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Article:
  What Is Darwin (and How It Powers Mac OS X)
Subject:   Kernel source may not be enough to port OS X
Date:   2005-09-28 15:36:46
From:   Mafretete
Response to: Kernel source may not be enough to port OS X

But there's a big difference between Linux on the XBox and Mac OS X on PCs. Linux on the XBox has to "persuade" the hardware to run it. The hardware contains the protections and prevents other OSes from running.
When you run Mac OS X on Intel, the hardware does not prevent OS X from running in any way. Instead, the OS has to detect that it's not running on a Mac. Every protection built into the kernel can be easily disabled if you have the kernel source. So there are only two possibilities: 1.) Apple puts the restrictions in (many) closed-source portions, e.g. Quartz, or 2.) Apple does no longer release the kernel source.