...on the other hand this portends a potload of pirated copies of OS X running all over the place from which Apple gets no hardware or software $$$

it seems pretty obvious to me that the thing is a widescreen laptop, and since nobody has figured out how to force a widescreen resolution on the Intel port yet, nobody is going to have it running fullscreen on a widescreen system. Dur.

Haxor ur Xor!!11

I guess the only thing for apple to do is to open source their whole OS.

I think it was ludacris to have to RENT a system for $1000 to port your code to keep up with the company, personally. I don't feel bad that the OS X Intel is being leaked because the developers have to pay out the nose to work with Apple. On the flip side, there is no audio and most video resolutions aren't supported on the present build -- remember that Jobs said it was JUST to run XCode to convert it to X86.

This isn't going to have any significant market impact. The number of people with the actually knowledge or resources to make this hack is so small that no one will notice. Apple is probably happy to have this small underground activity going on, as it will draw the techies to their product.

I'm old enough to remember that pirated copies of VisiCalc sold tons of Apple ][ computers, and that tons of meant more VisiCalc sales as people wanted to get updates. In an odd way, piracy has helped Apple and some of the software companies far more than it has hurt them. So this may help Apple

Certainly if it means more developers can play with MacOS X and XCode, it will be a benefit to Apple. Of course, Apple will make a big thing out of being upset by this. That's what Steve and the Lawyers will make them say.

Oh and yes, it's much faster than your G5, that was to be expected, and one of the reasons they wanted to move to the Intel platform.

As we know Fink Commander makes it easy for normal users to install software on Apple's X11. One user comments that their Mom wouldn't bother to enter in code to install the operating system. If a hacker makes a utility that does this automatically than it could be trouble for Apple. This won't be too much of a problem when the first intel mac comes out but some people are very persistant. Apple wants companies or individuals who are serious about developing for the Mac OS X Platform. The premium price and rental agreement insure that it is going into the right hands. I am sure they are aware there would be some copies on P2P networks but if a few Power Macs do not return by the due date you better bet that Apple will take those responsible to court.

CD keys and activation.

I wish people would get real jobs instead of trying to hack things to "steal" software.

Just drop the AMD love. They're the very far-back #2. We're Apple people - let's enjoy working with the leader in the Chip Design field. Right now, AMD has a minor speed lead, and a big lead in the techie "I run AMD so I'm elite" mindshare. Apple needs to get out of the mindset of working with #2 and #3 to thumb it's nose at the big boys. We did it with Microsoft and it nearly killed Mac OS in the mid 90's. We did it by going to IBM when we did: and it hindered Mac hardware. Now we're going to be where the big boys play. And we never got to worry where the next fast chip comes from.

So fan boys, drop the AMD whining... or go deal with the hackery to get it the way you need to have it.

ibugv4: the problem your having is that the Developer Box isn't for the shareware writer... it's for the OS X heavy-development crew. The people writing the Offices, the Photoshops, and the XPresses of the world. A lot of shareware is all ready being ported, but a lot of it will be developed soon after the shipping boxes are released. I don't think we need to worry. It certianly doesn't necessitate piracy!

Uh...did you notice on one of those screen shots that he has iPhoto open and a photo of a guy wearing a bikini top? Are Macintel users going to be gender confused?

they are getting their download of OS X for Intel. I've tried via bittorrent and never gotten beyond 5-10MB downloaded.

But this won't have any software beyond the OS, will it? Can X11 be installed, and will anything compile? It's an intersting hack, and OS X would make my Dell a lot more acceptable, but I need a fully-functioning system.

as a new powerbook user this does make me question why i just dumped a solid 2500$ when a computer half the price can potentially do the same, if not faster.

in the end, you cant blame windows users for wanting mac osx. if i had to use windows all day, id be looking for something better too.

i was thinking of trying it on a dell inspiron... but 3 things are stopping me...

1) not wanting to do anything illegal, etc. 2) not wanting to lose the stuff i current have on my laptop. 3) download is going way too slow and it'll take a month to download at this moment.. hehe

Can Apple survive as a software company?

Well I have tired to get OSX to work on a PC and it does work, and for those who wonder why not just buy a mac, well if you could have one machine that could do both. That cheaper then having two. I know this will probably be short lived, but it was fun while it lasted.