As the Apple Turns: Scene 5268: And Spreading Like Wildfire (8/15/05)

And Spreading Like Wildfire (8/15/05)

Oh me oh my oh mama. Still, you can't seriously say you didn't think it was going to happen, can you? As soon as people figured out that the prerelease MacIntel kits that Apple's shipping to developers can run Windows with nary a hitch, it was only a matter of time before someone figured out that the only thing keeping the x86 port of Mac OS X from running on non-Mac x86 hardware was some sort of custom chip that says "hey, I'm a Mac." And once said chip was identified, it was only a matter of a little more time before someone figured out how to hack Mac OS X to bypass the chip check, thus allowing Mac OS X to run on any random crappy Wintel box out there. And once that happened, it was only a matter of still more time (about 1.6 seconds, we figure) before pirated and cracked copies of Mac OS X for x86 started popping up all over the planet via the peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Which, according to WIRED, has already happened.

Actually, we should backtrack a second, here, and point out that the "custom chip" isn't really just saying "hey, I'm a Mac." It's actually a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip, part of an architecture originally slapped together by Microsoft and Intel intended to allow a method of "securing" (i.e. restricting) software and transactions to specific hardware. Since the prerelease developer build of Mac OS X for Intel appears to run just fine on non-Apple hardware once the TPM check is disabled, some hackers insist that "the hack shows that Steve Jobs's company will be turning out machines indistinguishable from any other PC." Which is a stretch... in so many ways. (The day that an iMac is "indistinguishable" from, say, a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion is the day that Jonathan Ive transmogrifies into a pig with wings and then spontaneously combusts.)

After all, let's keep in mind that the developer kits are just that-- hardware and software intended to enable developers to start porting their applications well in advance of actual MacIntels hitting the shelves. Nothing about the developer hardware (other than the basic chip architecture) has to remain unchanged in the final product, so maybe real MacIntels won't just be your basic Wintel guts with a TPM chip wrapped up in a pretty box. Heck, maybe Apple never intended to use TPM in shipping MacIntels, and only planned to use it as an interim mild piracy deterrent. Or maybe it did expect to use TPM in the final product, but after seeing what happened, now plans to go another route. Who's to say? It all seems pretty up in the air to us.

But regardless, now that Mac OS X is out there for any random Windoid to download and install on non-Apple hardware, Uncle Steve must be pretty cheesed off. Or is he? Because the hackers themselves are saying that "getting around the TPM wasn't that hard," and a few conspiracy-minded individuals (stop looking at us like that) are speculating that Apple just "wanted to demonstrate the weaknesses of TPM security." Personally, we find that a little unlikely. We'd much rather go with a scenario that's wholly unlikely, i.e. that Steve always intended for the developer build to be cracked and posted, thus giving the Windows world a free taste of Tiger so he can hook 'em early and they'll be more likely to buy actual Macs later on when the uncrackable (ahem) release version of Mac OS X for Intel exists. Hey, stranger things have happened. In movies. And maybe a miniseries or two.

Of course, the real question is, who's gonna get sued this time?

SceneLink (5268)

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The above scene was taken from the 8/15/05 episode:

August 15, 2005: Apple's stock price hits a new all-time high amid a virtual lovefest thrown by giddy investors and analysts. Meanwhile, the developer build of Mac OS X for x86 has been cracked to run on any Wintel and is all over the 'net like a rash, and we're too busy playing with our new Mighty Mouse to bother coming up with a real third scene...

Other scenes from that episode:

5267: "Filthy Lucre" Therapy (8/15/05) Trust us, you do not want to hear the litany of obstacles that kept us off the air for the past month and a half, but suffice it to say that the biggest of them, Jack's (literally) month-long headache, has finally abated a good 93 percent or so and therefore Migraine Boy is once more back at the helm...
5269: Vishnu's Got Nothin' On Us (8/15/05) We know it's wicked old news by now, but we've actually got a timely reason for mentioning the Mighty Mouse today: namely, we're using one right now. See, we trucked on down to the Apple Store Northshore last night in hopes that a Mac Genius or two might be able to cure an ailing iPod (yes, everything around here is sick; thanks for pointing that out), which has a flaky hold switch and occasionally forgets it has a Click Wheel...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...


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