Should I buy a Mac or a PC?

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Apple doesn't license Mac OS X to other platforms. It's against their EULA to install it on a non-Apple machine, and is thus illegal and very tricky at that.

I'm going derail the thread briefly to point out that an EULA is a contract, not a statute in its own right—so in general, violating it is contrary to civil law, not criminal. (You can do criminal things that happen to violate the EULA, but fundamentally, it's an issue of contract law.) That means they have to sue you for breach of contract to enforce it. In doing that, they risk their EULA being scrutinized by a judge or jury, and perhaps being ruled invalid. Given the defects inherent to many EULAs, this is a big risk for the company.

Possible defects include:

1. You've paid for the software before you have the chance to review the proposed contract, however it is not possible to return the opened software if you decline the terms of the licence. (Better EULAs suggest contacting the manufacturer directly for a refund in this case.)
2. Because the purchaser wasn't presented with the contract prior to sale, it isn't clear that the contract terms were ever seen by the purchaser—only by the person installing the software (so intent to form a contract is in doubt). And if the purchaser asks someone like their minor child to install it, and the child ignores the licence, has a contract been made? (Children don't usually have the legal right to sign contracts on behalf of others.)

So, while violating an EULA may be immoral under many circumstances, it's not necessarily illegal, and the consequences are a roll of the dice rather than a certainty.