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One guess: if macOS could be virtualized, it would be even easier to run things like Messages, FaceTime, and Photos on non-Apple hardware, which reduces some of

One guess: if macOS could be virtualized, it would be even easier to run things like Messages, FaceTime, and Photos on non-Apple hardware, which reduces some of the lock-in effect that keeps people from leaving the ecosystem (i.e. Green Bubble Effect)

csharpminor 3y ago
Yes, and would lead to iMessage spam and FaceTime robocalls.
- lostlogin 3y ago
  Would it? Have a crack and you can probably get a macOS VM running on whatever hardware you have in short order.
- dzikimarian 3y ago
  There's ton of other instant messaging apps that can run on anything or even have an API. I use some of them and weirdly spam is not a problem at all. Also you can run iMessage without mac if you really want to.
vlovich123 3y ago
Not necessarily. iMessage & FaceTime AFAIK are cryptographically locked onto Apple HW. I could be wrong, but my understanding is that each piece of Apple HW ships with a burned in unique private key that Apple records the public key of in it's internal database. That private key would be missing in a VM context. It's possible my data is out of date though because iMessage spam is real & I'm not sure how that's done if it needs a valid private key that Apple can ban.
- jonpalmisc 3y ago
  I haven’t looked at this in detail in a while either, but I don’t think the claims here are correct. It is true that Apple employs some efforts to prevent/discourage you from using those services illegitimately, but using iMessage and FaceTime from a Hackintosh has been possible for years, largely without jumping through any hoops.
  - alex0110010 3y ago
    As far as I am aware, you need at least one Apple Device to get it started on a Hackintosh. So you might still need one iPhone and then also receive iMessages on a Android by using a VM in the background. And this sounds so complicated, that I would doubt that more then a handful of people world wide would do it.
lostlogin 3y ago
> One guess: if macOS could be virtualized, it would be even easier to run things like Messages, FaceTime, and Photos on non-Apple hardware I can be and it’s not hard to do. I assume your referring to breaking the licence agreement?

csharpminor 3y ago

Yes, and would lead to iMessage spam and FaceTime robocalls.

lostlogin 3y ago
Would it? Have a crack and you can probably get a macOS VM running on whatever hardware you have in short order.
dzikimarian 3y ago
There's ton of other instant messaging apps that can run on anything or even have an API. I use some of them and weirdly spam is not a problem at all. Also you can run iMessage without mac if you really want to.

vlovich123 3y ago

Not necessarily. iMessage & FaceTime AFAIK are cryptographically locked onto Apple HW. I could be wrong, but my understanding is that each piece of Apple HW ships with a burned in unique private key that Apple records the public key of in it's internal database. That private key would be missing in a VM context. It's possible my data is out of date though because iMessage spam is real & I'm not sure how that's done if it needs a valid private key that Apple can ban.

jonpalmisc 3y ago
I haven’t looked at this in detail in a while either, but I don’t think the claims here are correct. It is true that Apple employs some efforts to prevent/discourage you from using those services illegitimately, but using iMessage and FaceTime from a Hackintosh has been possible for years, largely without jumping through any hoops.
- alex0110010 3y ago
  As far as I am aware, you need at least one Apple Device to get it started on a Hackintosh. So you might still need one iPhone and then also receive iMessages on a Android by using a VM in the background. And this sounds so complicated, that I would doubt that more then a handful of people world wide would do it.

lostlogin 3y ago

> One guess: if macOS could be virtualized, it would be even easier to run things like Messages, FaceTime, and Photos on non-Apple hardware I can be and it’s not hard to do. I assume your referring to breaking the licence agreement?