KEY POINTS:
Are we about to see a renaissance of the clone era, when companies like Power Computing and Motorola licensed Macintosh ROMs and painted the Apple beige?
New company Psystar is offering a Mac-compatible computer in the United States - harking back to the days of knock-offs.
The company's website is advertising the Open Computer, which will run the latest version of Apple's Leopard OS X operating system.
Psystar is pitching the PC-cased US$399 ($505) machine as a cheaper alternative to premium Apple product.
"With the Open Computer," says the blurb on Psystar's site, "you can run OSX natively as if you had purchased an expensive Apple computer except that, while paying less, you receive more."
The company is quite scathing about Apple's pricing - pointing out that the Open Computer is even cheaper than the stripped-down MacMini.
While toting extreme, Mac Pro-like performance, Psystar's main point of reference on its website (which has been struggling with traffic levels in the past couple of days) is the Mini.
The Open Computer comes standard with a 2.2GHz Intel Core2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. It can also be upgraded with nVidia's GeForce 8600 video card or a three-port FireWire card.
A SATA dual layer DVD+/-R burner is standard fitment, in response to Apple's so-called SuperDrive.
It costs US$155 on top of the $399 entry fee to have Leopard installed on the machine.
Clone again?
Clone versions of Apple computers, using licensed Apple ROMs, were most successfully made by Power Computing, but also sold by UMAX and Motorola and APS Technologies.
The clones did tend to follow the 'beige box' school - as did the IBM clones that saw rise to corporate giants like Compaq and Packard Bell - although Macs of the time were hardly stunning statements of contemporary design either.
When Steve Jobs made his return to save Apple in 1997, he pulled the pin on clone-makers by revoking their licences.
The blogosphere seems to be waiting with baited breath to see whether the Apple boss will attempt to stamp out the move.
Apple's end user license agreement says that "You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labelled computer, or to enable others to do so."
Psystar seems to be giving the company another open invitation to litigate, stating in an FAQ that some Apple updates are "decidedly non-safe."
The new development seems to back up calls by industry magazine Fast Company late in 2007, where commentator Adam Penenberg pointed out that Apple has been courting competition from very big tech organisations with products like iTunes, iPhone and the new Windows-friendly face of Mac.
"In a way the company has never seen," wrote Penenberg, "the barbarians are massing at the gates. From hardware to software to services, major competitors with serious R&D and marketing budgets are laying siege to the House of Jobs."
