It shouldn’t be long before some clever hacker figures out a workaround and releases a patched kernel to the world, re-enabling the OS on Atom based computers. But that’s not the story. The bigger message is that Apple has finally stopped ignoring the incessant buzz of the hobby-hacking, Mac netbook scene and instead pulled out a fly-swat and dealt it a whack. The war is officially on.
And ironically, this will only hit the hobbyists and tinkerers. Psystar, that other flea in Apple’s ear, is unaffected, as the fake Macs it sells do not use the Atom chip.
It surprises me that Apple is just getting around to doing this now.