Miami-based Psystar will sue Apple under two federal laws designed to discourage monopolies and cartels, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, saying Apple’s tying of the Mac OS to Apple-labeled hardware is “an anticompetitive restrain of trade”. Psystar is requesting that the court find Apple’s EULA void, and is asking for unspecified damages.
The attempted image overhaul comes in the wake of Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” ads featuring a geeky PC guy who vaguely resembles Bill Gates being unable to keep up with a better-looking, hip Mac counterpart. Those ads, painting Windows as stodgy and unreliable, have reinforced criticism about Vista’s performance, stringent hardware requirements and lack of support for other software and devices such as printers.
Mozilla plans to drag Internet Explorer into the next generation of open web technologies without Microsoft’s help. Programmer Vladimir Vukićević has developed a working prototype of a plugin, based on Firefox code, that makes newly developed HTML features available in to IE users. However, the plugin remains a work in progress, and development is still at a somewhat early stage.
The vast majority of people in Australia experiencing the iPhone 3G problems are Optus customers. Many have reported their experiences on the Fairfax MashUp blog, as well as local Apple community MacTalk.
Our open source expert foresees the future of Linux: By 2012 the OS will have matured into three basic usage models. Web-based apps rule, virtualization is a breeze, and command-line hacking for basic system configuration is a thing of the past.
The Swedish report said the most likely cause of the 3G problems is defective adjustments between the antenna and an amplifier that captures very weak signals from the antenna. This could lead to poor 3G connectivity and slower data speeds.
Users in Australia, Europe and the US have flooded online forums - including Apple’s own discussion boards - with complaints of poor reception, slow internet speeds and dropped calls. The poor reception - often displayed as one bar - and slow speeds are occurring in areas of good coverage and do not seem to affect other phones.
Apple is reportedly about to launch a ‘nano’ version of the hugely successful iPhone. It is expected to be in the shops in time for Christmas. The new slimmed-down version of the iPhone is expected to outstrip sales even of the original.
Two of the lawyers on the team defending Pyster against the Apple lawsuit successfully represented Burst.com in its patent lawsuit against Apple, which was recently settled out of court for a $10 million licensing deal. Pyster is accused of violating Apple’s license, trademarks, and copyrights by selling its own computers with Mac OS X pre-installed.
When it comes to its antipiracy efforts, Apple generally doesn’t like to raise a ruckus. However, pirates in China and the country’s lax stance on the matter might force chief executive Steve Jobs to turn up the volume.