Possibly dumb OS X question

[tomster2300]

So I think I know the answer to this is no, but I wanted to throw it out there and ask anyway.

Now that Apple is selling standalone copies of Leopard from their store, is it possible to buy a license and install it on a homebuilt pc? I would really like to run OS X on my main desktop without having to buy another computer.

I'm not going to get into the x86 project since I don't think it's completely legal, but is there a legit way of doing this?

I wouldn't think Apple would allow this.

[Alaron]

Nope. It is not legal to install OS X on a PC. There are various methods for creating a 'Hackintosh' as they call it, but we can't talk about them here, as per the rules.

[Masaki 7-11]

We'll probably have a clear answer on this once the Psystar vs. Apple trial is over. Right now it's in a grey area as technically you are buying the software and the enforcement of the EULA is also in a grey area (some areas say that the EULA is enforceable, others not). Apple did have licensed clones at one point (in the early 90s), so they may go back to that buisness model again. I would have thought that if Apple is selling OS 'upgrades' like they claim to be, that you wouldn't be able to use it to do a full installation. If you are interested in having a nice, stable OS with similar features to OS X (and not have to worry about legality or price), you should take a look at Linux.

[tomster2300]

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 If you are interested in having a nice, stable OS with similar features to OS X (and not have to worry about legality or price), you should take a look at Linux.

I'm thinking about installing Ubuntu on it instead, especially since all of my friends have had nothing but good things to say about it. The only problem is that all of my web, photo and video software are for OS X. Could I somehow run them in Linux?

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by tomster2300 I'm thinking about installing Ubuntu on it instead, especially since all of my friends have had nothing but good things to say about it. The only problem all of my web, photo and video software is for OS X. Could I somehow run them in Linux?

It depends on the software; if it's software that can run on windows, or if it's open source, then you shouldn't have any problems. If the software is native to OS X, it will be harder (if not impossible) to make it work on Linux. I'm sure you'll be able to find suitable Linux or Windows alternatives for your software in case your current software won't work on Linux.

[mknabster]

Originally Posted by tomster2300 So I think I know the answer to this is no, but I wanted to throw it out there and ask anyway. Now that Apple is selling standalone copies of Leopard from their store, is it possible to buy a license and install it on a homebuilt pc? I would really like to run OS X on my main desktop without having to buy another computer. I'm not going to get into the x86 project since I don't think it's completely legal, but is there a legit way of doing this? I wouldn't think Apple would allow this.

I'm not sure how legal it is, but i have read that people are buying Lenovos and putting Leopard on them without a problem.

[Beastly]

Originally Posted by mknabster I'm not sure how legal it is, but i have read that people are buying Lenovos and putting Leopard on them without a problem.

It is not illegal or hard it all to install windows or linux on Mac computers. They come out of the box with Bootcamp which enables to duel boot with OS X and either Windows or Linux. So if you have a Mac going to windows or linux is just fine. Another neat program u can buy for mac is Parallels Desktop or Fusion. They make a virtual PC on ur mac and that enables to have a Internet like window up with your Windows or Linux operating system. Some versions even enable you to combine OS X and the other operating system.

[Force Flow]

Beastly, the problem is, not everybody wants to run out and buy a mac. Some people have spare PCs kicking around that aren't doing much, so they'd like to get OS X running on them just to play around.

[Beastly]

I was just elaborating on the comment mknabster said about people are buying Lenovos and putting Leopard on them without a problem. I have a mac as well as a pc so I said what my whole setup is like.