Quote:
You buy a PegasOS because you want an Amiga - not so you can have a cheap hacked together Apple that may or may not support everything in your system.
First of all, people aren't buying a Pegasos because they want "an Amiga". That's as nutty as buying one because they want "a Mac." A Pegasos is a unique machine that can (or will be able to) run a number of OSs, some natively and some through emulation.
Then there's nothing new about using an Amiga-like system to run MacOS anyway. Actually when I first got my Amiga way back when, I ordered it with an A-Max cartridge and external floppy drive for Mac discs for exactly the same reason that somebody would want to run MOL now. Then came ShapeShifter, etc. So running MacOS on this platform is nothing new. In fact as I recall it was always kind of a matter of pride that the Amiga was powerful and flexible enough to run these other OSs. So I think you're off-base with your criticism of this idea. The tradition goes way back.
As far as being illegal is concerned, first of all, in Europe apparently EULAs are not accepted as binding from the get-go, and in the US, as far as I know there has never been a case against a consumer proving that they are binding. In any case, since it is a consumer contract and not a regulatory matter, it'd be a civil contract violation in the worst scenario, not a criminal violation. So it is not "illegal" in that sense but only a contract violation; and I'm not sure what the penalty would be in that case, should Apple decide to pursue the matter. It'd have to be determined by a civil suit of some kind, I guess.
As far Genesi advertising that you can run MacOS on the Pegasos, I don't see this on pegasosppc.com anywhere. If it was a official feature, I imagine it would be advertised as such. True, Bill Buck has talked about it in forums, but that's not the same as it being an advertised feature, as far as a would-be buyer is concerned. Forum talk is cheap and any Pegasos buyer saying "but bbrv said we could do it in a forum at xxxx.com" would look kind of silly in any legal proceedings if Apple would be trying to pin blame somewhere.
This is just my opinion, but I'd say just relax about arcane "permission" issues. Pegasos buyers ought to just enjoy the machine they bought, have fun with it, and use it how they want to. That's the tradition, too, isn't it?
-- gary_c
