OpenIDFun with ctypes
This probably only works on Intel-based OS X machines:
>>> import ctypes
>>> print ctypes.c_char_p(
-16 * 4096 + 0x1600
).value
Your karma check for today:
There once was was a user that whined
his existing OS was so blind,
he'd do better to pirate
an OS that ran great
but found his hardware declined.
Please don't steal Mac OS!
Really, that's way uncool.
(C) Apple Computer, Inc.U??VWS?5P
Adapted from dsmos.c in Understanding Apple’s Binary Protection in Mac OS X by Amit Singh.
Thom Shannon - 31st October 2006 17:11 - #
Why would hardware decline to run Mac OS X? If I were a CPU, I'd be thrilled to escape the "dull little tasks" that Windows give me. It would almost be like escaping from my "dull little box".
Jesse Ruderman - 2nd November 2006 08:59 - #
Apple has code in OSX that will essentially prevent it from executing on any platform not made by Apple. (Hence the limerick's sublime message.) Someone hacked it up a little and was able to install it on a PC, but I don't think all of its features were available--though it did run nice and fast--even faster than on a Mac I remember. Apple frowned on that and cited that it violates the Terms of Use for the OS. ("By opening this envelope, you hereby agree that you won't run our OS on anything but a Mac.")
The only reason Apple doesn't want their OS to operate on non-Apple hardware, is that, in their eyes, they'll sell a lot less hardware, since one can buy a PC with better specs at a lower cost. That's probably true. I mean, why shell out $3000 for a modest Mac Pro when you can go to Fry's and buy a nice case, and stick the latest greatest guts in it for a third or half of that. This is why Windows, while being far from perfect has the marketshare it does--it runs on any ol' PC with a heartbeat.
Personally, I'd pay good money for a copy of OSX if I could run it on my liquid-cooled, overclocked, Quad Intel CoreDuo (8 cores) with 16GB of RAM and a RAID array of 15,000-RPM drives. But they don't want my money, unless of course they get to sell me a Mac with it.
Apple is as greedy as MS, really. MS just has more leverage. Bu lo! MS will let you run your Windows on any platform that you can install it on--even if is an Apple. They know that a software licence sold is money in the bank, and they'll take as much cash from a Mac user as that Mac user wants to spend. Granted, MS doesn't build PCs per se, but Apple, could sell a lot of Mac OS if they allowed themselves to be a little platform tolerant.
Bob - 6th November 2006 22:19 - #