>>Whether for good or for bad, Apple is wedded to combined proprietary software & proprietary hardware. This decision was made and now they are STUCK with it. Once they make a machine that can run native windows, there is no longer a compelling reason to have a Mac OS. i.e., Apple either becomes a wintel clone maker along the lines of Dell, Compaq etc or it becomes a pure software maker, trying to peddle OSX i.e., another Be. Let's face it, OSX is not so insanely superior to windoze that 95% of the computer world (or even 10%, for that matter) will abandon windows for it. OSX just isn't worth one shelling out for a second OS. As we have pointed out on this board, Apple will be playing with fire if they make OSX PC native -- UNLESS they can come up with some proprietary hardware that makes OSX/Mac work demonstrably better than OSX/PC, with OSX/PC working atleast as well or better than windoze/PC. In short, Apple is between a rock and a hard place.<<
Dan -
I don't think you're looking at this the right way. An x86-based Mac would not necessarily be a Wintel clone with another operating system. It could just be an Apple with a different CPU. Conversely, there's no reason they would have to make a packaged version of X to run on Dells, et al.
Apple could produce new machines that follow their long-time strategy of controlling both hardware and software. Since they do design their own system boards, they could make sure that OS X ran only on Apple hardware. This idea has already been floated here.
They could then have a line of machines that include the fastest CPUs available (whether AMD or Intel doesn't matter) and still be the only game in town for the Mac OS. Why would a user want such a machine? For the same reasons they want Macs now; they like the way they work and they prefer the operating system. I'd buy one.
Such machines would certainly be able to run Windows in emulation better than current Macs, and would probably even be able to run it natively. That would mean that Mac users who had a reason to do so could buy Windows as a second OS, just as they buy Virtual PC today.
What that would do would be to remove one of the big shortcomings that Macs have for many people who might otherwise switch from Windows: not being able to run all the software (especially games) they've collected.
In such an environment, the Windows machines would be the ones perceived as being horribly limited in comparison to the Macs. What's more, they would be much less threatening to Microsoft, since Apple customers would be more likely to buy an MS operating system.
Apple and Microsoft could work together to create a special installation routine and set of drivers that would allow for a seamless and trouble-free installation of Windows on Apples.
Third-party vendors of hardware would then only have to write a new set of drivers for Mac OS, but wouldn't have to deal with a completely different architecture.
I think it works as a solution.
- Allen |
