EFI-X : Install OSX on retail PC becoming piece of cake ?
Posted on June 12th, 2008 in Apple, EFI-X, Hackintosh, News, OSX by tsabrack || 2 Comments
Not so long ago, Psystar hit the headlines by announcing they would commercialize a retail PC with OSX pre-installed on it. They were using a modified version of Mac, know has Hackintosh ( a patched installer of the OSX).Although it was quite nice, there was nothing new has Hackintosh have been around for some time. Those PC were surely much much cheaper than a Mac, but that didn’t come without drawbacks, one of the most serious being that those PC couldn’t (and still cannot) benefit of the Mac Updates, as any update install could render the system totally unstable of even worse unstable or totally unable to work.
Those compatibility/update problems are due to hardware inside of Macs. The Macs uses precise hardware which are the same throughout a whole series, and there’s only drivers for that hardware. The chances that you PC has exactly the same components as a Mac are very thin although not impossible. But even in that case, there’s some components that cannot be bought for PC, that make the Mac unique.
But this uniqueness might come to an end, or more precisely we may be able get around it. A company called EFI-X, seems to be on the verge to commercialize a dongle that allow to solve that problem. According to their webpage, with that nifty dongle people could install OSX on a retail PC without having to use a hacked installer, and even use the Apple Updates.
Apple left opened the Pandora box opened after Psystar did his coup, by not reacting to it. If they really let EFI-X start selling their device, that could a real 180 degree turn in Apple historical policy (that some may call Elitism). That change although quite astonishing, may not be such stupid thing to consider. For a proof the change in distribution of the Iphone which change from a confidentially distributed device to a Worldwide heavily distributed toy.
Even if they don’t officially acknowledge the device, they might very well turn their head in the other direction and let it spread. This would ensure much more presence on the OS market, and allow them to “steal” some more from Microsoft while they are weak.
See you on the 23rd of June, 2008, the announced release date of the device.
Alex.