code [Programming] originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on November 12, 2009.

Filed under: OS Updates, Hardware, Apple

According to OSXDaily, Apple’s next scheduled update to Snow Leopard, OS X 10.6.2, doesn’t support Intel Atom processors. This is no problem for anyone on Apple hardware, because no Mac product runs an Atom. If you’re on a hacked netbook, though, it looks like this is the end of the line for your OS X updates.

Although it’s not confirmed, rumor has it that next update to Apple’s previous Leopard OS (10.5.9) will also knock out Atom support. Until a workaround pops up from netbook hacker circles, Atom machines running 10.6.1 and 10.5.8 should probably avoid upgrading. Is Apple sending a message to users running its software on third-party machines? It seems likely, but it also doesn’t seem like it will do much to stop determined netbook enthusiasts.

Apple breaks Atom Hackintoshes with upcoming OS X 10.6.2 update originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple – Operating system – Mac OS X – Intel Atom – Download Squad

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Apple breaks Atom Hackintoshes with upcoming OS X 10.6.2 update originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on November 5, 2009.

Rather than wait around for your software to notify you of updates (let’s face it, a lot of applications never will), these five handy tools keep an eye on your apps, alert you when an update’s available, and streamline the updating process.

Photo by Wesley Fryer.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite software update tools, and now we’re back with the five most popular nominees. Read on for an overview of each, then cast your vote for the one you like best in the poll below.

Note: Clicking on the screenshots below will enlarge the screenshots to their original size.

FileHippo Update Checker (Windows, Free)

FileHippo.com is a software download site that hosts tons of both freeware and shareware, so the FileHippo Update Checker is a natural extension of their web site—only better. The lightweight application (the download is 155kb) scans your computer for installed apps in seconds, compares your installed version with the FileHippo.com database to check for new releases, then lists all detected updates in a list in your browser along with links to download your updates. FileHippo Update Checker is a free download for Windows only. (Original post)

Synaptic/APT (Linux, Free)

The Advanced Packaging Tool, a.k.a. APT, is a free tool built into most Linux distributions and many variants that handles the installation, removal, and updating of software packages. APT is a tool that went a long way toward making Linux a bit friendlier to the masses who aren't comfortable installing or compiling software packages on Linux, but it runs from the command line, so it's still not all that friendly to folks joining Linux from the Windows or Mac worlds. That's where Synaptic comes in. Synaptic is a graphical front end to APT that makes the tool wildly more user-friendly, and—yes—it handles checking for and updating software with aplomb. (Folks using Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distribution among Lifehacker readers, take note: Synaptic will be replaced by the Ubuntu Software Center—another APT-powered update tool—in April of 2010.)

AppFresh (Mac OS X, Free)

AppFresh is an automated update checker for Mac OS X. The tool scans your computer for installed software and checks for new versions against the database at web site i use this. Aside from also encompassing the functionality of Apple’s built-in Software Update utility (if you install this, you won’t need to run that), the app filters your updates and installed applications in a number of useful ways, and provides descriptions of each tool in a handy info panel along with release notes. Perhaps most impressive, AppFresh can automate the update process for many of the apps so you don’t have to go through the tedious process of downloading and installing every single update by hand. AppFresh is free (though currently in a “Development Preview”, which could mean it will eventually cost money), Mac OS X only.

Update Notifier (Windows, Free)

Update Notifier is a small, portable software update utility that quickly scans your installed applications and lists your available updates in a small window, complete with links to sites where you can download updates. The application includes options to filter all your installed applications, updates only, major updates (2.0 to 3.0), minor updates (2.0 to 2.1), and build updates (2.0.0 to 2.0.1). If you register for an account at the CleanSofts.org web site (the companion site to the application), you can also set up a watch list and let the site email you whenever updates to apps on your watch list are available. Update Notifier is freeware, Windows only. It’s also portable, which could come in handy next time you’re heading to your after-hours job moonlighting as your family’s IT person. (Original post)

Secunia PSI (Windows, Free)

Secunia Personal Software Inspector takes a bit more of a doomsday—i.e., security-focused—approach with software update. When you run your first scan after installing Secunia, you'll be presented with a list of insecure apps that have available updates, "end-of-life" apps that are no longer being supported by the developer, and patched apps that have the latest security updates. It's not the most user-friendly of the bunch, but the interface is packed with information and tools for making sure your installed software is running the latest and greatest security updates. Secunia PSI is freeware, works with Windows. (Original post)

Which Software Update Tool Is the Best?(trends)

Surprised your favorite didn’t make the list, or just want to share what makes your software update tool of choice so great? Let’s hear it in the comments.

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Five Best Software Update Tools [Hive Five] originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on October 18, 2009.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Corporate, Hardware, OS

Apple and Psystar have been embroiled in litigation for quite a while now. At the core of the dispute: Psystar modifies Apple’s operating system software so that it can run on its clone machines. It then sells its computers with Mac OS installed to, well, anybody who wants one. As you can imagine, this does not make Apple happy.

Anybody familiar with The Great Clone Crackdown of 1997 will tell you that Apple likes to keep a very tight grip on any device that presumes to run its software. Apple points out that Windows machines are a mishmash of often conflicting hardware and suffer from quirks and errors and incompatibilities that such a set up can bring.

So Apple’s cadre of lawyers descended quickly on Psystar. In July of last year, the company sued Psystar for copyright and software licensing violations, quickly amending its lawsuit to additionally charge Psystar with violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

And there was much lawyering.

More than a year later, now that discovery has been completed, the two parties have each filed for summary judgment, which, in effect, asks the judge to rule in favor of the filing party because enough evidence has been shown that either makes or breaks the lawsuit.

Psystar’s argument, and the one covered in its motion, somewhat relies on the “first sale doctrine” which says that any purchaser of a copyrighted product can then take that lawfully-made copy and sell it, so long as no additional copies can be made. For its part, Apple says that when one “purchases” its OS, you are only purchasing a license to use the product. Its Software Licensing Agreement (SLA) quite clearly states [PDF link to Snow Leopard SLA] that the user cannot modify the software to run on a non-Apple system.

The idea that what you are purchasing is a license to use the product is pretty commonplace among software manufacturers, because, the argument runs, you can cut any software company’s profits off at the knees if every purchaser became an owner with free rein to redistribute the software. Apple states that no software company in its right mind would put the money into research and development of any software product at all if that were the end result of bringing its product to market. Groklaw suggests this could have ramifications for FOSS and and the GPL.

Continue reading Psystar, Apple file motions for summary judgment

TUAWPsystar, Apple file motions for summary judgment originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Psystar, Apple file motions for summary judgment originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on October 17, 2009.

Learning is a process which continues throughout the life of an artist, graphic designer, and illustrator. Along the way, designers find the task of mastering Adobe Illustrator a large obstacle which requires practice and experience in using the vector-based application. Practice comes in the form of tutorials, which offer tips, tricks, and artistic styles from other designers who have mastered certain techniques based on their experience.

From these tutorials, a designer can polish their skillsets on a variety of topics which will strengthen their own artwork. Sometimes a simple tutorial has tips which may have been overlooked based on the subject of the tutorial. By looking past the subjects of the tutorials, an endless array of learning opportunities exist. Essentially, the tutorials become not only a teacher but a “class” which a designer can repeat as often as necessary to refine their skills.

This post presents 40 excellent simple to complex Illustrator tutorials and presents the overall techniques of each tutorial, summarized in a brief overview. The purpose is to pick and choose among the tutorials based on the areas that need improvment. Whether a seasoned professional or a designer just starting out, these Illustrator tutorials offer a way to brush up on one’s skills.

Illustrator Tutorials

Gradient Mesh Bell Pepper Tutorial

• Use multiple smaller Meshes to create a realistic object
• Learn to use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to sample colors from a reference photo

How to create a Television Icon

• Using Offset Path on an object
• Learn to use Gradients to create surface texture and depth
• Create a reflection using an Opacity Mask

Working with 3D Objects and Transparencies to Make a Vector Cola Bottle Design

• Learn to “cut” up an image in Pathfinder and use the pieces in 3D Revolve to create solid objects
• Map art (symbols) onto a 3D object

Create a Stylish Colorful Text Effect in Illustrator

• Learn to use Offset Stroke on text
• Apply a Pattern Swatch to text

Illustrate a Malevolent Skull in 8 Steps

• Working with a sketch and outlining with the Pen Tool (P)
• Use Outline/Preview modes during design process
• How to use the Reflect Tool (O) to save time

Create A Wood Grain Texture

• Use Raster Effects, Live Trace, and Expand to create a texture
• Learn to use the Warp Tool (Shift +R) to customize a texture

Illustrator ring shape via overlapping crescents effect

• Create abstract geometric shapes with Linear Gradients, Align, and Pathfinder
• Learn to use Smart Guides (Cmd/Ctrl + U)

How to Illustrate a Brain Icon for OSX and Vista

• For faster coloring, use the Live Paint Bucket (K)
• Bonus Lesson: How to turn art into an icon

Create a Realistic Candy Bar in Illustrator

• Tips on stacking order for the Layers Panel when using a sketch
• Create realistic creases in paper
• Where to place shadows/highlights and why

How to Create a Vector Smiley Icon

• Working with Radial Gradients
• Copy design elements for symmetry
• Learn how to use the Isolation Mode

How to Create a Radial Mesh in Illustrator and Make a Vector CD

• Create a radial mesh from a Radial Gradient and the Mesh Tool (U)
• Learn the finer points of selecting mesh points
• Create a Clipping Mask

Illustrator full spectrum spirograph

• Using the Rotate Tool (R) to create abstract shapes
• Learn to use Transform Again to save time

How to Make a Cartoon Style Cereal Box Logo in Adobe Illustrator CS3

• Effectively use Strokes, Align Stroke, and Selection Tool (V) to modify fonts
• How to use 3D Extrude & Bevel Options to Create 3D Text

How to Create a Gearbox Settings Icon Using Simple Shapes

• Use the Rotate Tool (R) to rotate shapes relative to another shape
• Create a metallic texture using shapes and Radial Blur
• Design a perforated metal backing using Gradients

3D Effect Extrude and Revolve

• Learn to use simple shapes to create a 3D object with Extrude & Bevel

Illustrator Tutorial: Realistic Orange

• Learn to use Plastic Wrap Effect and Sponge Effect to create an orange peel texture
• Effectively use Opacity in an illustration

How to Create Semi-Realistic Scissors in Illustrator

• Using shapes and Gaussian Blur, create an aged metallic texture
• Learn to add highlights on metal contours

How to Create a Hippy Van Vector in Illustrator

• Trace a photo with the Pen Tool (P)
• Expand strokes to add Gradients

Illustrator Quick Tips #1 – Complex Symbols with Pathfinder

• Use the Gradient Tool (G) to create a 3D effect
• With the Pathfinder Divide, create abstract shapes
• Learn to use the Blending Mode Multiply

How to Make a Vector Diamond Ring in Illustrator

• Use Pathfinder to create a compound shape
• Create a metallic finish with Gradients
• Create a diamond with Linear Gradients

Create Fun, Eye-catching Text with Adobe Illustrator

• Use the Free Transform Tool (E) on text to create depth and perspective
• Highlight and shadow placement on text

‘Women and Cats’ How-To Advanced Tutorial

• Learn about shading/highlights in vector portraits
• Use of Transparency and Opacity Masks

Turn Any Font Into a Sketch Font

• Learn to use the Scribble Effect and Roughen to create a font
• Create a custom Graphic Style

How To Create A Realistic Pendrive in Adobe Illustrator

• Learn how to align objects to the Artboard
• Create a realistic metallic surface using Linear Gradients

How to Create a Rainy Window Vector Background

• Create an abstract background with the Mesh Tool (U) and circles
• Use Gradients, Inner Glow, and Warp to design raindrops
• Learn to make a Symbol from artwork

Draw a Cute Purse Using Simple Shapes

• Modify shapes using the Warp Tool
• Use Pathfinder Exclude to create new shapes
• Learn to design a simple pattern
• Quick Tip: Horizontal Align to align anchor points

Make a Christmas Light Bulb in Illustrator

• Create a quick glossy orb using Gradients and the Blend Mode
• Add an image to a round surface using Pathfinder

How to Create Shiny, Vector Dice in Illustrator

• Learn to use the 3D Extrude & Bevel
• Create highlights on a 3D object with the Gradient Mesh Tool (U)

Create a Cute Vector Monster from a Pencil Sketch

• Learn to rough in a character using the Pen Tool (P)
• Use tapered brushes to create a sketch style

Drawing a chinese fan

• Create symmetric shapes using the Rotate Tool (R) and Ctrl+D
• Overlay images using Symbols and Color Burn

How to Draw A Realistic Vector Light Bulb From Scratch

• Create a metal thread contact with Effects and Gradients
• Use the Zig Zag Effect to create wires

Create a Character Mascot with Adobe Illustrator CS4

• How to set up an Adobe Illustrator file to trace with a sketch
• Create a Custom Art Brush

Hit the Mark with a Realistic Vector Dartboard

• Using Transform Effect to create segments
• Save time with Live Paint
• Learn to create bent wire numbers

The Shane Harper way to go Lineless!

• Add details to a drawing with the Pencil Tool (N)
• Alter shapes quickly using the Knife Tool

Illustrator Tutorial: How to Make an Icy Cocktail

• Simulate “glass” using Color Burn and Gradients
• Create Water Drops quickly

Create a Simple Vector Creature in Illustrator

• Learn to use Guidelines effectively
• Use the Reflect Tool (O) for symmetry
• Change end caps on Strokes to alter paths

Create an easy landscape scene in Illustrator

• How to use the Crystallize Tool to create shapes
• Learn to use the Free Transform Tool (E) to create perspective

How to Create a Killer Chainsaw Bunny Character

• Learn to trace with vectors
• Block a character in using the Pen Tool (P)

Blueprint-Style Text in Adobe Illustrator

• Use Scribble Effect to create a hand drawn font
• Learn to use an Opacity Mask with a Gradient

Create a Cute Lipstick Tube

• Working with shapes and Pathfinder
• Learn shading tips for 3D Objects
• Design a Reflection on a shiny surface

Conclusion

These Adobe Illustrator tutorials are just a sample of some of the free learning opportunities available online. Learn to look past the tutorial subject and find what skills the tutorial covers. After all, it’s never too late to go back to school!

Further Resources

• 22 Very Useful Adobe Illustrator Tutorials
• 125+ Ultimate Round-Up of Illustrator Tutorials
• 15 Really Great Illustrator Tutorials
• 16 Design Blogs For Learning Illustrator
  
• Illustrator and Vector Tutorials
• 10 best Illustrator Tutorials

About the author

Melissa Scroggins is a freelance graphic designer who loves designing icons, creating vector illustrations, and playing survival horror video games. Follow her on Twitter where she posts on a regular basis.

© Melissa Scroggins for Smashing Magazine, 2009. |
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Back-to-School With 40 Excellent Adobe Illustrator Tutorials originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on September 23, 2009.

Last year we have spoken about what seemed to be the future eldorado of Hackintosh, the USB key EFI-X. 

It made it possible to the owners of PCs (with the specifications close to the Mac) to easily create Hackintosh. It was enough to connect the key before installing completely the standardl Mac OS X. 
A little time ago, the company announced that version 1.0 of its key would not function with Snow Leopard and that a new version, 1.1, would be needed.
Tom’s Hardware UK reports the story of the administrator of the blog AsereBLN who was irritated by this news and decided to see what this key contained.

After having removed the black epoxy resin that protected the components from inquisitive eyes, he was surprised to see that it did not have much more than in a banal USB key and than this product should not cost more than 10€ to manufacture; however it is sold for more than 200€. 

One may have thought that the price was justified by the software development, but he also decided to decipher the firmware of the key and  found there… open source code developed by OSx86 group and hardly any attempt to hide it.
He thus decided to shout about this in a high voice on his blog, and to even propose an open source clone of EFI-X, the EXI-X.

It was learned that the manufacturers of the EFI-X key decided to prosecute him. We will keep you informed of the current situation during this process and we ask you to moderate your remarks in the reactions to this information. We have made some efforts during the drafting of this so that no-one can reproach us, since we have only reported the facts without making any assessment. Make of this as much as you like.

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A squabble over EFI-X originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on September 16, 2009.

Two years ago, I detailed how to build a Hackintosh for under $800—then covered how to do the same with less hacking. Now that Snow Leopard’s out, we’re revisiting the Hackintosh, building a Hack Pro from scratch for roughly $900.

For folks eager to try a Mac but never wanted to plunk down the high price tag to get it, the Hackintosh—that is, a regular PC tweaked to run OS X—has always been an attractive option. That said, it’s not something you should take on lightly unless you’re willing—even enthusiastic—to build and maintain a PC entirely from scratch. I can’t guarantee it’ll be easy, but if you follow this guide step-for-step (it’s exhaustive) and stick with the same (or at least roughly the same) hardware as I am, I can vouch for a rock solid system that also happens to cost a good deal less than you’d pay for a comparable Mac.

Price Comparisons

Most Hackintosh enthusiasts will say you shouldn’t build a Hackintosh primarily to save money, as it’s more than just an insert-disc-and-click install. Still, I always enjoy looking at the price differences between my Hackintosh and Apple’s current offerings. At the moment, the cheapest Mac in the Apple store is a Mac mini sporting a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 120GB hard drive. For $300 more, I’m running a 3.0GHz Quad-Core processor, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and a damn saucy video card. I could have made this build much cheaper by skimping on hardware and still ended up with a great little machine, but I liked aiming for around the $800 price point from my last build—plus I really wanted to make it fly.

The most expensive iMac, by comparison, has only a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo with 4GB of memory for $2,200 ($1,300 more than my build, but it is built into a monitor), while the cheapest Mac Pro has a single 2.66GHz Quad-Core processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 640GB hard drive—and it costs $2,500 ($1,600 more than mine, though it’s a different and better processor and DDR3 rather than DDR2 RAM). In short, my $900 “Hack Pro” sports nearly as good or better hardware than any Mac that Apple sells short of the $3,300 8-Core Mac Pro (which can, incidentally, get more expensive, but it won’t get much better).

The Hardware

You can find plenty of hardware capable of supporting OS X on a Hackintosh—there’s no definitive build—but we’re not going to go into that here. I’ve put together a list of hardware that I’m using and that I can guarantee will (or at least has) run Snow Leopard like a dream.

Here’s a link to everything I bought over at Newegg:

• Antec Sonata III 500 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply
• GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Quad 3.0GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
• GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
• Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory x 2 (for a total of 8GB)
• Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive
• Pioneer CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model
• 10/ 100/ 1000/ 2000Mbps PCI Copper Gigabit Network Adapter (The motherboard has onboard Ethernet, naturally, but this particular board has some problems with onboard in the Hackintosh world. Luckily, Ethernet cards are extremely cheap.)

The Build

Rather than detail every step necessary to put the actual pieces of your new computer together (this guide already reads like the Bible as is), I’m just going to point you to our first-timer’s guide to building a PC from scratch. Do your building, make sure everything’s booting up as it should be (i.e., you can boot the computer to the point where it does nothing, because you have nothing installed on it), then let’s move on.

What Else You’ll Need

Assuming you’ve purchased all the necessary parts for your build (linked above), you’ll still need a few other things before you get started:

• A USB thumb drive that’s at least 8GB in size (I’m using this 16GB Corsair drive, but obviously any sufficiently sized thumb drive should do just fine.)
• A copy of the Snow Leopard Install DVD. You can use the $29 “Upgrade” disc to install, even though this is a fresh installation. Note: If you feel like being completely honest, go ahead and buy the Mac Box Set—though, honestly, Apple’s practically made it hard *not* to buy the fully functional install disc.
• Another Mac to do some Terminal work on. (You’ll only need this other Mac for a few steps. I used my MacBook Pro, but you could also borrow a friends for an hour or so, too.)

Step One: Prepare Your Thumb Drive

We’re going to be installing Snow Leopard to your Hackintosh from your thumb drive rather than from the Snow Leopard install DVD, since in order to run the installer on your PC to begin with, you’ll need to slightly customize the way the installer is loaded. (More specifically, we’ll be loading a custom bootloader onto the thumb drive that will make booting into the install work like a charm.*)

So first things first: You need to format your thumb drive and then turn your Snow Leopard install disc into a disk image on your desktop. Here’s how to do it:

1. Launch the Disk Utility application on your borrowed Mac (located at /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility)
2. Format and partition your thumb drive: Insert your thumb drive; after a second, it should show up in the Disk Utility Sidebar. When it does, (1) click on it, then (2) click on Partition. (3) Choose 1 Partition from the Volume Scheme, (4) give it a name (I called my HackintoshInstall) and select Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) from the Format drop-down. Now—and this is important—(5) hit the Options button and make sure GUID Partition Table is selected as the partition scheme. Once you’ve made sure to set all the appropriate settings, just (6) click Apply and Disk Utility will get to partitioning your thumb drive.
3. Copy the Snow Leopard Install DVD image to your hard drive: In the following step we’ll be turning your thumb drive into a Snow Leopard Install drive, but before we do that, we need to get the installer off your DVD and onto your hard drive. To achieve this, insert the Snow Leopard DVD. When it shows up in the Disk Utility sidebar, (1) click on it, then (2) click New Image in the Disk Utility toolbar. Choose where you want to save it (for the sake of convenience, I put it on my Desktop), then click the Save button. Now go grab yourself a cold drink. This will take some time. When it finishes, move on to the next step.
4. Restore the Snow Leopard Install disk image to your thumb drive: Now, in Disk Utility, (1) click on HackintoshInstall (or whatever you called your partitioned thumb drive) and (2) click on Restore. (3) Drag and drop Mac OS X Install DVD.dmg from the sidebar to the Source field, then (4) drag and drop your thumb drive from the sidebar to the Destination field. Now simply (5) click on Restore and enter your password when prompted. Disk Utility will take everything on the Snow Leopard Install DVD and restore that image to your thumb drive—since, like I said above, we’ll be installing Snow Leopard from our thumb drive instead of the DVD. Again, go grab yourself another drink; this will take a few minutes. When it finishes, your thumb drive has basically been turned into a Snow Leopard installation drive.

As I said earlier, the thumb drive needs a little finesse before you can boot the Snow Leopard installer on your PC hardware; let’s apply that finesse now.

Warning: Semi-heavy Terminal work ahead. It’s not that difficult, and I’ve gone into a lot of detail to make it as easy to follow along as possible, but if you’re not at least a little comfortable with the command line, it may make you pretty uncomfortable. Beg or borrow a command line geek for an afternoon, if needed.

1. Make sure your thumb drive is still plugged in, open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal) and type in:
   diskutil list

   
   We’re interested in two pieces of information here. The first is the root identifier for your thumb drive (mine looks like disk2, as you can see in the screenshot). The second is the specific identifier for the portion of the thumb drive that contains the Snow Leopard installer. (Again, see the screenshot.) In my case, the first is disk2 and the second is disk2s2. Yours may vary depending on how many disks are on your system. Copy your identifiers down somewhere. We’ll need them later.

2. Head to the Chameleon homepage, find the Latest Releases section of the site’s sidebar, and download the latest version of Chameleon. (As of this writing, it’s Chameleon-2.0-RC2-r640.) Uncompress the download and move the Chameleon folder to someplace that’s easy to access. I’m putting it on my Desktop.
3. Now, in Terminal, cd to the i386 folder of the Chameleon folder. On my Mac, the command looks like this:

   
   (1)

   cd /Users/adam/Desktop/Chameleon-2.0-RC2-r640-bin/i386/

   Yours should look similar if the Chameleon folder is on your Desktop, except your username should replace mine. (Quick shortcut: In Terminal, type cd , then drag and drop i386 folder inside Chameleon-2.0-RC2-r640 to Terminal.) Hit Enter.

4. You’re going to be running a couple of Terminal commands that will use Chameleon to make your thumb drive friendly to booting up the OS X installer. They are, as follows:

   (2)

   sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk2

   IMPORTANT: On your computer, replace rdisk2 with whatever you copied down above. In my case, the thumb drive’s root identifier was disk2, so /dev/rdisk2 is as it should be.

   After you type in that command and hit Enter, you’ll need to enter your user password to execute it. Do so, then execute the following command, again paying special attention to the disk identifier we took note of above:

   (3)

   sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk2s2

   IMPORTANT: As I noted, my Snow Leopard partition was disk2s2, so that command is right for me. You should replace the disk2s2 portion of the command with whatever you noted as the portion of your thumb drive that contains the Snow Leopard installer.

5. Now we’re going to place an awesome, custom EFI bootloader on your thumb drive that lets us load into the installer (and into Snow Leopard in general). So first, head over to netkas.org and download the bootloader from the bootloader link. Make sure you download it somewhere convenient. (Again, I’ve just downloaded it to my Desktop.)

   Now head back into Terminal, where we’re going to copy the boot file to your thumb drive. (One might think that you could just do this using Finder via drag-and-drop, but in this case, doing it via Terminal is necessary.) So, in Terminal, your command should look similar to this:

   sudo cp /Users/adam/Desktop/boot /Volumes/HackintoshInstall

   The easiest way to do this is simply type in sudo cp , (1) drag and drop the boot file into Terminal, then (2) drag and drop your mounted thumb drive from the desktop into Terminal. (The drag-and-drop method is a quick Terminal trick that pastes the full path to each file or directory.) After that, simply hit Enter. (Enter your password if necessary.)

6. I know it seems like we’ve already run a marathon, but you’ve got one last step and then it’s relatively smooth sailing from here on. Download Extra.zip, unzip the file, and then drag and drop the Extra folder into your thumb drive. Nothing fancy, a simple drag and drop with your trusty old mouse will do. Once you’ve done that, open up your thumb drive and verify that it looks something like the screenshot below. (Notice the Extra folder, the boot file, and the OS X installer.)

Take a deep breath. By this time, you’ve completed all the hard work. Now it’s time to boot up your machine, tweak your BIOS settings so they’re ready for your OS X install, and then it’s smooth sailing.

Step 2: Set Your BIOS

Before you can boot into or install OS X on your Hackintosh, you’ve got to make some small adjustments to your BIOS. Rather than taking you step by step through every change you need to make, I’ve simply snapped a picture of the relevant BIOS screens and added some notes. Just click through these images and make sure your BIOS settings match up.

Step 3: Install Snow Leopard

If you’ve made it this far, the hard part is over. Now it’s time to install Snow Leopard, which—unlike what we’ve done so far—is extremely easy.

Make sure you’ve set the boot priority in your BIOS to boot from your thumb drive (you can see how in this pic), then simply plug your prepared thumb drive into your Hackintosh and power it up. Since screenshots aren’t really an option—and since it’s a fairly easy process—my install instructions come in video format:

The quick version goes like this: Boot into the Snow Leopard installer, format the hard drive you want to install Snow Leopard to (go to Utilities -> Disk Utility, then click on the drive, select 1 Partition, Mac OS X Journaled (Case-Sensitive Update: Several readers have suggested that case-sensitive formatting can cause problems with some applications, like Adobe’s Creative Suite, so you may be better off sticking with plain old Mac OS X Journaled.), give it a name, and make sure GUID Partition Table is set in the Options. After you Apply the new partition, go back to the installer and install like normal to that drive. When you reboot after the install completes, press the arrow keys at the graphical boot menu and select the drive you just installed Snow Leopard to.

A Few Final Tweaks

You’ll notice that, the first time Snow Leopard boots up, you’re not enjoying any sound along with that snazzy intro video. We’ve got one small, but very simple tweak to make to get sound up and running. Here’s how it works:

1. Download the Kext Utility, then download this audio kext (a kext is kind of the Mac equivalent of a driver) and unzip it to your Desktop. Once you’ve got both in front of you, drag and drop the ALC889.Fix.kext file onto the Kext Utility. You’ll be prompted to enter your password, so go ahead and do that when you’re prompted.
2. Once the Kext Utility finishes running, open up Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app). Once it loads up, (1) click on your Snow Leopard drive (mine’s called Hack Leopard), then (2) click Repair Disk Permissions.
3. Once Disk Utility finishes repairing your disk permissions, just restart. After your computer reboots, your audio should be working like a charm. (If not, open up Sound in your System Preferences and try changing the Output device.)

As things stand on your system right now, you need to have your thumb drive plugged in every time you reboot in order to load the bootloader that allows your Hackintosh to load OS X. There are certain benefits to this (for example, right now you could quite likely unplug this hard drive from your Hackintosh, plug it into a Mac Pro, and it would work just fine), but it can also be a bit of a hassle. At this point, though, you can load the bootloader and other necessary components onto the Snow Leopard hard drive and change that drive to your primary boot drive in your BIOS. All you’ve got to do is head back to the step-by-step bootloader guide above and repeat every step, except this time you’re applying each step to your hard drive rather than your thumb drive.

Congratulations! You’ve Got a Fully Functional Hackintosh

“But for realz,” you ask, “does it actually work well?”

I’ve been using one or another Hackintosh as my main computer for two years now, and while I’ve run into the occasional bump in the road, they’ve generally run extremely well. In fact, things just seem to keep on getting better and better, and the current build I’m running (the one I walked you through above) feels like the fastest, most stable build to date.

That’s not to say that you won’t experience an occasional kernel panic—you may very well. But I get crashes on my MacBook Pro, too, and I’ve never felt that my current Hack Pro has any more problems than any other proper Mac I’ve used on a regular basis. That may seem a bit crazy, but it’s true.

As for upgrading—often, you’ll be able to upgrade your Hack Pro without any problems. That said, it’s something you normally need to check on beforehand, and you should take all of the upgrade precautions before giving it a go.

I’m planning on letting readers know how my Hack Pro handles various 10.6.x updates shortly after they happen, though, and if it requires a little extra work, I’ll show you how to handle it.

Let’s hear your thoughts—whether you’ve dabbled in the world of Hackintosh, are interested in doing so, or just think it’s plain crazy—in the comments.

Adam Pash is the editor of Lifehacker; he loves a good hack, cherishes his Macintosh, and craves a Mac Pro, so building a Hack Pro was a perfect fit. His special feature Hack Attack appears on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

* OS X boots in a different way than, say, Windows, using a boot tool called EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface). On store-bought Macs, EFI is loaded on the hardware by default (in fact, in place of the standard BIOS most of us are used to). In order to boot OS X on our non-factory Macs, we need to create our own custom path to EFI.

Huge thanks to stellarola, Onetrack, and weaksauce12 for all their help in getting me up to speed on installing Snow Leopard on a Hackintosh PC. The Hackintosh community is large and active, and they are awesome.

Go to Source

How to Build a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, Start to Finish [How To] originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on September 7, 2009.

Personal issues have kept me from writing as regularly on my favourite case as I would like, but hopefully that has ended or at least been minimized. Many interesting things have happened recently, particularly regarding discovery, and I have only just began to digest the information and do not write on a subject until I am fairly sure that I have the facts down and some solid defensible opinions. However, this is a perfect opportunity to step back and take a look into the discovery between the parties prior to Psystar filing and then just as suddenly, fleeing, bankruptcy. As far as I have seen, this information has not been reviewed elsewhere on the Apple web.

Typically, in Federal Court, discovery requests and answers are not filed with the Court unless there is some dispute, and even then, they are often heavily redacted as we have already seen with the Letter Brief filed by Apple on April 29, 2009. In fact, the parties had earlier requested, and had been granted, a Protective Order allowing the redaction (or filing under seal) of certain areas of inquiry in any discovery which must be used as an attachment in support of any filing. Due to these circumstances, we know precious little about precisely what types of inquiries were propounded by both parties. However, attached to Rudy Pedraza’s Declaration filed with the Bankruptcy Court were copies of Apple’s Answers to Psystar’s First, Second, and Third Requests for Admission (comprising 181 separate Requests).

General Information on Requests for Admission

 
Before discussing the contents of the filings uncovered, I will give a short primer for the layperson on the nature and purpose of the discovery avenue of “Requests for Admission.”

Requests for Admission are covered under Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The interested reader can go to the link to read the rule and its technicalities in full. But to put it simply, Requests for Admissions are used to determine what items that the parties can agree are true or false and thus will not need to be proven at trial. For example, in an auto accident case, one party may ask the other to admit that it was not raining at the location of the accident at the time of the accident. This would obviate the need to obtain official weather records in order to prove that particular fact. Another common use of Requests for Admissions are to establish the authenticity of documents so that the original author or records custodian of the documents is not required to come into Court at trial simply to tell the jury that the document is genuine and kept in the ordinary course of business. My general philosophy is that attorneys should not ask stupid Requests for Admissions (with stupid being my subjective standard—the Rules are pretty lenient so that worthwhile requests are not chilled, and the responding party has the protection of objecting in detail). My personal opinion of an example of such would be asking the other party to admit that the basis for their case is entirely without merit (which Psystar did in fact do in their requests). That is just inane, and well, insulting to the intelligence of the recipient and contributes to the public perception that a great deal of law practice is silly showboating. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the beast at times in American jurisprudence.

In my particular job as a legal assistant, some cases tend to be very document-intensive. In such situations, Requests for Admissions are very helpful to both sides to get document authentication out of the way which will shorten the trial and spare the jury from strictly pro forma testimony.

Now however boring all of that might seem, one can glean a great deal of a party’s trial strategy and case theories from the Requests made.

Rudy Pedraza’s Representations Regarding Apple’s Responses to Psystar’s Requests for Admissions Numbered 1 through 181

 
Here are the discovery documents that Pedraza provided.

Apple Inc.’s Responses to Psystar Corporation’s First Set of Requests for Admission (Nos. 1–53)
Apple Inc.’s Responses to Psystar Corporation’s Second Set of Requests for Admission (Nos. 54–84)
Apple Inc.’s Responses to Psystar Corporation’s First Set of Requests for Admission (Nos. 85–181)

First, I wonder if Pedraza obtained the permission of Apple of make these publicly available considering that the parties had agreed to keep certain discovery private. In fact, in Apple’s request to the Bankruptcy Court for relief from the automatic stay, its main exhibit was filed under seal to maintain the privacy of the discovery process. I found it difficult to imagine that Apple agreed to this publication.

Here is what Pedraza stated in his sworn Declaration to the Bankruptcy Court:

Notice that Pedraza alleged that Apple failed to answer and instead has objected to all Interrogatories and/or Requests for Admissions in an attempt to further bury Psystar in legal bills without providing any information, and as example, he provides the Bankruptcy Court with Psystar’s 181 REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION! Hello Mr. Pot, there is a kettle over here that suspects you and he share a colour. In examining these Requests we can get a good glimpse into Psystar’s thought processes as to their discovery and litigation strategy. I will extract some broad areas for examination in this article (not intending to cover every minutiae).

Is it TRUE that Apple “failed to answer and instead has objected to all Interrogatories and/or Requests for Admissions”?

 
Short Answer: No, it is not true.

Long Answer: For those with no experience in the legal field, a review of Apple’s responses may appear to support Pedraza’s assertions. However, Apple’s responses are typical form and practice in the legal industry. Lawyers are paid and trained to advocate zealously for their clients to the best of their abilities within the bounds of professional ethics. As such, they look for even the slightest advantage or phrase that they can use to help their client. Therefore, in written discovery, unless a question/request is very straightforward, nearly every answer will be prefaced by certain objections so that they are preserved, and then, the answer will say something to the effect of “however, without waiving said objections, Plaintiff/Defendant responds XYZ.” Pedraza is correct in that Apple provided objections to all the Requests for Admissions (and as I will show, some of Psystar’s requests are just plain ridiculous and tiresome), he is absolutely duplicitous in his claim that Apple failed in toto to answer. Pedraza is not some innocent illiterate from the boondocks who “gosh golly gee” didn’t know that prefacing answers with objections are typical legal pracitce. In fact, I would LOVE to know if Psystar did the exact same thing. Here is a typical Request and Answer from the very first Request propounded (the General Objections referred to are typical prefaces to all discovery responses that form the first few pages):

Apple responded as is typical in legal proceedings. It protected itself as best as possible from any vulnerabilities in poor wording or ambiguity in the Request and then answers to what it represents is the best of its ability. Nearly every single Request and Answer follows this pattern. There are only few that were objected to in full without a denial or admission. In fact, I had to read all the way to Request Number 47 to find the first example. Did Apple use invisible magic ink so that Pedraza could swear to the Court that Apple failed to answer and only objected to ALL Requests for Admissions? Truth has not been Psystar’s trademark. It is not surprising that they conjure up fake facts considering that they make fake Macs.

In fact, the only Requests that were objected to in full were Requests numbered 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, and 53. That is 6 out of 181. Mr. Pedraza appears to have a bit of an exaggeration problem. In my review, Apple readily admitted to numerous issues of fact. In my own job, I have seen Responses come back in which every (or nearly every) Request is denied. However, all that being said, stepping back from my perspective of being accustomed to such filings, I can understand how Pedraza would be frustrated though I find it difficult to have any sympathy since he answered “I don’t know” over 80 times to questions about the finances of his “very small company” (his representation as he loves to continually whinge in order to represent Apple as the fat bully in the sandbox).

While we are talking about Pedraza’s internal reality distortion field, let’s compare these two statements.

First, from Psystar’s response to Apple’s request to the Bankruptcy Court to lift the automatic stay:

Okay, so Apple has not filed a motion for injunctive relief though it is requested in its Amended Complaint. Now notice what Pedraza says:

It seems that in Rudy-land “has not” is equivalent to “unable to” and evidences that Apple’s case is not clear. Interesting. Why? Because Psystar asked for injunctive relief as well in its Amended Counterclaims but also has not filed a motion for same. Will Pedraza apply the same standard to Psystar? Long live Janus.

And let us not forget this zinger:

Is it true that Psystar ”made every effort to provide them all the documents in our possession”? Well only if you believe not even bothering to print out email attachments and giving potentially contradictory statements as to whether they even still exist comprises making every effort. In my world, the sky is blue, and that is not making every effort.

Moving on…

What can we glean about Psystar’s case strategy from these Requests for Admissions?

 
Obviously I cannot bore you to death by going through all 181 requests individually. Well, technically I could, but I won’t. I have grouped what seems to be the most important and interesting categories for brief discussion with selected example Request(s) and Answer(s) for examples.

Category: Vendors other than Apple sell the “Mac OS.”

Apparently Psystar believes that it is somehow pertinent that users may obtain OS X from entities other than Apple. How that is relevant is beyond me. The consumer does not buy Windows directly from Microsoft; does that somehow denigrate Microsoft’s interest in controlling their intellectual property? The consumer does not generally buy books directly from the authors; does that mean they can produce unauthorized derivative works at will? I would conjecture that Psystar is attempting to piggy-back a case that since the OS is available outside of Apple that Apple has no right to dictate how it can be used. This seems even more likely to be the goal when considering the next category.

Category: Consumers can buy a retail box of the “Mac OS” without purchasing any other Apple product.

Once again, the relevance fails me. A person may buy a copy of Leopard and use it for kindling if they wish. A person can be given a Macintosh upon which they install the product. This is inanity. My guess, again, is that Psystar is attempting to show that although Apple has placed restrictions on the use of the product; it has not required any proof or point of sale proof of being able to actually enforce the restrictions.

Category: It is possible to install and run the “Mac OS” without modifying the “Mac OS” on machines manufactured by vendors other than Apple.

And

Okay, this category is more substantive and appears to be geared towards defeating Apple’s claim of violation of the DMCA which requires anti-circumvention technology. Yet, and interestingly separated by over thirty Requests, Psystar appears to pursue a completely different admission as follows (for example):

I have noted this contradictory tension in prior articles here and here. I must note, however, it is not unusual in Requests for Admissions for a party to ask for two contradictory admissions in order to pin the opposing party to commit one way or the other.

Category: Apple has no copyright rights on any code which is licensed to Apple under an open source license.

I think that is a very valid and interesting point raised by Psystar. I know basically nothing about code and programming so I can only comment on the issues it may pose in this case taking what Psystar is alleging as true. Is Apple’s code a derivative work? and if so, how does that affect the intellectual property rights? My gut reaction is that this argument is NOT good for the open source community or organizations pushing for open standards. Why would a company want to risk losing its intellectual property rights simply because it mixed open source code with its proprietary code? This is just one of the many points that irritates me about some Psystar supporters. Get this straight: Psystar is NO friend of the open source community and “open-ness.” They are just a couple of guys looking to make a buck without much care of how it affects anyone or anything else. There is a reason why the osx86 Project creator is no fan.

Category: Ahhh, we’re right! Just admit it!

 
I am sorry, but I found these next Requests hilarious along the lines of “when did you stop beating your wife?” These are allowable under the Rules as far as I can see, but in my personal opinion this is the type of nonsense that causes people to think poorly of the law and attorneys.

Category: Lack of Real Damages

Basically Psystar wants to establish that even if there were some violation of copyrights or other intellectual property rights; Apple suffered no quantifiable damages from Psystar, presumably because Psystar paid full retail price for each of its copies of Leopard (allegedly) and that its customer base wouldn’t have purchased an Apple-labeled computer due to the higher cost. This of course ignores other intangible losses such as brand dilution and the like (though Psystar did address those in separate Requests).

Category: The Clone program was profitable. Or was it?

Eh? So if Apple made money, then the big, bad corporation wants to make more money (as if that is inherently wrong), and if they didn’t, well that is why they want to persecute poor little Psystar. Tails Psystar wins, Heads Apple loses. Ahem.

Category: Go ahead Apple, admit you want to make money.

Apple is not a charity and wants to make the most money possible. Shocking I know. Somehow I suspect that Psystar would also like to make as much money as possible. In fact, I have it through the grapevine that Rudy has bragged about his own ambitions to be filthy rich.

Category: Ignorant Consumers

Shall Apple waterboard them until they do? Seriously, if anyone states that they have read and agree to certain terms and conditions, the other party has every legal reason to rely upon that declaration (assuming mental competence, age, etc.) I admit it; I have never read any EULA. But I also would never claim that my agreement to something I didn’t read is anyone’s problem but my own. Further, its not as if the end-users are agreeing to something that is a well-kept secret or outlandish.

Category: Apple is the exclusive licensor of “Mac OS,” and has in the past licensed it to other entities who then sold Macintosh “clones” to the public.

It seems, Psystar wants to establish the foundation that Apple as a company had no issue with a business model that included third-party licensing. The inference that Psystar might want to draw from this is that Apple should not have an issue with it today; and it was a viable business model in the past. My response: So? Businesses can change their models for whatever legal reason they choose. Psystar puts some distance between these Requests and the following:

Category: It’s all Steve’s fault (and he’s a hypocrite).

The video linked to above has since been removed, but here is another copy of it (light profanity warning).

Last year my best friend said she would give me a thousand dollars and has since changed her position after figuring out that she was better off keeping it. That basically is what their argument amounts to. It is so vapid I am almost without words. Will Psystar be suing Apple when they eventually include the Bag ‘O Hurt also known as Blu Ray? Psystar has changed its positions faster than Linda Blair has spun her head so I find this beyond chutzpah or the Dunning Syndrome on their part.

Category: All Steve Jobs stated that Apple wanted from its licensees was that they pair their “fair share” for the licensing rights and that said “fair share” would be the retail cost.

Psystar seems poised to argue that it is fulfilling what Steve Jobs wanted prior cloners to do: pay full retail price. Yes, this is hopelessly naive and simplistic, but that appears to be their point. And I hate to give them a much needed reality-check: the technology world is not the same as it was a decade ago.

Category: Apple is picking on us!!! Or put another way, Apple is aware of other third parties who are violating the EULA, such as the osx86 project, but has not sought to enforce the EULA against them.

That sound you hear is Psystar attempting to throw the Hackintosh hobbyist community under the bus so that they can make a buck off of someone else’s work. In legal strategy, they seem to be claiming selective enforcement and waiver. However, I think this will be a tough row to hoe since Rudy was well aware that they were purposefully spitting in Apple’s pie and didn’t really care if they got sued.

Category: Apple informs the public that a purchaser owns the actual physical media which contains the software. Further, Apple has never requested the return of the physical media.

I feel dumber just reading and writing that. Let’s move on.

Category: Installing the software creates a copy on the user’s machine and in the RAM each time the software is executed.

I didn’t think it could get worse. It did. It has already been decided in a case cited earlier (I could get the case if someone really, really wants it) that the machine loading a “copy” into RAM isn’t a license violation and basically is a useless argument against licenses.

Category: Licensing rather than sale is done to circumvent 17 U.S.C. §109, §117

 
and

Category: Apple’s EULA defining the software as licensed and not sold is intended to keep the software from being installed on machines made by other vendors.

This right now is their best argument, but unfortunately for them; the District in which this suit is filed has not been persuaded by this line of reasoning in the past.

Category: Apple hardware is not covered by any Apple copyrights, and Apple-labeled hardware is not expressly defined in Apple’s filings.

and

Category:Apple has alleged that Psystar has violated multiple sections of U.S.C. 17 and one or more licenses attached to Apple’s filings.

This line of argumentation was discussed pretty thoroughly here for the interested reader. Again, this is part of their stronger points (the word “stronger” being used in a very loose manner).

Category: Apple distributes labels that resemble the Apple logo with the “Mac OS” and that people can put those stickers on any computer.

Oh come on!!! You’ve have GOT to be kidding me. That is almost as bad as this:

Category: Apple-labeled computers may be purchased from Apple’s websites.

Okay……

Category: Exhibits 13 through 15 from the March 19, 2009 deposition of Rudy Pedraza cannot by authenticated or verified by Apple.

Without knowing what these documents are, it is difficult to comment. Apparently there are documents that Psystar doesn’t like and wishes to put as much distance between it and them as possible.

Category: Apple purchased computers from Psystar both before and after July 3, 2008.

Okay….. so now we know who bought the ones that were sold to entities other than Engadget and the like.

Category: Apple dissembled, decompiled, and reverse-engineered a Psystar restore disc.

Okay…..

Category: Any two or more copies of the “Mac OS” install disk are the same for all intents and purposes.

I am not at all sure what they are driving it besides a colossal tribute to Captain Obvious. Well this look into their prior discovery will assist in my upcoming articles on the newest bizarre twists that this case has taken over the past week. Be on the lookout for more! Oh goody!

Remember, I am NOT an attorney and any legal opinions would have to be determined by a properly licensed and qualified attorney.

In addition to her position as Assistant Editor at World of Apple, dizzle runs idrankthekoolaid, an Apple fangrl satire blog, and is an Administrator and Hostess at MyAppleSpace and their vidcast MASTv.

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Apple v. Psystar: An Unexpected Opportunity to Examine Contents of Past Discovery originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on August 24, 2009.

Filed under: Google, Search, Humor

Google suggest – sometimes it’s helpful, sometimes it’s way off the mark. For the guys at Sophos, it’s a source of mild amusement. Why?

Well, take a look at the YouTube clip they generously shared with the world. Among the top suggestions when you type “remove” in for the first word of your query? Apart from annoying pests like Antivirus 360 and Antivirus 2009 (both fake antivirus malware) you’ll also notice AVG, McAfee, and Norton.

What does it all mean? Obviously a lot of people are searching for information on how to get rid of those programs. Norton and McAfee – well, those two are apps we love to hate. But AVG? Really?

Sure. It’s a not-uncommon problem with AVG that something gets bunged up with the installer and you need to remove your current version completely in order to install the new version.

Google suggest proves that a lot of people want Norton, McAffee, and AVG off their PCs originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google – Download Squad – antivirus – McAfee – AVG
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Google suggest proves that a lot of people want Norton, McAffee, and AVG off their PCs originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on August 20, 2009.

Download the Silverlight  plugin for Mac OSX.
Mount the .dmg file
Drag the Silverlight.3.0.pkg file to your desktop
Unmount the .dmg – not required now
Right click on “Silverlight3.0.pkg” and choose the “Show Package Contents” menu item.
Double click on the “Contents” folder.
Double click on the “Resources” folder.
Drag and drop the file “InstallationCheck” to the trash.
Close out the folder you’re working in.
Finally double click on the “Silverlight3.0.pkg” package, and it should install fine now.

VIA Msi Wind Forums • View topic – Installing Microsoft Silverlight v2 on OSX (Advent 4211).

Installing Microsoft Silverlight v3 on OSX originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 14, 2009.