OSx86

OSx86 (from Mac OS X and x86) is a collaborative hacking project to run the Mac OS X computer operating system on non-Apple personal computers with x86 architecture and x86-64 compatible processors. The effort started soon after the June 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference announcement that Apple would be transitioning its personal computers from PowerPC to Intel microprocessors.

A computer built to run this type of Mac OS X is also known as a Hackintosh, a portmanteau of the word "hack" and the name of Apple's main brand of computers, Macintosh. Hackintoshed notebook computers are also referred to as "Hackbooks".

The Apple software license does not allow Mac OS X to be used on a computer that is not "Apple-branded". The legality of this form of tying is disputed by companies such as Psystar, Bizon computer, PearC and MacPC who have attempted to release products using Mac OS on non Apple-machines. However, while the methods Apple uses to prevent Mac OS X from being installed on non-Apple hardware are protected from commercial circumvention in the United States by the DMCA, specific changes to the law regarding the concept of jailbreaking has thrown such and similar circumvention methods into a grey area when carried out by end-users for personal use.