Posted on 05/29/2009 11:30:49 AM PDT by Swordmaker
The idea of creating a Mac clone complete with Mac OS X is not a new concept. However, one company is taking its entry into the clone market a step further by opening a retail store in the Los Angeles area.
Quo Computer plans to open its first retail location, selling Mac clones, on June 1. This is the first time that I'm aware of that a clone maker will have a storefront to sell its wares. Mac clone companies, to this point, have chosen to sell their systems exclusively on the Web.
"It's exciting. We are trying to stay as close to Apple as we can with our products," Rashantha De Silva, Quo founder, told CNET News. "We are trying to mimic things as much as we can. I'm hoping that Apple sees the value in what we are doing."
Apple was not immediately available for comment on Quo's endeavors. Apple's approach to dealing with Mac clones to this point has been far from understanding. The company has a long history of protecting its intellectual property and industrial designs through the courts--just ask troubled clone maker Psystar. That's not lost on De Silva.
"They probably will (sue us)," De Silva said. "There are others doing this, but we have a different attitude. There are thousands of people in the 'Hackintosh' market, but many of them are creating bad products. I don't think anyone wins in that environment."
It's this attitude of selling a high-quality product--albeit cheaper than Apple's offerings--that De Silva hopes will appeal to consumers. Quo vows top-notch support for its customers too.
"Our customer service is gong to be up there with Apple's," De Silva said. "Hardware is important, software is important, and support is hugely important."
Quo's systems will come with Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled. You have to agree to the license when ordering the computer for them to install the operating system. But this brings up a longstanding issue between Apple and clone makers.
Apple's end-user license agreement, or EULA, forbids exactly what the clone makers are doing--installing Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware. "This license allows you to install, use, and run one (1) copy of the Apple software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time," the EULA reads. "You agree not to install, use, or run the Apple software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so."
This is the argument Apple lawyers used to sue Psystar for selling Mac clones over the Web. Apple and Psystar were scheduled to start their trial in November, but Psystar filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week.
Even with previous clone failures, De Silva is marching on. To start, Quo will offer three desktop systems: the Life Q, Pro Q, and Max Q. While details of the components are not yet available, De Silva said they are looking at Apple's system configurations for guidance.
Pricing has also not been finalized on the desktop machines, but the company is looking to start pricing at less than $900.
While Quo is starting off with the desktop machines, De Silva said it is looking at offering an Apple TV-like media server and a smaller computer similar to the Mac Mini. Plans on those systems have not been finalized.
In addition to having its retail location and Web-ordering system to ship systems worldwide, De Silva said Quo also wants to be involved in the local community and schools. He hopes to work with school boards to get computers in the hands of children and teachers.
De Silva, a Mac user since 1984, said Quo will help switch PC users to the Mac and feels that ultimately, it will help Apple increase its market share. It remains to be seen if Apple will feel the same way.
The Quo Web site is being worked on now and is set to launch next week. The retail store, located at 2401 West Main Street, Alhambra, Calif., will open for business on June 1.
Thanks...In my book google and Apple are both threats to MS. Check out the posts here. The Apple users sure consider Apple a threat to MS. If you want to say google is the larger threat then fine you8 might be right. Google online docs is designed to defund MS by having fewer people buying MS biggest money maker, Office. I get it. Plus other things google has done (search dominance) are blows to MS. I get it
Google even hijacked how I search a web page on IE (MS’s baby) and Firefox which is a google product anyway
I don't want you out. I'm not the FR police. But trolls are not welcome and you are one.
I would like you to stop being a stupid troll. You can be a smarter troll (for instance, get some new interesting bait and stop repeating yourself, you're a broken record); at least that would be entertaining. Or you can express your opinion without the sloppy, repetitive lies, hatred, and personal slurs. There are lots of ways you can improve and become a welcome contributor to the conversation.
But at present you're just a seagull -- flapping around and around in circles, making raucous noise, and crapping on everything you see.
That is trolling. That is indeed unwelcome, at least on these threads. You have been asked politely to stop this crap, you have been told to stop this crap, and yet you continue. That sort of antagonistic abuse is reportable, hence my threat to report you.
Wise up, Dennis. Either stop it, or stay away from the Apple threads, please.
Do a quick scan of my posts here and you will find that you guys brag about Apple 0SX and I brag about Win7. That is a net wash. Some of my poste are plain and factual such as my exchange with “ketsu”
I counter all the Apple hoopla by saying get ready to short it. I see this as a wash too. If I am braggadocios it is no more than the pro-Apple posters here
I see a lot of tit for tat by me *and* by you Apple guys
Oh...... I did one joke post about Steve Jobs backing Psystar to poke fun at you guys continually posting that there must be dark forces backing Psystar. You need a sense of humor for that one
So if Apple does better than Dell next quarter yet again, will you shut up?
That doesn’t measure much plus it is too soon to measure the impact of Win7. The results on that won’t be in until you can measure the quarter in which Win7 gets widely released to the consumer. Meaning if he goes to Best Buy or Dell he will be buying a Win7 computer. I don’t know when that is going to happen and neither do you
To elaborate, a Win7 quarter takes place when Win7 is what the consumer will get during the entire quarter
Sounds good, but remember that Vista didn’t help sales much.
On its release Vista got a bad rap that it just can’t shake. The bad rap was from lack of many drivers. Software and hardware that worked with XP would not work with Vista. Basic hardware requirements were much higher than XP and kind of a shock (2gb ram!) plus the video card requirements to get the Aero-glass effects were confusing. All the video guys (Nvidia, ATI, Intel etc) played a quick game of catch up and getting the AERO-glass eye candy from even an on board video chip is no big deal now.
My understanding is that SP1 really cleared up a lot of Vista problems
Win7 is kind of like Vista with SP3 or SP4. And Apple is the biggest reason for Microsoft’s big push to make Win7 so much better than Vista. I will admit Apple has put the fear of God in Microsoft
The bad rap was because it sucked. The bad rap was also because Microsoft colluded with Intel to give too-low hardware requirements that would produce a horrible user experience. The GMA 950 shouldn't have even been listed as Vista compatible.
My understanding is that SP1 really cleared up a lot of Vista problems Win7 is kind of like Vista with SP3 or SP4.
The improvements deserve a full dot release, not just an SP.
And Apple is the biggest reason for Microsofts big push to make Win7 so much better than Vista. I will admit Apple has put the fear of God in Microsoft
That's why Microsoft keeps trying to catch up. Apple did it quite a bit differently. Their features will work with any video card, but they will be slower if the card doesn't support them because the OS will gracefully degrade to using the SIMD instructions on the CPU. Apple also doesn't ship hardware that can't support the OS, something Microsoft is willing give its blessing to.
Your side seems to dish it out very well, but unable to handle it when dished back.
Please refrain from pinging us every time your feelings get hurt.
I can’t recall the last time I posted on a Mac thread. I have a suggestion though having read this one. Designate this topic as ‘religious’ in nature and move them to the Religion Forum where they can have ‘closed’ threads free from comments by heretics.
We do not use ad hominems, insults and slurs in our discussion of the operating systems. Polite discussion can be held with out attacking ind denigrating the other person.
Please refrain from pinging us every time your feelings get hurt.
I assure you I have not. "Feelings being hurt" has nothing to do with this. Repetitive trolling and extremely rude behavior by a single poster does.
I am sorry if I have offended you in my request for some attention to a repetitive and continuing problem. Thanks.
Comments are fine. Deliberate repetitive general and personal insults because we choose to use a different computer are not conducive to civilized discourse. Most Mac users are very tired of being accused of being a "cult" or a "religion."
I dunno reading this thread it seems - at least in tone and style - much like a religion forum thread.
Mac-jhad?
I tolerate the bragging of either "side", although it rapidly becomes tiresome. What annoys me is repetitive, boring trash-talk, terms like "Microslop", or saying that everything Microsoft does is sh*t, or that Apple products are effete or gay, or that "My side's NextBigThing is gonna stomp you like a turd". That's juvenile and has no place here.
A single mention of such opinion is more than sufficient to stake turf; after that it's merely boring, stupid, and incredibly aggravating to the reader.
You were repeating the same tired trash over and over, and I called you on that. You're welcome to express your opinion, but if you want to wank over it, find a more suitable thread with like-minded folks who revel in being splattered by it.
> Some of my poste are plain and factual such as my exchange with ketsu
I don't doubt you're capable of sensible conversation, else I wouldn't be writing back to you now.
> I counter all the Apple hoopla by saying get ready to short it. I see this as a wash too. If I am braggadocios it is no more than the pro-Apple posters here
With the exception that this being an Apple thread, pointless repetitive comments about Microsoft products being better is no less unwelcome than the stupid posts on Windows threads of "Mac Rulez, M$ Droolz". Surely you don't want to sound as stupid as that, right?
> I see a lot of tit for tat by me *and* by you Apple guys
I don't, I see somebody who enjoys throwing crap around in a thread about a company they don't like. That's trolling, Dennis, don't be dense.
And.... FYI I'm not an "Apple guy". At work (I'm the director of SysAdmin for a software company), 95% of the user machines I deal with, a bunch of the servers, and my own main workstation, are Windows. I also have a bunch of NetBSD Unix and Linux servers, a couple of Macs, a Solaris box, etc. At home I've got four Windows hardware boxes and countless Win VMs, numerous Unix and Linux VMs, three Macs, and one of the Macs is running Linux.
I was designing, building, and programming computers a decade before the Macintosh was introduced in 1984 (and never had an Apple II). I was a home-brewer as well as designing computers at work in the 70's.
I use whatever makes the most sense for the task at hand. I like Apple's hardware -- in my experience it is solid and reliable, and worth the price. I prefer Unix to all other OSes. I prefer XP's Windows Explorer to Finder. Etc.
Do us both a favor... don't label me an Apple guy. If you want details read this brief summary.
> Oh...... I did one joke post about Steve Jobs backing Psystar to poke fun at you guys continually posting that there must be dark forces backing Psystar. You need a sense of humor for that one
I thought that was funny, and frankly, would Apple set up a strawman, just to knock him down as an example to others? I'd say unlikely, but not beyond the realm of possibility.
Now play nice, don't be boring, and we'll all get along. ;-)
Therein lies the problem. My desktop has bravely and unselfishly sacrificed its own pursuit of elegance so that my laptop could remain free and untethered... except for that pesky power cord... :-)
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