Macintosh clone

The Apple II and IBM PC computer lines were "cloned" by other manufacturers who had reverse-engineered the minimal amount of firmware in the computers' ROM chips and subsequently legally produced computers that could run the same software.{{cite web | last =Coventry | first =Joshua | author-link= | title =Apples From Other Orchards | publisher =Low End Mac | date =2006-12-05 | url =http://lowendmac.com/2014/apples-from-other-orchards-apple-ii-clones/ | doi = | accessdate =2007-03-04 }} These clones were seen by Apple as a threat, as Apple II sales had presumably suffered from the competition provided by Franklin Computer Corporation and other clone manufacturers, both legal and illegal. At IBM, the threat proved to be real: most of the market eventually went to clone-makers, including Compaq, Leading Edge, Tandy, Kaypro, Packard Bell, Amstrad in Europe, and dozens of smaller companies, and in short order IBM found it had lost control over its own platform.

Apple eventually licensed the Apple II ROMs to other companies, primarily to educational toy manufacturer Tiger Electronics in order to produce an inexpensive laptop with educational games and the AppleWorks software suite: the Tiger Learning Computer (TLC). The TLC lacked a built-in display.{{cite web | last =Owad | first =Tom | author-link = | title =Tiger Learning Computer | publisher =Applefritter | date =2004-01-19 | url =http://www.applefritter.com/node/239 | doi = | accessdate =2007-03-04 }} Its lid acted as a holster for the cartridges that stored the bundled software, as it had no floppy drive.

{{as of|1989}}, the only legal Macintosh clone was an Atari ST with Mac ROMs.{{Cite magazine |date=February 1989 |title=Nanobytes |url=https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1989-02_OCR/page/n15/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=2024-10-08 |magazine=BYTE |page=12}} The ST can emulate a Mac by adding the third-party Magic Sac emulator, released in 1985, and, later, the Spectre, Spectre GCR, and Aladin emulators. The first three of those emulators requires that the user obtain a set of Mac ROMs sold as system upgrades to Macintosh users. Later, multiple emulators were released for the Amiga.{{cite web | url=http://shapeshifter.cebix.net/|title=The Official ShapeShifter Home Page}}

Starting with the sales of PowerPC Macs, a CPU emulator to run 68000 applications was built into the Mac OS. By the time 68060 processors were available, PowerPC Macs became so powerful that they ran 68000 applications faster than any 68000-based computer, including any Amiga, Atari ST or Sharp X68000. This means even a 68060-upgraded Atari ST clone or Amiga, which avoid CPU emulation, were always slower, on top of causing some programs not to work thanks to imperfect virtualization of the Mac system and remaining machine components.{{cite web |url=http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/ppc.html |title=The PowerPC Triumph |accessdate=1 July 2011}}

Connectix also released another 68k emulator for Macs, replacing the original, called Speed Doubler, supposedly reported to be even faster than Apple's. As the years went by, the emulator was not updated to work with later versions of the original Mac OS, however, supposedly because Apple's own 68k emulator eventually surpassed it in performance, and the OS itself relied further on native PowerPC code with each new Mac OS update.

There was also a software emulator for x86 platforms running DOS/Windows and Linux called Executor, from ARDI. ARDI reverse-engineered the Mac ROM and built a 68000 CPU emulator, enabling Executor to run most (but not all) Macintosh software, from System 5 to System 7, with good speed. The migration from 68000 to PowerPC, and the added difficulties of emulating a PowerPC on x86 platforms, made targeting the later Mac OS versions impractical.

Wary of repeating history and wanting to retain tight control of its product, Apple's Macintosh strategy included technical and legal measures that rendered production of Mac clones problematic. The original Macintosh system software contained a very large amount of complex code, which embodied the Mac's entire set of APIs, including the use of the GUI and file system. Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, much of the system software was included in the Macintosh's physical ROM chips. Therefore, any competitor attempting to create a Macintosh clone without infringing copyright would have to reverse-engineer the ROMs, which would have been an enormous and costly process without certainty of success. Only one company, Nutek, managed to produce "semi-Mac-compatible" computers in the early 1990s by partially re-implementing System 7 ROMs.{{cite web | url=http://www.everymac.com/systems/nutek/index.html | title=MacOS-Compatible Systems: NuTek | publisher=EveryMac.com | accessdate=2006-05-25}}

File:Outbound Systems Inc. Model 2000 rear memory slots.jpg

This strategy, making the development of competitive Mac clones prohibitively expensive, successfully shut out manufacturers looking to create computers that would directly compete with Apple's product lines. However, companies like Outbound Systems, Dynamac and Colby Systems, were able to sidestep the Mac cloning process by targeting high-end, high-profit market segments without suitable product offerings from Apple and offering Mac conversions instead.{{citation|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1563/is_n2_v9/ai_9820899/|title=Taking your Mac on the road: Outbound Laptop System - Hardware Review - alternative to Apple Macintosh Portable from Outbound Systems Inc - evaluation|author=Eric Taub|work=Home Office Computing|year=1991}}{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5|work=InfoWorld|date=24 November 1986|page=5|first=Rory J.|last=O'Connor|title=Apple Backs Portable Mac By Dynamac- First Mac Laptop To Gain Approval}}{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8|work=InfoWorld|date=31 October 1988|page=8|first=Laurie|last=Flynn|title=Colby to Sell SE Model of Walk-Mac- Plans for Authorized Apple Dealers to Install Spare Motherboards}}

In the early 1980s, Brazil's military dictatorship instituted trade restrictions that prohibited the importation of computers from overseas manufacturers, and these restrictions were not lifted until 1993. A Brazilian company called Unitron (which had previously produced Apple II clones) developed a Macintosh clone with specifications similar to the Mac 512K, and proposed to put it on sale. Although Unitron claimed to have legitimately reverse-engineered the ROMs and hardware, and Apple did not hold patents covering the computer in Brazil, Apple claimed the ROMs had simply been copied.{{cite web | url=http://lowendmac.com/2016/unitron-mac-512-a-contraband-mac-512k-from-brazil/ | title= Unitron Mac 512: A Contraband Mac 512K from Brazil | publisher=low end mac | accessdate=2011-05-22}} Ultimately, under pressure from the US government and local manufacturers of PC clones the Brazilian Computer and Automation Council did not allow production to proceed.{{citation|title=O caso Unitron e condições de inovação tecnológica no Brasil|first=Ivan|last=da Costa Marques|publisher=Brazilian Economic History Society|work=Proceedings of the 5th Brazilian Congress of Economic History and the 6th International Conference on Business History|year=2003|url=http://www.abphe.org.br/congresso2003/Textos/Abphe_2003_39.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041208203821/http://www.abphe.org.br/congresso2003/Textos/Abphe_2003_39.pdf|archivedate=2004-12-08|language=Portuguese }}

{{Main|Hackintosh}}

When Apple migrated to the PC-Intel platform in the mid-2000s, Apple hardware was more or less the same as generic PC hardware from a platform perspective. This theoretically allowed for installation of Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware. Hackintosh is the term appropriated by hobbyist programmers, who have collaborated on the Internet to install versions of Mac OS X v10.4 onwards{{snd}} dubbed Mac OSx86{{snd}} to be used on generic PC hardware rather than on Apple's own hardware. Apple contends this is illegal under the DMCA, so in order to combat illegal usage of their operating system software, they continue to use methods to prevent Mac OS X (now macOS) from being installed on unofficial non-Apple hardware, with mixed success. At present, with proper knowledge and instruction, macOS installation is more or less straightforward. Several online communities have sprung up to support end-users who wish to install macOS on non-Apple hardware. Some representative examples of these are Dortania and InsanelyMac.

{{Main|Psystar}}

In April 2008, Psystar Corporation based in Miami, Florida, announced the first commercially available OSx86, a Wintel/PC computer with Mac OS X Leopard pre-installed[http://www.crn.com/hardware/207200440 Psystar Releases Mac Clone] partially with software from the OSx86 community project.{{cite web|author=Patel, Nilay|date=2008-04-16|title=OSx86 Project not too happy with Psystar either|url=https://www.engadget.com/2008/04/16/osx86-project-not-too-happy-with-psystar-either/|publisher=Engadget|accessdate=Sep 17, 2008}} Apple immediately sued in July 2008{{cite web|author=Fried, Ina|date=2008-07-15|title=Apple sues clone maker Psystar|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9991572-56.html|work=CNET News|publisher=CBS Corporation|accessdate=19 November 2008}} and a protracted legal battle followed, ending in November 2009 with a summary judgement against Psystar.{{cite web|author=Elmer-DeWitt, Philip|date=2009-11-14|title=Apple wins clone suit|url=http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/11/14/apple-wins-clone-suit/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330233518/http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/11/14/apple-wins-clone-suit/|archive-date=March 30, 2010|website=CNN Money|accessdate=November 15, 2009}}{{cite web|author=Keizer, Greg|date=2009-11-15|title=Apple Wins Court Victory Over Mac Clone Maker Psystar|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/182218/Apple_Wins_Court_Victory_Over_Mac_Clone_Maker_Psystar.html?tk=rss_news|publisher=Pc World|accessdate=November 15, 2009}} In May 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Psystar's appeal, closing the case for good.{{cite web|title=CERTIORARI -- SUMMARY DISPOSITION|url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/051412zor.pdf}}

File:PowerComputing PowerCenter Pro 210.jpg]]

In 1992, Macworld published an editorial stating that Apple clones were coming, and that the company should license its technology to others so it would benefit as the overall Macintosh market grew.{{Cite magazine |last=Borrell |first=Jerry |date=May 1992 |title=Opening Pandora's Box |url=https://archive.org/stream/MacWorld_9205_May_1992#page/n21/mode/2up |magazine=Macworld |pages=21–22}}

File:UMAX SuperMac S900.jpg S900, a Macintosh clone manufactured by UMAX Technologies]]

By 1995, Apple Macintosh computers accounted for around 7% of the worldwide desktop computer market. Apple executives decided to launch an official clone program in order to expand Macintosh market penetration. Apple's Mac OS 7 licensing program entailed the licensing of the Macintosh ROMs and system software to other manufacturers, each of which agreed to pay a flat fee for a license, and a royalty (initially {{US$|50|1995}}) for each clone computer they sold. This generated quick revenues for Apple during a time of financial crisis.

From early 1995 through mid-1997, it was possible to buy PowerPC-based clone computers running Mac OS, most notably from Power Computing and UMAX. However, by 1996 Apple executives were worried that high-end clones were cannibalizing sales of their own high-end computers, where profit margins were highest.{{cite book|title=Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company|first=Owen W.|last=Linzmayer|isbn=1-59327-010-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXnw5tM8QRwC&pg=PA254|pages=254–256|date=2004-01-01|publisher=No Starch Press }}

A total of 75 distinct Macintosh clone models are known to have been introduced during the licensee era.{{cite book

| url = https://archive.org/details/macworldmacsecre00pogu/page/452

| title = MacWorld Mac Secrets, 5th Edition

| page = [https://archive.org/details/macworldmacsecre00pogu/page/452 453]

| publisher = IDG Books

| date = 1999

| first1 = David

| last1 = Pogue

| first2 = Joseph

| last2 = Schorr

| isbn = 0-7645-4040-8

}}

The following companies produced licensed Mac clones:

A number of major PC clone manufacturers, including Gateway 2000 and Acer, along with a number of Taiwanese clone vendors, had sought to license Mac OS and produce Mac clones but had been rebuffed by Apple. Such decisions were interpreted as Apple not wishing to relinquish its position of control over the Macintosh market and being unable to support existing licensees.{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/sim_computerworld_1995-09-11_29_37/page/n13/mode/1up | title=Clone problems still daunt Apple | magazine=Computerworld | last1=Picarille | first1=Lisa | date=11 September 1995 | access-date=16 February 2025 | pages=12 }} Licensing agreements with other companies remained unannounced during September 1995, these involving Acorn Computers, Olivetti and GoldStar, ostensibly due to supply issues around certain components used in Mac systems. Reports in MacWeek had also suggested that Dell and Compaq had been "seriously considering" the production of Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP) systems.{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/UnigramX1995519-570/page/10/mode/1up | title=Parts Dearth: Apple Nixes Mac OS Deals | work=Unigram/X | date=11 September 1995 | access-date=16 February 2025 | pages=2 }} Systems conforming to the CHRP standard were anticipated to reduce the support burden on Apple, allowing clone manufacturers to more readily deviate from Apple's own designs.

Soon after Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he personally tried to renegotiate licensing deals more favorable to Apple five times over the course of three weeks; each time, in his own words, Jobs was "basically told to pound sand".October 1997 Seybold Seminar This response caused him to halt negotiations of upcoming licensing deals with OS licensees that Apple executives complained were still financially unfavorable.{{Cite news|first=Galen|last=Gruman|title=Why Apple Pulled the Plug|magazine=Macworld|volume=14|pages=31–36|date=November 1997|issue=11}}

Because the clone makers' licenses were valid only for Apple's System 7 operating system, Apple's release of Mac OS 8 left the clone manufacturers without the ability to ship a current Mac OS version and effectively ended the cloning program.{{Cite news|first=Steven|last=Beale|title=Mac OS 8 Ships with No License Deal|magazine=Macworld|volume=14|pages=34–36|date=October 1997|issue=10}} Apple bought Power Computing's Mac clone business for {{US$|100000000|1997}} and gave their users free Mac OS 8 upgrade disks, ending the clone era.{{Cite news|first=Steven|last=Beale|title=Apple Eliminates the Top Clone Vendor|magazine=Macworld|volume=14|pages=30–31|date=November 1997|issue=11}} Only UMAX ever obtained a license to ship Mac OS 8 and get Mac OS 8 upgrade disks, which expired in July 1998 (Power Computing also got Mac OS 8 disks by their acquisition by Apple).

All other manufacturers had their Macintosh clone contract terminated by late 1997 and either continued their brands as PC clones or discontinued them altogether. Some of the clone manufacturers even went out of business. Reportedly, a heated telephone conversation between Jobs and Motorola CEO Christopher Galvin resulted in the contentious termination of Motorola's clone contract, and the long-favored Apple being demoted to "just another customer" mainly for PowerPC CPUs.{{cite news|url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB892507589126559000| url-status=live | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20150426152356/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB892507589126559000 | archivedate=April 26, 2015 | title = Jobs Makes Headway at Apple, But Not Without Much Turmoil|date = April 14, 1998|accessdate=March 16, 2019 |newspaper = Wall Street Journal |last = Carlton|first = Jim}}

In 1999, Jobs had discussions with Ben Rosen, chairman and interim CEO of Compaq at the time, for the world's then-largest Wintel PC manufacturer to license Mac OS, which would have been a coup for Apple. However no agreement was reached, as Apple had second thoughts about licensing its "crown jewel", while Compaq did not want to offend Microsoft, which it had partnered with since its founding in 1982. By 2007, five years after Compaq merged with HP, Rosen told Jobs he had switched to being a Mac user.{{cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20124402-37/jobs-reportedly-wanted-compaq-to-license-mac-os/ |title=Jobs reportedly wanted Compaq to license Mac OS |website=CNET|author=Musil, Steven|date=2011-10-23}}

In 2001, Jobs reportedly had a meeting with Sony executives, saying he was "willing to make an exception" for Sony VAIO to run Mac OS X, although the negotiations later fell through.{{cite web|title=Steve Jobs wanted Sony VAIOs to run OS X|url=https://www.theverge.com/2014/2/5/5380832/sony-vaio-apple-os-x-steve-jobs-meeting-report|website=The Verge|accessdate=2014-07-08|date=2014-02-05|author=Souppouris, Aaron }}

Since Apple transitioned the Macintosh to an Intel platform in 2006, and subsequent to a major increase in visibility and a gain in computer market share for Apple with the success of the iPod, large computer system manufacturers such as Dell have expressed renewed interest in creating Macintosh clones.{{cite web|title=Dell: We Would License Mac OS|date=16 June 2005 |url=http://www.betanews.com/article/Dell-We-Would-License-Mac-OS-X/1118955105|publisher=betanews.com|accessdate=2010-11-16}} While various industry executives, notably Michael Dell, have stated publicly that they would like to sell Macintosh-compatible computers, Apple VP Phil Schiller said the company does not plan to let people run Mac OS X (macOS) on other computer makers' hardware. "We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac," he said.{{cite web|title=Apple throws the switch, aligns with Intel|url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1014_3-5733756.html|website=CNET|accessdate=2005-06-06}}

{{Main|Macintosh conversion}}

Unlike Mac clones that contain little or no original Apple hardware, a Mac conversion is an aftermarket enclosure kit that requires the core components of a previously purchased, genuine Apple Mac computer, such as the Macintosh ROM or the motherboard, in order to become a functional computer system. This business model is most commonly used in the car industry, with one of the most famous examples being the Shelby Mustang, a high performance variant of the Ford Mustang, and is protected{{cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/usam/criminal-resource-manual-1854-copyright-infringement-first-sale-doctrine |title=Copyright Infringement -- First Sale Doctrine |date=19 February 2015 |publisher=Offices of the United States Attorneys |accessdate=Sep 28, 2017}} in the U.S. by the First-sale doctrine and similar legal concepts in most other countries.

While Mac clones traditionally aim to compete directly with Apple's solutions through lower prices,{{cite web |url=http://lowendmac.com/2014/apple-squeezes-mac-clones-out-of-the-market/ |title=Apple Squeezes Mac Clones Out of the Market |publisher=Low End Mac}} Mac conversions target market segments that lack dedicated solutions from Apple, and where the need for a Mac solution is high enough to justify the combined cost of the full price of the Mac donor computer plus the price of the conversion kit and labor.{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTwEAAAAMBAJ&dq=intelitec+macintosh+portable&pg=RA1-PA25 |title=Makers Proceed Despite Apple's Refusal to Sell Motherboards |publisher=INFOWORLD:Macintosh News |date=2008-04-16 |author= Spiegelman, Lisa L.}}{{cite web |url=http://lowendmac.com/2016/the-68000-dash-30fx-an-accelerate-mac-iifx/ |title=Makers Proceed Despite Apple's Refusal to Sell Motherboards |publisher=Low End Mac |date=2016-07-05}}

The following companies produced Mac conversions:

• IBM PC compatible
• Darwin (operating system)

{{reflist}}

• [https://archive.org/details/MacClone95 Mac Clones and New O/S] movie from archive.org
• [http://www.everymac.com/systems/mac-clones/index-mac-clones.html Mac Clones by Manufacturer] (at EveryMac.com)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170204050953/http://lowendmac.com/clones/index.shtml Macintosh clones] (at LowEndMac.com)
• [http://www.macinfo.de/rechner/index.html Infos on all macs and clones] (incl. details on some [http://www.macinfo.de/hardware/boards.html mainboard PCBs] / at MacInfo.de)
• [http://lowendmac.com/2014/apple-squeezes-mac-clones-out-of-the-market/ Apple Squeezes Mac Clones Out of the Market] (at LowEndMac.com)
• {{Citation | url = http://vintage-laptops.com/?page_id=246&lang=en | contribution = Dynamac (Macintosh clone), 360 degree model | title = Russian Vintage Laptop Museum | date = 6 April 2017 | type = museum}}

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