CherryOS
Encyclopedia
PearPC
PearPC is an architecture-independent PowerPC platform emulator capable of running many PowerPC operating systems, including Mac OS X, Darwin and Linux. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License . It can be executed on Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and other systems based...
based PowerPC G4
PowerPC G4
PowerPC G4 is a designation used by Apple Computer to describe a fourth generation of 32-bit PowerPC microprocessors. Apple has applied this name to various processor models from Freescale, a former part of Motorola....
processor emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
for x86 Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
platforms, announced on October 12, 2004. It was released to the public on March 9, 2005 and development stopped on May 6, 2005. The program was called vaporware
Vaporware
Vaporware is a term in the computer industry that describes a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually released nor officially canceled. Vaporware is also a term sometimes used to describe events that are announced or predicted,...
or a hoax, with critics calling the program's existence into question, because of numerous missed deadlines and failure to produce demonstration versions. This ceased when Slashdot
Slashdot
Slashdot is a technology-related news website owned by Geeknet, Inc. The site, which bills itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", features user-submitted and ‑evaluated current affairs news stories about science- and technology-related topics. Each story has a comments section...
announced that CherryOS brand software was available for download. Sometimes it disappeared as a downloadable option, and was re-issued with new file sizes and minor changes, perhaps to appease critics.
CherryOS was marketed by Maui X-Stream. The chief architect was said to be Arben Kryeziu. According to Maui X-Stream, it allowed users to install and run versions of Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
on platforms that would not normally support such software, such as Pentium processor-based systems. It was advertised as being able to reach emulation speeds equalling roughly 80% of the system's total processor speed.
, CherryOS and its website, CherryOS.com, are defunct.
License issues
Critics have alleged that CherryOS is simply a modification of PearPCPearPC
PearPC is an architecture-independent PowerPC platform emulator capable of running many PowerPC operating systems, including Mac OS X, Darwin and Linux. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License . It can be executed on Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and other systems based...
. Since PearPC was released under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
(GPL) and CherryOS was not, this would have been a violation of the GPL.
CherryOS was re-released on 10 March 2005, with an easy-to-use graphical installation program — a feature that PearPC lacks.
CherryOS was also alleged to have copied code from OpenVPN
OpenVPN
OpenVPN is a free and open source software application that implements virtual private network techniques for creating secure point-to-point or site-to-site connections in routed or bridged configurations and remote access facilities. It uses a custom security protocol that utilizes SSL/TLS for...
(using it as their network driver) and HFVExplorer
HFVExplorer
HFVExplorer is a discontinued Windows file manager that can be used to access files stored on disks that use the HFS file system developed by Apple Computer for their Macintosh computers. It is often used when emulating Mac OS on Windows. It can read / write Mac 1.44Mb floppy disks and can read /...
(which was used as the "Drag 'n' Drop" interface).
Legal threats
In early 2005, college student Kristian Hermansen posted a very rudimentary analysis of CherryOS using IDA Pro software, which easily shows evidence of code reuse from many GPL projects. This finding caused him to independently investigate the alleged "author" of the code, Arben Kryeziu. In a brief long distance phone call to Hawaii with the author, under the guise of an interested corporate purchaser, it was immediately apparent that his stories didn't match up to what was being fed to the public media. This phone conversation was recorded, but the audio was never released.In order to solidify the claims, Kristian privately consulted the help of Halvar Flake, a widely respected software reverse engineer. Using a custom tool called BinDiff http://www.zynamics.com/bindiff.html, Halvar conservatively estimated that over 600 functions in CherryOS were nearly identical or were identical to that of a similar PearPC build.
In retaliation for illegal GPL code reuse, Kristian posted a complete binary of the latest CherryOS installer along with a valid key generator on his website. This bold action, he hoped, would stifle sales of CherryOS and force the parent company, Maui X-Stream Inc, to stop selling such software. However, when Maui X-Stream finally realized their software was being made publicly available to all, Kristian was served with a cease and desist order via email from Maui's lawyers, demanding the software be taken down. He refused to remove the software, and instead sought legal advice from the EFF. A short time later, Kristian was contacted by Eben Moglen
Eben Moglen
Eben Moglen is a professor of law and legal history at Columbia University, and is the founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman of Software Freedom Law Center, whose client list includes numerous pro bono clients, such as the Free Software Foundation....
via telephone, and officially retained him as a lawyer at no charge.
In an ironic twist to the story, the CherryOS lawyers threatened to take action against Kristian in his home state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. In the end, Maui X-Stream did not seek action against Kristian, and the CherryOS software was finally laid to rest in April 2005. Kristian removed the CherryOS software from his website a short time later, and instead started to investigate a completely different Maui X-Stream product, VX30. He has also shown, with help from others, that VX30 contains GPL code as well and should be further analyzed.
Aftermath
Since the Software Freedom Law Center would not do actions pro-bono, if made in HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, the PearPC team began collecting donations to prepare for a lawsuit against Maui X-Stream and CherryOS. As CherryOS withdrew, this money became largely unnecessary, and was later donated to the Software Freedom Law Center, who represented individual developers of PearPC.
On April 5, 2005, the main page of CherryOS was changed to a simple message that said, "CherryOS is On Hold - until further notice.". A day later, the message was changed again to claim that CherryOS, "Due to Overwhelming Demand", has open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
d itself. A re-release was purported to be coming in May according to the site.
Critics raised at the time issues about Maui X-Stream's use of the term "open source". Jim Kartes, president of Maui X-Stream Inc., said to eWeek
EWeek
eWeek is a weekly computing business magazine published by Ziff Davis Enterprise.The magazine consists of a print publication and web site covering enterprise topics and is targeted at IT professionals rather than hobbyists.-Audience:The eWeek audience is actively involved in buying enterprise...
that the company "will be charging $14.95 to cover our cost of development and continuing development as well as other costs related to the marketing of the product. Whatever the buyer does with the code is their business as long as they don't embed it into another commercial product." The position of the critics was that in part six of the Open Source Definition
Open Source Definition
The Open Source Definition is a document published by the Open Source Initiative, to determine whether or not a software license can be labeled with the open-source certification mark....
of the Open Source Initiative
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open source software.The organization was founded in February 1998, by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...
, "No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor", there is no allowance for restrictions against commercial use. Part six of the Debian Free Software Guidelines
Debian Free Software Guidelines
The Debian Free Software Guidelines is a set of guidelines that the Debian Project uses to determine whether a software license is a free software license, which in turn is used to determine whether a piece of software can be included in Debian...
also does not allow discrimination against fields of endeavor. The Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
also says "A free program must be available for commercial use, commercial development, and commercial distribution."
At one point Maui X-Stream had the GNU
GNU
GNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...
logo on the CherryOS homepage, but this has since been removed. More recently, the CherryOS.com website had been taken down reading "CherryOS is no more" with a leaf logo and links to "other emulators" (which did not include PearPC
PearPC
PearPC is an architecture-independent PowerPC platform emulator capable of running many PowerPC operating systems, including Mac OS X, Darwin and Linux. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License . It can be executed on Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and other systems based...
). As mentioned above, the page is now expired and run by a generic content provider.