yamcha Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Hi guys, Just out of curiosity is it legal to install OSX on a PC, a lot of people are saying it is not, but there are also people who say it is legal.. Can someone clarify this for me? I'm not worried or anything but just wanted to know.. Appreciate your help :] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagar Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed below are mine & do not necessarily reflect the views of insanelymac or its owners. Secondly, I am not a lawyer, and the following is merely the legal position to the best of my knowledge, errors & omissions excepted etc etc. If you have *not* legally purchased a copy of OS X: Any installation is illegal, as you do not have any kind of license to the software. This includes *any* distro-based installation as these are pirated by definition, as well as *any* installation of 10.4.* Tiger, as this was never sold separately in an intel-capable form. If you *have* legally purchased a copy of OS X: It depends on the laws where you live, as regards software licensing, EULAs and sales/post-sales contracts. If you live in a country that regards the EULA as legally binding (e.g. the USA), you are subject to the clause that says the software may only be installed on a single apple-labelled computer. Some people have speculated that placing an Apple sticker on your computer fulfils this obligation, although this has not been tested in court, I doubt it would hold up. If you live in a country that does not consider the EULA or post-sales contracts legally binding, like certain european countries, and/or where laws protecting interoperability and reverse-engineering exist, It is most likely legal. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leafhound Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Agree with Hagar Last year I was staying in a student accommodation where there was about 12 students, the house was raided by the police early one morning and lots of equipment was ceased and taken away for analysis amongst other items were 3 PC's, 2 of them were Hackintosh. it was over six months before anything was heard. only one person was charged with drug related offences and all 3 computers were returned to us in the same condition with Hackintosh installed. I would only ever do a Hack with a genuine DVD/USB media that I purchased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmarques Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Hi guys, Just out of curiosity is it legal to install OSX on a PC, a lot of people are saying it is not, but there are also people who say it is legal.. Can someone clarify this for me? I'm not worried or anything but just wanted to know.. Appreciate your help :] Like someone said above, depends where you live, despite in most of Europe EULA's are a legal bound contract. Then it depends on the local law system, where you have several instances, like in the US. You may find one instance sympathy for you cause, and the others won't. But I would consider the following in any case, Apple, just like Microsoft and other bad-ass companies who hold strong positions in the market segments they work on usually take the things easilly on court, they send a battalion of bad-ass lawyers and make the case so expensive that eventually you will end up by accepting their agreements as most people won't have finantial resources to maintain such case. In the worst case, specially in the US, u might get away from the initial intentions, but you will end up being overhelmed by some patent violations and end up nailed in the end. I don't believe that if Apple starts to move against hackintosh'ers, the last ones will have any hope of winning a law suit. Money = Power (maybe not on India where several companies like Microsoft have been nailed before). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fissm Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I think if you genuinely purchased the product, it should be legal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecwest Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 I think if you genuinely purchased the product, it should be legal Personally, I don't think it should be legal. I think Apple should be able to have their own business model. I think the reason why an Apple works is due to that... I also think that this should be a Sticky, as it has been discussed many times before. The debate will never end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
121fred Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 I think there is a bit in the EULA about installing only on Apple Hardware. This is what Apple is using as argument against Psystar in the US. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong guys but based on my reading I think the reality is it is illegal to install on a PC Hackintosh, BUT!!! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mielaczka Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Was it Europe or US? Agree with Hagar Last year I was staying in a student accommodation where there was about 12 students, the house was raided by the police early one morning and lots of equipment was ceased and taken away for analysis amongst other items were 3 PC's, 2 of them were Hackintosh. it was over six months before anything was heard. only one person was charged with drug related offences and all 3 computers were returned to us in the same condition with Hackintosh installed. I would only ever do a Hack with a genuine DVD/USB media that I purchased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecwest Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Was it Europe or US? I am guessing that it was Europe, as I have heard of a "student accommodation" here in the USA... I think in the USA they call it Dormitories? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedish_meatball Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Imagine if movies released by Sony Pictures only were allowed on Sony BD/DVD players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mckooter Posted March 17, 2010 Share Posted March 17, 2010 Imagine if movies released by Sony Pictures only were allowed on Sony BD/DVD players. one of two things would happen: 1: sony would have a huge fanbase of people who only watched sony movies, and there would be a hacking community devoted to making sony bd/dvd run on other hardware 2: sony would die out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikuro Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 one of two things would happen: 1: sony would have a huge fanbase of people who only watched sony movies, and there would be a hacking community devoted to making sony bd/dvd run on other hardware 2: sony would die out I registered just to say this; Haha, I see what you did there! For the topic; I do believe it is against Apples' wishes and EULA, and is also legally dubious, especially concerning the EULA. If you want to stay clear of the law, get Apple hardware (or ditch Mac OS). As for the rest of us who think the tie in to the Apple hardware is a big drawback to Mac OS, we try our best to work around it for our own personal experimentation and use, sometimes despite what the law and/or the copyright holders say we can and can't do. So although it is easier to just say it is illegal, maybe you should reconsider the question, is that really what you wanted to know? did you already know the answer? Finally, you should always have bought a license, otherwise it is just straight piracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saeen Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 So it means I can't install Mac OS X 10.6 on my PC and run both Windows and Mac through bootcamp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerkex'd Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 Why would you want to run Bootcamp on a PC? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kobus Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 It's not really "illegal", but you are breaking the EULA. There has yet to be a precedent on whether EULAs will hold up in court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georges_k Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 I've read on another forum: stick an apple logo on your hackintosh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freaky Chokra Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Like someone said above, depends where you live, despite in most of Europe EULA's are a legal bound contract. Then it depends on the local law system, where you have several instances, like in the US. You may find one instance sympathy for you cause, and the others won't. But I would consider the following in any case, Apple, just like Microsoft and other bad-ass companies who hold strong positions in the market segments they work on usually take the things easilly on court, they send a battalion of bad-ass lawyers and make the case so expensive that eventually you will end up by accepting their agreements as most people won't have finantial resources to maintain such case. In the worst case, specially in the US, u might get away from the initial intentions, but you will end up being overhelmed by some patent violations and end up nailed in the end. I don't believe that if Apple starts to move against hackintosh'ers, the last ones will have any hope of winning a law suit. Money = Power (maybe not on India where several companies like Microsoft have been nailed before). Very well said NMarques. Every bit of those words are true. Its just what happens everywhere. Well, If NMarques, you don't mind... Can you refresh my memory, when in History was Microsoft nailed? That too, in India? Isn't India pretty much corrupt(?) that Bigwigs like Microsoft can easily "buy" their decision? Awaiting you reply Regards, Freaky Chokra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toyotascionxd Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 i believe it's illegal. by the way how come the mac os costs $29 only while windows 7 costs from $120 to 200? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaLeon Posted May 11, 2010 Share Posted May 11, 2010 If i'm right Apple's EULA states that you can install Mac Os only on Apple certified machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom btc Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 Not legal, who cares? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazynudist Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 if there isn't any illegal coding involved for instance those patched versi0ons of mac os x are illegal because the source code for the os was modified in some way and since this code isn't opensource then modifying it is illegal and considered hacking, but if you use the boot132 method (and other methods that involve special bootloaders) then your gonna be alright you can throw caution to the wind when you do this technique, because your installing the os on the system without modifying the code to get it to work,this mean that its legal since you didn't have to hack anything to get it working but apple does discourage people that want to build a hackintosh from doing this , they haven't thought about a way to put us hackintosh fans in the slammer yet and i think that won't be anytime soon, but they also say that it should only be installed on apple "labled" hardware, what people have done to keep apple out of their hair when this comes is to go to an apple store and buy apple stickers and stick them to the appropriate places on the tower and monitor (the kinds of sticker they expect you to put on the window of your car or something) the bootloaders that have made this project legal are (the ones i can name) boot132 (popular you have to go out and find one that works with your hardware the good people on thios forum can help out alot) empire efi (haven't had any luck with this one) [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] (haven't had luck with this one either but youll probiably have a different experience than me) and chameleon (this is the bootloader that makes booting mac os x on the pc without a boot cd possible, sorta like how grub works to make a linux distro boot and from what i have been read on the net lately is that EULA like law vary depending on country so the laws could be differnt i guess in some countries when you do something like this (no pirating involved) then youll be alright unless steve jobs comes to your house and throws a fit and sues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angkung Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed below are mine & do not necessarily reflect the views of insanelymac or its owners. Secondly, I am not a lawyer, and the following is merely the legal position to the best of my knowledge, errors & omissions excepted etc etc. If you have *not* legally purchased a copy of OS X: Any installation is illegal, as you do not have any kind of license to the software. This includes *any* distro-based installation as these are pirated by definition, as well as *any* installation of 10.4.* Tiger, as this was never sold separately in an intel-capable form. If you *have* legally purchased a copy of OS X: It depends on the laws where you live, as regards software licensing, EULAs and sales/post-sales contracts. If you live in a country that regards the EULA as legally binding (e.g. the USA), you are subject to the clause that says the software may only be installed on a single apple-labelled computer. Some people have speculated that placing an Apple sticker on your computer fulfils this obligation, although this has not been tested in court, I doubt it would hold up. If you live in a country that does not consider the EULA or post-sales contracts legally binding, like certain european countries, and/or where laws protecting interoperability and reverse-engineering exist, It is most likely legal. Hope this helps. I try to understand these: Since even in apple itself there were a lot of script or program that is from the open source in other word it is GPL (general public license); Now, when those distro come it used this GPL and remove as much as the illegal use to make that distro legal i is true? A lot of thing has been done like jail-braking use the GPL to change that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkone84 Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I've read on another forum: stick an apple logo on your hackintosh Have you guys ever wonder why apple sends apple logo stickers with the retail disk..lol I think they answered it for us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elad Nava Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Ofcourse it's not legal. But you won't get arrested or fined for it. See, Apple won't take you to court for installing Hackintosh on your computer, but they might if you install it commercially for money on like 10+ computers or create a distro of it and upload it to the Internet. They don't like people who make money off their work for free, and they especially don't like the people who upload it to the Internet. If you're just a "consumer" of Hackintosh, you've got nothing to worry about. Heck, I'd say Apple should be thanking us for this, we have made COUNTLESS of hardware drivers compatible with OSX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzzi99 Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 i believe it's illegal. by the way how come the mac os costs $29 only while windows 7 costs from $120 to 200? The prices are that way because Mac OS X is always classified as an update, whereas Windows is a new product (wether you're upgrading or not). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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