The latest news item to rock the Mac world is the saga of the OpenMac and its parent company,Psystar.

The firm came out and claimed to be developing a system built on regular PC hardware that would run OS X. This got a bit of attention and lead a few people to ask some questions. Apple did, after all, ban the production of any and all Mac clones shortly after Steve Jobs triumphant return.

Imagine the shock that was in store for nobody, then, when the company was exposed as a scam.

18 Apr 2008

News sites, bloggers, and readers all descended on the company and in no time at all the ugly truth about Psystar was revealed. The company's address was found as a fake, it's owner exposed as a possible malware pusher, and its payment system flagged as a possible phishing scam.

Sad story, but nothing new. In fact, this whole saga brought to memory the story of another vaporware Mac clone.

Back in 2000, a supposed Swedish startup named Xtrem was pushing a new Mac clone that would run at 1.2ghz, more than double the speed of the fastest G4 Mac at the time.

The company swore up and down at the time that it was totally legit and that its super mac would be around any day now. Of course, the mystery machine never did appear, the company switched its efforts to home overclocking kits, and is now relegated to the super-obscure section of Mac history.