Can I Install This On My Windows 7 Computer?

No one here -- on Apple's own website -- can answer that question. It is a violation of the Apple EULA.

No, you can't. Mac OS X is licensed to run on Apple computers only.

The only way to get a Mac running Snow Leopard now is to buy a used one. All the Macs that Apple sells today come with Lion.

Király wrote:

The only way to get a Mac running Snow Leopard now is to buy a used one. All the Macs that Apple sells today come with Lion.

Well, not necessarily. Although it's becoming less and less likely as time passes. A refurb, even though it comes with Lion, might still be able to run SL and see jsd2's posts in these threads.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3255109

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3294652?start=0&tstart=0

WZZZ wrote:

No one here -- on Apple's own website -- can answer that question. It is a violation of the Apple EULA.

The part of the Apple EULA where it forbids installation of OSX on non-Apple machines is in huge parts of Europe,including Germany invalid. Only saying. It is technically possible also.

For example this company http://pearc.de/ueber-pearc-eng-1?parentid=72&parentname=ueber-pearc here in germany sells Snow Leopard PCs - ready to use , including a Snow DVD . Apple has never sued them or gone against them- while on the contrary they did with a U.S. company that basically offered the same. Like I said, german law is not to Apple's favor . That's part of worldwide democracy.

We do not speak of pircay, only of using a bootloader and some opensourced kext drivers for OSX; which by itself are all opensourced software available all over the Internet in specialized "Hackintosh" forums. It might be true that it is considered illegal in the U.S. or other countries , so The OP might ask a lawyer of what he is allowed to and what not.

Asking Apple or most users of this support board will surely never bring light to the OPs question, which is understandable.

Note that Apple just sells OS upgrades, so you would need to already have an installation in which the license was already agreed to (the contract for the software), or the terms for sale/distribution have been met (the copyright). These kinds of copyrights and license agreements are indeed legal and enforceable pretty much everywhere in the world, even in Germany.

I would assume that the German company referred to does not install or offer to sell OSX (which is what the US company did), therefore this falls under the whole hackintosh thing and not some kind of "democracy". The users of this support board understand the terms of the license for OS X, so that is the answer given here.

And, besides the legal issues, if it can be done, it takes a fair amount of skill to be able do this and even then it may not work at all or all that smoothly. It's not something you just go ahead and install the way you would on a Mac, if that's what you are really asking.

PearPC is doing at least one very illegal thing. Note that it sells its own versions of OS X with each machine. Which is of course a hacked version of OS X so it will run on typical PC hardware. How much you want to bet Apple doesn't see one red cent of the sales of these copies of OS X?

The reason they give on their site why they think it's legal is also very suspect. It points to this German statute:

§ 307

Content Control

(1) Provisions in standard business terms are invalid if they place the contractual partner of the user to meet the requirement of good faith and unreasonable disadvantage. An unreasonable disadvantage may also result from the fact that the provision is clear and understandable.

(2) An unreasonable disadvantage is in doubt to assume that if a provision

First with essential basic principles of the statutory scheme is not to deviate from the agreement, or is

Second substantial legal rights or obligations arising from the nature of the contract, so limiting that the purpose of the contract is in jeopardy.

(3) The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 and § § 308 and 309 apply only to rules in general terms and conditions agreed by the laws of these different or additional regulations. Other provisions may be invalid under paragraph 1 sentence 2 in conjunction with paragraph 1 sentence 1.

To me, this simply reads, "If we don't like something in the end user license, we are free to ignore it". Wonderful. To heck with Apple's right to software they created. Because PearPC thinks it's "An unreasonable disadvantage", they just ignore the fact that they have no rights at all to the software and do what they darn well please.

I guess that means U.S. auto makers should start cranking out cars with BMW or Mercedes nameplates, because Germany has "An unreasonable disadvantage".

I was guessing it had something to do with EULAs that are packaged such that you can't read them until the package is opened, but that wouldn't excuse the enforcement of the basic copyright (i.e. the software is only provided as an update to an existing installation).

Post Rescue Service.

I was guessing it had something to do with EULAs that are packaged such that you can't read them until the package is opened,

That has been a big complaint here in the U.S., also. The EULA in most software packages state in part (paraphrased), "if you do not agree to the terms of this license, return the software for a refund". Well, you can't read that EULA until you've opened the package (as you noted), and then stores won't refund you since they have to assume you've copied the disk and other materials. So returning it just means you want to get yourself a free copy.

PearPC has been around for quite a while now. I'm somewhat amazed they haven't been shut down. But with no jurisdiction, Apple can only demand Germany do something to protect their copyrighted product. But if the German agencies ignore the requests, then there's not much else Apple can do.

And honestly, why would anyone consider these things in the first place? The cheapest PearPC unit is currently $970. You can get a Mac Mini, with better specs for $600. The PearPC Supreme (8 core) is $3,050. A nearly identical Mac Pro is $3,500. So why would you bother with Hackintosh, that you know isn't going to run as well as a real Mac, can't have its software updated from Apple, isn't guaranteed to run all Mac software, and support, such as it may be, is only from one place, in Germany? Seems "A fool and his money are soon parted." applies well to anyone who buys these illegal clones.

Sorry to bring this topic back up, but I am wondering if even apple can say the EULA is valid in whole in the US, maybe it is and all the hacked-macs are unlawful and those who did them should be arrested.

Only thing that was bouncing around in my head that brought this up, I bought a NON-Apple hard drive, meaning NON-Apple hard ware for my wifes mac book pro. Installed the OS, and again I may be fuzzy on what the EULA says, but says something to the fact that must be installed on Apple branded computers and hardware???? Maybe I got that part worng, either way my wifes computer doesn't in full come from apple now, in fact the OS is on a seagate momentus XT and what about mac desktops, all of sudden to can get RAM, hard drives, sound cards, video cards, other cards, that are NON-apple branded, meaning for the most part the apple you bought is no longer an apple, it apple in part yes, but 50-70% isn't apple anymore, and you just broke your EULA at what 51% non apple components??? How would one measure that, how would a judge rule, a grand jury find? I am just throwing that out there, I just hope my wife isn't breaking a law or something cause she wanted a fast running mac book pro?????

I don't think the EULA police are going to be breaking down your door in any case, but the license is talking about an Apple branded computer, not necessarily specific components (especially since Apple doesn't make things like disk drives). A PDF of the license agreement is located at /Library/Documentation/License.lpdf.

As red_menace noted, you're taking the EULA to a silly extreme.

Apple has never made any of their own hard drives or video cards. So should they sue Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, ATI and NVidia for selling them non-Apple hardware to put into their own computers? Of course not.

The EULA refers to an Apple branded computer as a whole. Just like a Dell, Acer, or any other PC who also use third party hard drives, video cards and other components to create the single, branded final product.

Apple's system boards are the most proprietary piece. They have the Apple ROM that the Mac OS recognizes to verify you are indeed attempting to install the OS onto a genuine Apple computer.

Just because I was curious, I looked for the PearPCs referred to by myself above. Seems the German government has shut them down, or they simply went out of business. Google no longer shows any means of purchasing a computer with a hacked version of OS X. As it should be.

The illegal PearPC open source download still exists. Though it's up to the person who downloads the software to try and get OS X running on PC hardware. Which is of course, illegal. I suppose they get away with it because they're touting it as a PowerPC emulator you then install an older PPC capable version of OS X on. Much like the M.A.M.E. arcade machine emulator. The emulator isn't illegal by itself. It's illegal to obtain the ROMs without owning an actual arcade machine of the game you have the ROMs for. Or by purchasing the handful of ROMs available legally.