Despite being widely accused of code theft, fraud and other chicanery, the author of the controversial CherryOS Mac emulator is sticking to his guns: It's all on the up and up, says programmer Arben Kryeziu.
As previously reported, CherryOS purports to be a Mac emulator that allows Mac OS X to run on Windows PCs. The complex system was ostensibly written in four months by Kryeziu alone, who claims it performs at about 80 percent of the speed of the PC host's hardware.
On Oct. 11, Maui X-Stream, Kryeziu's employer and a Hawaii streaming-video company, offered the software as a $50 download at CherryOS.com.
But it appears the software was never made available, and all week the site complained of problems caused by overwhelming traffic and malicious attacks by crackers.
Skeptical of the company's claims and with no tangible product, critics became increasingly suspicious that CherryOS was a scam. Some accused the company of faking a product launch to stress-test its Java-based streaming video. The CherryOS site initially offered a couple of videos showing the software in action.
More seriously, others suspect CherryOS is a repackaging of PearPC, a free, open-source Mac emulator released earlier this year.
Dave Schroeder, senior systems engineer at the University of Wisconsin, examined a pre-release copy of CherryOS downloaded from Maui X-Stream by Wired News. Schroeder concluded CherryOS is likely PearPC wrapped in a different package.
Schroeder said he compared the names of various functions and variables in CherryOS and PearPC, and found they all matched.
"This is pretty clear-cut," he said. "They are, in fact, using significant amounts of code from PearPC."
The software does include functions of starting and stopping the emulator, and support for multiple profiles, but the implementation is rough and incomplete, he said.
In addition, Schroeder said he was unable to get CherryOS working, and couldn't install Mac OS X from CDs or ISO images on three different PCs. Wired News had some limited success getting an OS X installer running.
"CherryOS is a fraud," wrote PearPC developer Daniel Foesch in a forum post. "They are using plenty of PearPC code, and have done a poor job hiding it."
Speaking by phone from Hawaii, Kryeziu admitted Maui X-Stream mismanaged the launch. The product wasn't ready and the traffic was vastly underestimated. But he insisted CherryOS isn't a fraud, a hoax or a rip-off of another product. He strongly denied CherryOS contains any PearPC code.
"None whatsoever," he said. "We did not use any PearPC code."
Sebastian Ballas, PearPC's lead developer, said a screenshot of CherryOS shows a variable named "SPIRO MULTIMAX 3000," a nonsensical term Ballas claims to have invented for use in PearPC.
"It is absolutely unlikely that someone uses exactly this name for the same purpose," he said. "The way he (Kryeziu) is lying is making me angry."
When told that variables with the same names had been found in both CherryOS and PearPC, Kryeziu said programming logic often leads to variables and functions with similar, or identical, names.
"There are some functionalities that can only be done a certain way," he said. "Names are going to be similar or identical because there are only certain ways to do things."
PearPC is a free download and includes the software's source code. It is licensed under the GNU Public License, better known as the GPL, which governs its use. In general, the GPL allows commercial products to be based on GPL-licensed software under certain conditions, such as contributing modifications to the programming community and acknowledging previous work. It has not been tested in the courts.
Kryeziu said he's happy to supply the PearPC developers with the source code so they can see for themselves, and will do so when the first public release is ready, which will likely be in a few days.
"If it's based on PearPC, the PearPC developers will figure it out," he said. "I will provide the source code so they can compare it. I will give it to them to clear up the trash talk."
In addition, Kryeziu said a free public demo will be offered by the end of next week.
"We're going to offer a trial so that people can see if it's a hoax or not," he said. "We have no intention of faking people out."
Kryeziu said the CherryOS site was often unresponsive because of attacks from crackers and traffic. The site was unavailable most of Thursday because a cracker changed administrator passwords and key settings, he said.
"It's getting hacked like crazy," he said.
Kryeziu said the site is no longer taking pre-orders, but the company is collecting names and e-mail addresses to alert people when the free trial version is available. He said they'd received more than 10,000 requests.
He said the trial version will likely be fully operational but time-limited. It may have serial-code activation, and he may disable modules like sound or drag and drop, but he doesn't want to ruin the user experience.
Kryeziu said he's under unfair scrutiny because people refuse to believe the product is real.
"If it isn't, it will ruin my reputation," he said. "I will end up as a bartender. I do not want to be a bartender."
Source:
Wired News
