The addition of Blu-ray to the OpenPC will more than likely mean nothing for Psystar’s lawsuit with Cupertino-based Apple. Steve Jobs said at Apple’s most recent launch that the company was not considering Blu-ray and branded the format, “just a bag of hurt.”
“Blu-ray is a bag of hurt. I don’t mean from the consumer point of view. It’s great to watch movies, but the licensing is so complex. We’re waiting until things settle down, and waiting until Blu-ray takes off before we burden our customers with the cost of licensing.”
However, while Apple may not have a new bone to pick in the OpenPC’s latest feature, Steve’s comment surprised a lot of people who hoped the new MacBooks would come with a BD drive. Psystar thinks it’ll garner more customers offering something Mac fans want but can’t get from an Apple-branded machine.
According to Ars Technica, Psystar bigwig Rudy Pedraz said in a statement that while Apple had chosen to delay Blu-ray, customers could get their OSX and their Blu-ray with an OpenPC, but we doubt it’ll be enough to lure true Apple folk away from their MacBooks.
"Blu-ray has already won the format war. Not only is there fully functional and mature support for Blu-ray in other operating systems but you can now rent Blu-ray discs from almost any rental chain," Pedraza said. "Blu-ray has become pervasive technology that is being widely adopted by consumers everywhere," he added.
It recently emerged that Psystar and Apple would settle their differences outside of the courtroom in a process known as an Alternative Dispute Resolution. An ADR is a private process whereby both parties can meet and work out a resolution in lieu of going to trial. It will, however, be several weeks before an agreement is reached.