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Apple goes after Wired published over Mac OS X netbook hacking tutorial
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - 04:03 PM EST

"A December video tutorial teaching viewers how to modify a netbook to run Mac OS X has landed tech magazine Wired in hot water with Apple's legal department," Zach Spear reports for AppleInsider.

"Wired's Brian X. Chen posted a video podcast to the Gadget Lab blog on December 1st that demonstrated the installation of an 'illegal, hacked version' of Mac OS X Leopard onto an MSI Wind netbook," Spear reports. "'I start out by telling you where to download the hacked operating system software,' Chen wrote. 'You'll also need to download and install a copy of OSX86 tools. Then I walk you through the steps of how to put the OS on a USB flash drive (at least 4GB) to copy it onto the netbook.'"

Spear reports, "Just hours ago, Chen sent an update to his Twitter account: 'Just found out Apple is suing Wired for my video tutorial on hacking netbooks to run Mac OS X. One hell of a way to start off the day.' It later turned out that Chen misunderstood the situation, and a formal complaint has not been lodged with the US court system... Apple has most likely sent a cease-and-desist letter to Condé Nast Publications, Wired's parent company, rather than suing for monetary damages."

More in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Judge Bork" for the heads up.]


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Jan 14, 09 - 04:09 pm Comment from: pr

hmmmm...
While in general I don't see too much wrong with spreading this around from person to person (though any of this violates the agreement you make when you BUY the software...I don't like people flaunting illegality in ANY venue.

Jan 14, 09 - 04:10 pm Comment from: Wings2Sky

Now if Apple will just make a small netbook so I can use in coach class on an airplane, people won't need to do this stupid hack!

Jan 14, 09 - 04:10 pm Comment from: Willie G

Hopefully they do sue, and this ass-clown looses his job. Encouraging people to use - in his own words - 'hacked' software and engage in an activity that violates OSX's EULA is irresponsible and reprehensible.

Jan 14, 09 - 04:11 pm Comment from: Willie G

Wings2Sky -

They make 2 actually.. the iPhone and the iPod Touch

Jan 14, 09 - 04:13 pm Comment from: One guy from Finland

Apple Legal is set to KILL!
If feels so nice every time.

Jan 14, 09 - 04:19 pm Comment from: Jeremy

The whores over at Gizmodo have put a copy of the video up (they say) but it doesn't actually load. The world sure is a sh*t heap when reputable magazines like Wired don't see anything wrong with promoting the Pirate Bay website and host an illegal hacking video, and trash-hounds like Gizmodo immediately post it just to get hits and "cred." It's like the whole world is run by idiot teenagers.

Whatever happened to "do the right thing?"

Jan 14, 09 - 04:22 pm Comment from: ron

Jeremy, "Whatever happened to "do the right thing?""

Wired generally does the left thing.

Jan 14, 09 - 04:24 pm Comment from: igads

I'm going to show everyone how to rip-off Wired's Mag's articles and use them on their sites and publications.

What do you think, Wired won't care that I'm riping them off.

Dumba$$ should be fired as well as the editor. Damages anyone?!

Jan 14, 09 - 04:25 pm Comment from: HMCIV

Just found out Apple is suing Wired for my video tutorial on hacking netbooks to run Mac OS X. One hell of a way to start off the day.

Translation: "For whatever reason, somebody is probably going to try and pin the blame on ME. Stupid."

grin

Jan 14, 09 - 04:25 pm Comment from: Jeremy

@ ron

but, but ... the left thing *is* the right thing (usually) smile

Jan 14, 09 - 04:33 pm Comment from: Driver

I'm sure somehow the DMCA can be brought into this discussion...

Jan 14, 09 - 04:35 pm Comment from: Peruchito

does this mean i can't post my how to breaking into wired magazine's publishing house and taking a copy for free to read of wired's magazine? what has the world come to??

Jan 14, 09 - 04:36 pm Comment from: DLMeyer

Jeremy ... No Politics!
I can understand Apple suing over the illegal download of their OS. Actually, they HAVE to in order to uphold the copyright. I'd be more likely to get upset about this if they were talking about installing a legally purchased version of the OS on that P'oC netbook. This, however, is piracy - THEFT - impure and simple. As good as it gets as a reason to sue.

Jan 14, 09 - 04:37 pm Comment from: Peruchito

@igads

true! apparently everything at http://www.magazinecity.com is free to use. just grab whatever image and text.

Jan 14, 09 - 04:43 pm Comment from: opportunist

This is the perfect opportunity to take down all of the offending websites. Any site/company/individual that posts this video are liable for monetary damages from posting this video. Apple can now legally sue them into financial oblivion. <Mr. Burns>Excellent...</Mr. Burns>

Jan 14, 09 - 04:46 pm Comment from: Mister Ejag

I think they did the LEFT thing in NAZI Germany, The Soviet Union, Cambodia, N. Korea, Cuba and Red China, turned out pretty good for them didn't it?

OH WAIT, nevermind, just lost another HUNDRED MILLION PLUS Citizens - theft is THEFT - and TYRANNY is TYRANNY!
no matter how much you hate the Right in AMERICA - TYRANNY it aint! - we FREE people from that crap ! (or at least we try to)

Jan 14, 09 - 04:53 pm Comment from: Demon

Condé Nast Publications needs to fire Chen and remove the How To, ASAP. Then they need to actively peruse anyone else who posts this content. Running unethical material is the reason old media companies are going down the tubes. Condé Nast Publications has the choice ethics or no ethics.
Wired management needs to have a good house cleaning too, as they've run many of the Steve Job's health stories lately and they've run a bunch of other ethically questionable stories too. Condé Nast Publications just needs to clean house at Wired starting at the top and working their way down.

Jan 14, 09 - 05:30 pm Comment from: Musician

It's funny how there's a completely different reaction to rampant theft of music, isn't it?

Crap like "musicians should let everyone have their music for nothing and get their money from live gigs". How about "Apple should let everyone have their software for nothing and get their money from hardware sales"?

Wired should be sued? But what if a grandmother or 12 y.o. girl posted a video tutorial about hacking OS X - would they be immune to litigation?

What happened to "Do the right thing"? But what's wrong with "sharing"?

It sure is a confusing world...

Jan 14, 09 - 05:40 pm Comment from: Ralph M

I have been buying and using Macs since 1984. Heck, I had a Lisa in 1983. Since then, I have personally owned at least 15-20 Macs, been responsible for the purchase of scores more, and have been a Mac guru for many others. I have an iPhone and several iPods. I have been an Apple stockholder since 2001.

But... the lack of a Mac netbook is really beginning to irk me, and since it seems likely that Apple will NOT release a Mac netbook in 2009, it is a near certainty that I will be buying a MSI Wind and putting OSX on it. I will buy a copy of OSX, sorta like a carbon offset. It seems to me, if for personal purposes I hack a computer and install OSX (and take the risk of screwing it up), and I don't do this as a commercial service, my conscious should be pretty clear.

I should mention that I am going to be spending several weeks in China this summer and I don't want to lug around my MacBook Pro, and buying an Air - and risking its loss during the trip - really doesn't appeal to me, especially when the cost of a Wind plus OSX is only $450.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Jan 14, 09 - 05:45 pm Comment from: Al

@ Mister Ejag,

Fascism, the political name for the type of government that Hitler's Germany, Franco's Spain and Mussolini's Italy all had was an example of the extreme right, not the extreme left.

You'd know that if you were old enough to call Tricky Dicky Nixon a Fascist.

Jan 14, 09 - 06:27 pm Comment from: rahrens

Uh, copyright violation is NOT theft. It is - well, a copyright violation, and is not a violation of criminal law.

Theft is a violation of criminal law, and State law at that. Copyright law is Federal law, not State.

Criminal law can land you in jail, but civil violations will normally get you fined.

Jan 14, 09 - 06:45 pm Comment from: Mac_ATTY

@ Ralph and Willie G

Author of the video strongly suggested that anyone using the hack, buy an authentic copy of MAC OSX. I agree with Ralph, Apple needs to offer a netbook, or at least license its OS to other manufactures so that consumers would have more choice. I agree with Newsweeks accessment of Apples' Annocuments at MacWorld "Steve now is not the time to be introducing a $2800 laptop."

Jan 14, 09 - 06:46 pm Comment from: JohnLee

Willie G loses when he uses loose grammar.

Jan 14, 09 - 06:48 pm Comment from: Mister Ejag

@ Al!

While TECHNICALLY TRUE - Hitler & Muss were leftist, by our history books, but they were no more rightwing than today's Democrats are actually (so-called) Liberal. Nixon was no more a Fascist than you and I are - I will grant you that Tricky Dick was corrupt though, but not a Fascist. I am 50y/o and am classified as African American (Black to me), so I have an idea of what freedom is, and who is typically on the side of the same. That Teams name begins with an R and ends with an N - check out YOUR history.

But we still live in a country, where we can agree to DISagree, w/o killing each other.
Peace!

Jan 14, 09 - 07:43 pm Comment from: solid

DLMeyer said: " Jeremy ... No Politics!"

=========================

Why don't you tell Ron that? He started it.

Jan 14, 09 - 07:43 pm Comment from: Name

Willie G said

"They make 2 actually.. the iPhone and the iPod Touch"

The iPhone and iPod touch are not netbooks.

A netbook is a laptop with a screen no larger than ten inches. For many people on the go constantly a computer this size is very attractive.

Apple needs a tiny portable computer. It doesn't need to be a netbook, but it has to be smaller than the macbook air/macbook and larger than an iphone/ipod touch. With the exception of the macbook, all the top selling systems on Amazon are netbooks.




I don't agree with what wired did, but I don't understand what apple is trying to accomplish here. Hundreds of guides on how to set up OSX on nonapple hardware can be found easily on google.

Suing Wired isn't going to accomplish anything.

A more permanent solution is needed.

Apple should stop selling OSX separate from Mac Hardware. The only way to get OSX should be to buy a Mac with OSX installed on it. Upgrades to newer versions of OSX should be provided as downloads through software update. This probably wouldn't stop people from finding ways to run OSX on nonApple hardware, but it would make it a lot more difficult to do so.

Jan 14, 09 - 09:21 pm Comment from: Willie G

@ John Lee...

So you caught me in a typo, so what? Do you have anything useful to add, or is that really the best you can do?

@ Name,

I strongly disagree with your assessment. For all intents and purposes, an iPhone/iPod Touch can do anything that a NetBook can do, and it is far more portable.

Jan 15, 09 - 05:16 am Comment from: SKYLARK

My wind blows me and others away ...

Umm, that would be my MSI Wind U120H, and I'll port OS X to it once the new Intel Core i7 iMacs are released some time frik'n soon I hope!!!

Bang for buck the MSI Winds really rocks when compared to the Dell Mini 9, HP mini-notes, Samsung NC 10 and the Lenovo S10.

The MSI Wind's built built-in 3.5G HSDPA slot is perfect for the net almost anywhere and everywhere here in Australia with Telstra having now activated its 21Mbps Next G network, up from 14.4 Mbps, although up to now most units have only been able to get 7.2 Mbps - progress marches on as 42 Mbps is on the cards for this year.

OMFG ... I have a fscking PC and I'm on the fscking Telstra network! Help me someone.

Jan 15, 09 - 07:40 am Comment from: Name

Willi G said:

"For all intents and purposes, an iPhone/iPod Touch can do anything that a NetBook can do, and it is far more portable."

It would need a netbook sized keyboard to be considered a netbook. Typing up an essay on an iPod Touch would be a pain. The iPhone/iPod touch are more like umpcs or pocket pcs.

Also a netbook can do everything a regular laptop can do, but doesn't have nearly as much processing power.

Jan 15, 09 - 08:43 am Comment from: Sixvodkas

@ Name

"Also a netbook can do everything a regular laptop can do, but doesn't have nearly as much processing power."

A netbook won't run Final Cut Pro, so you are wrong.

Jan 15, 09 - 10:51 am Comment from: Name

Sixvodkas said

"A netbook won't run Final Cut Pro, so you are wrong."

A netbook with OSX installed could run final Cut Pro, but not as well as a regular macbook. The macbook has a core2duo and the netbook as an atom. That's not to say that an atom isn't a capable processor, since it apparently runs OSX smoothly.

You're missing the point of netbooks though. They're supposed to be extremely small laptops (smaller than a 13 or 12 inch laptop) that are good at every day things like typing up reports or notes.

Also a 13 inch laptop isn't very portable in some situations (like coach class on an airplane).

Jan 15, 09 - 11:07 am Comment from: Willie G

@ Name

"Also a 13 inch laptop isn't very portable in some situations (like coach class on an airplane)."

What, are you stoned? A 13" is perfectly fine in coach. Hell, I take my 17" on coach with me all the time without issue at all.

Maybe you should stop flying on Czechoslovakian airlines.

Jan 15, 09 - 01:16 pm Comment from: derekcurrie

Wired need the attention.

I found the last year of Wired to be so boring, I let my subscription lapse. "Any publicity is good publicity" when you're desperate.

Jan 15, 09 - 01:31 pm Comment from: Name

Willie G said

"A 13" is perfectly fine in coach."

In my experience it isn't. Also considering how many netbooks are on Amazon's top selling hardware list, a lot of people seem to agree with me.

Willie G said

"Hell, I take my 17" on coach with me all the time without issue at all."

Seriously?

Jan 15, 09 - 02:17 pm Comment from: Name

Anyway, I think I know why Apple hasn't released a netbook.

It's because Apple has finally transitioned all their Macs to 64bit. The intel atom used in netbooks is a 32 bit processor.

Intel needs to catchup and release a 64 bit atom suitable for netbooks.

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