Here we go again! Yes, even though the whole messy affair between Apple and Psystar has yet to be decided and settled in court, now we have yet another company that apparently thinks that it can get away with producing a Mac clone regardless of whether Psystar wins it's case or not, or regardless of whatever Apple might just think, say or do! Yes sir, another Mac clone maker enters the ring, only this time, this particular Mac cloner hails from one of my favorite places - Germany. What's so significant about that, you might add? Well, Germany is part of the European Union and this is one body that seems infested with an anti-American sentiment that is so palpable that you can almost feel and taste it! Yes, this anti-American sentiment is so pervasive in and throughout the European Union that I'm afraid that it might give this cloner, PearC, a real, legal fighting chance, and all of this in the name of consumer advocacy and it's right to choose! The EU courts have historically taken a very dim view of anything that even smacks of monopolistic practices, or those in which limits it's citizen's right of choice, something that PearC will, no doubt, argue if they ever do end up in court.
Of course, according to PearC, they are already immune because of a legal loophole! Naturally, the company will not say exactly just what that particular German legal loophole is, so it's all a little dubious to say the least.
Anyway, after looking over the particular specs for PearC's professional 1,499 Euro model, with it's 3.2 Ghz i7 processor and available Blue-Ray disk, it all seems tempting to be sure, but personally, I wouldn't touch it in a million years, and for the same reasons I wouldn't touch any other Mac clone - it's illegal and not it's officially supported by Apple!
Seriously, "Ich liebe besondere Deutschland und die Deutscher's, aber dies ist nicht ein gute angebot fur mich!" (I especially love Germany and the Germans, but this is not a good offer for me!) Again, the main reason being that it is not officially sanction by Apple, and that leaves just too many unanswered questions down the road, and, also, if you want my personal opinion - this particular clone is down-right ugly! You would think that Germany, a country renowned for it's industrial design brilliance could have designed something a lot better looking than this! It's almost as bad as me looking at myself in the mirror, it's that ugly, and possibly it is one of the ugliest and most boring, plain case's that I've ever seen - it looks more like something that was designed and produced in North Korea, rather than from those clever Germans - after all, without question, they do design and build the best and sexiest looking cars in the world, among so many other fine products! So please Germany, next time your tempted to make another Mac clone....... please, pretty please.... I beg of you, make it look sexy, make it look cool, make it look German and not like this monstrosity!
If anything, this latest clone proves that all of those people who predicated that Apple's move to Intel processors would eventually open a Pandora's box of wannabe Mac clones, apparently may just have been right all along. How many more Mac clones will now follow is any body's guess?
What worries me, the most, about this particular clone is, of course, the European bureaucracy. This is a bureaucracy that historically rules, as stated, far more in favor of giving it's citizens the right to more choice, more than anything that just might be based on what is actually right, fair or sensible! We have all seen, in the past, just how far the European Union's bureaucratic process will go to give it's citizens unrestricted access to having more unbridled choice, and it ain't a pretty sight, trust me!
No sire, when you look at how they how they treated the world's biggest monopoly, Microsoft, well...... like a monopoly and how they have treated and worked to restrict Apple's iTune's and iPod, etc., well, it's obvious to me that Apple is going to have a much bigger and much harder fight on it's hands than it ever did with little old Psystar. The E.U., I feel, might have been justified to a certain point with Microsoft, but clearly they have gone beyond what is fair and reasonable at other times as well! Will this be the case if Apple tries to shut down PearC as well? I hope not.
No doubt, PearC will use every argument that they can to convince the European Union (not that it will need much convincing) to argue that Apple is running an illegal monopoly by restricting European consumers choice, from who can, or who can't build Mac clones. The E.U. doesn't see things quite the same way as we Americans, Brits or Canadians do, and I expect that in the name of consumer advocacy and consumer choice, the E.U. will probably, if it ever comes to court, be more inclined to eventually rule on the side of PearC, and, as well, on the side of it's consumers right of having more choice, rather than on what's right for some far off big, rich American corporation based in California.
In conclusion, I hope I'm dead wrong on this, and that if Apple ever does takes PearC to court, that the EU will not put the unreasonable rights of consumer's above that of which is truly right, reasonable, just and fair. Apple may be an American company, but it deserves the same rights to protect it's intellectual property in Europe as European companies have the right to protect their intellectual property in the U.S. Otherwise, if the E.U. ever did eventually decide against Apple, then truly, the cat will be out of the bag and we will see not only more Mac clones entering the market, but at least, in the E.U., as legally protected clones they will prove much, much harder for Apple to fight and deal with. This won't be good for Apple or the Mac, or even the European consumers that the E.U. is supposed to be protecting!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, February 06, 2009
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