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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Cherry OS released. Survey says...

So Arben Kryeziu finally made the controversial Cherry OS Mac OS X emulator available yesterday. I downloaded it, but can't get it to work using a Mac OS X install CD set (I haven't tried ISO images yet). Let me be clear here: I'd buy something like this if it worked and offered performance similar to Virtual PC. But Cherry OS looks like a piece of crap. More damagingly, it appears to be wholly ripped off from Pear PC, which is just unbelievable. A few comments from around the Web:

'CherryOS' Still Sucks! (Smash's World)

They stole the core of their code from PearPC! (an open-source project that they've, unfortunately, taken serious advantage of.) Essentially, this software is a crappy Visual Basic application written on-top-of a separate PearPC modification.

CherryOS finally arrives (IGM)

Today, informed observers [and, apparently, Betanews, which is neither informed nor an observer] report that the $50 emulator, which is said to mimic a G4 Mac running OS X, is largely a carbon-copy of PearPC, an open-source (ie GPL) emulator. The only apparent difference between Maui X-Stream's so-called commercial release and the open-source PearPC is the fact that after boot up is complete, the former "covers the window within its own display."

CherryOS roundup (PearPC.net)

Many strong points about CherryOS containing PearPC code have been found. Some users of the PearPC community compared the files of CherryOS with PearPC. The Macintosh emulator for Windows XP, which has been released yesterday, has many equal strings and code blocks. Detailed information can be found on the websites below.

Also, nearly all the features that CherryOS had been hiped for, do not exist in the current version. No sound support, no drag & drop between Mac OS, and no speed improvements... It is basically just PearPC with a GUI. By the way, if you want a GUI for PearPC, then just visit our Files & Links section and download one under "PearPC Configuration Utilities".

Regarding Betanews. They didn't "discover" anything about Cherry OS on their own. Instead, all that information came from real hackers like Ryan, Kourge, and Peter Hartshorn. These guys and others like them are responsible for uncovering the fackery that is Cherry OS and doing it so quickly.

[ Posted at 8:38 AM | Permalink ]