An Italian computer maker is the latest company to ignore Apple's Mac OS X license agreement and launch a new series of Mac clones, according to the Italian site Macity. The startup Engineering Project recently launched a site promoting its upcoming EVO computers, which are allegedly compatible with several platforms including Mac OS X. Although the company clearly advertises compatibility with Apple's OS, it remains unclear if the PCs will ship with Snow Leopard pre-installed. Several other companies, such as EFi-X, have developed clone technology but left users to break the licensing terms by installing the software themselves. Engineering Project lists several offerings including a 2.93 GHz Core 2 Duo configuration with a 500GB HDD and 2GB of RAM, which is listed for €479. The highest offering integrates a 2.66GHz Core i7 CPU with a 1TB HDD and 4GB of RAM for €849. The Evo Store is currently inactive, but the company claims it will soon be operational. Apple is currently involved in an ongoing legal battle with the Florida-based company Psystar. The clone maker sells systems with Mac OS X pre-installed, which Apple claims is a violation of the software's end-user license agreement (EULA). Psystar filed a countersuit arguing that Apple abuses the copyright protection. It remains unclear how Apple will choose to react to foreign clone makers. |
