Apple Inc (AAPL)

[Tex]

re lockdown

I don't think the question is whether Apple will take steps to make installation on Non-Apple hardware inconvenient, but whether (a) the steps will be bulletproof (ah, no) or (b) will be enough to make non-Apple installations a curiosity rather than a mainstream event (which is the current state of affairs, and is plausible).

I don't think Apple relies on EFI as its litmus test of whether hardware is from Apple. I suspect Apple has code specifically to query for firmware information, etc. to give support to the idea it might be booting on an Apple machine. Further complicating hacking is the movement toward code signing, which will make it harder to substitute Apple's .kext files for modified ones that might enable booting on unapproved machines.

However, as iPhone unlockers have demonstrated, encrypted boot images and so on are just a speedbump. The fact that every update would threaten to kill a machine depending on cracked MacOS X is probably a bigger reason folks would avoid it except as a curiosity: Apple's shown that it can and will tweak updates to kill doctored installations.

Microsoft has a pretty big problem with cracked operating systems despite draconian efforts (Product Activation?) to control unauthorized copies. However, my understanding of most of the cracks is that they derive from enterprise versions specially crafted not to call home -- that is, versions that don't use Product Activation to ascertain their own legitimacy. Assuming Apple implements a consistent policy, and that its relationship to the hardware makes this a better bet than Microsoft had before it resorted to calling home, Apple may be able to do a little bit better than Microsoft was able before Activation arrived, without becoming as reviled for doing things like Activation.

One problem I've had is that every time Apple replaces the motherboard on my iMac G5, I seem to need to re-authorize my machine to play the maybe 3 iTunes tracks on it. Since Apple takes the old broken one away when it swaps them out, I can't log in and deactivate really .... This kind of thing would really suck if (a) it applied to my whole system or (b) I had lots of Apple-acquired music.

Take care,
--Tex.