14 DAY TRIAL // In an obvious move, following Apple’s prevail in the litigation concerning Florida-based knockoff vendor Psystar, the website that used to host PCs able to run Mac OS X, while offering the Rebel EFI utility as a free download, is now down. The Rebel EFI is a software hack that enabled users of any PC with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, i7 or Xeon Nehalem processor to install modern operating systems, including Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
And while some servers may (surely) have the Rebel EFI utility stored for others to download and use, Psystar’s website, the original source for getting the tool, is no longer available. “Featuring Psystar's newest technology for allowing for the smooth interfacing between operating systems and generic Intel hardware, Rebel EFI allows for the easy installation of multiple operating systems on a single system,” the product’s description read at the time it was available.
“The authenticated version allows for the permanent installtion [sic] of these OS's on your system, as well as providing the [Darwin Universal Boot Loader], supported hardware profile features and related drivers, and support for the application,” Psystar explained. As of now, all traces of the company’s business are gone. The company only exists through reports like the one you’re reading right now, while chances of it resurrecting from its ashes are minimal.
With Psystar finally down on its knees, court filings said the company could not continue to “manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof that is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure,” the Groklaw legal blog points out in a report issued earlier this week. This, as you can imagine, included the company’s Rebel EFI utility.
However, outlining that Psystar was not very clear about what Rebel EFI did, the judge reportedly said that, “Psystar continues to sell it ‘at its peril’ at the risk of ‘finding itself in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction,’” according to Groklaw. Psystar’s website was still operational after Judge Alsup had granted Apple a permanent injunction against the Mac cloner. The only product Psystar was still selling was its Rebel EFI utility. More information on this, here.