This just in from the ::blink:: department: Psystar announced Monday an "OEM Licensing Program," a third party licensing and certification program for the Psystar's software that allows Intel-based computers to run Mac OS X. "Psystar Certified" computers -- and we are not making this up -- would thus be guaranteed by Psystar to "effectively" be Snow Leopard compatible.
"In an effort to spread the Snow Leopard experience to an ever-expanding number of people, the licensing initiative will allow manufacturers to have their hardware Psystar Certified and have their computers pre loaded with our unique technology including the Darwin Universal Boot Loader (DUBL)," the company said in a statement.
Psystar is referring to this as a "virtualization technology," but DUBL is a boot-loader, and not a virtualization technology. Boot loaders allows users to choose which installed OS on a computer will be used to actually boot the computer -- for instance, Apple's own Boot Camp allows Mac users to install and boot from Windows on their Mac is an example of a boot loader.
In its announcement, Psystar said that its DUBL-based software was specifically engineered for Snow Leopard, and that it will, "allow for seamless operation of the Mac OS on generic Intel Hardware and would be offered on all Psystar Certified machines."
A screenshot supplied by Psystar of its DUBL-based boot loader in action - Snow Leopard logo not used
Psystar and Apple have been engaged in an ongoing legal battle over Psystar's copyright infringement (according to Apple) and the breaking of Apple's End User License Agreement (EULA) that prohibits the use of Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware. That suit has been raging back and forth in the various pre-trial phases for the last year, and is currently set to hit an actual courtroom in January of 2010.
In the suit and countersuits involved, Apple has accused Psystar of violating both its copyrights on Mac OS X and the EULA associated with the retail copies of Mac OS X that Psystar uses in its unauthorized cloning business, while Psystar has tried to have Apple's copyrights and the EULA to be invalidated.
Snow Leopard is not involved in the current round of suits: Apple tried to amend the current suit to include the newest version of Mac OS X, a move that the courts rejected, but one that doesn't preclude Apple from launching yet another suit against Psystar.
For its part, Psystar has continued business as usual with its unauthorized clones while it changes law firms faster than Microsoft changes direction in the digital media device market.
Those interested in signing on to this sinking ship can contact [email protected].