Possibility of OS-X for PC? (Opinion)

badmojo said:

PC guys aren't buying it:

http://www.maximumpc.com/2005/07/apples_x86_inva.html

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Smith is an idiot, he's always been.


He's the laughingstock on several PC enthusiast forums because he is the "Technical Editor" at MaxPC, yet he hardly has a single clue about the platform he writes for.

Awhile back he wrote a few e-mails to some very serious and very educated PC modders regarding the titanic ATI vs nV debate. He was so far off-base that the modders decided to post the e-mails in a few forums for a good laugh. Smith got pummeled so badly, he actually posted back trying to deny he ever wrote the e-mails in the first place. Somebody "hijacked" his e-mail.

Oh jeese.

OS X will never see a broad release. Period.

falltime said:

OS X will never see a broad release. Period.

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Yup.... That move would make absolutely NO sense for Apple. And I would be first in line to switch back to PC if that ever happened. Why spend more money for the same OS.

scooter said:

umm.......i think i don't quite understand you point. the article you quoted is the same one i used to start this entire thread, and the author does think apple will release OSX for PC.

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Sorry, I mis-communicated. I jumped into reading this thread about halfway through. I do disagree with Will Smith's article, however because I think Apple is just as much about the s/w as the h/w. In my opinion, the two are intertwined. To just sell the O/S would cheapen the Apple brand.

scooter said:

why would apple lose hardware sales? most mac addicts will probably buy apple made products and only apple made products. there would still be some switchers who would want an entirely apple system to try out because they are tired of windows and pc's in general. the biggest market will be folks who currently use windows and want/need something different to put on their systems.


here's a question: who makes apple computers? or more correctly, who makes apple parts? does apple? i know the Superdrive is manufactured by a couple of different folks including Pioneer: not sure about memory or hard drives: i know apple does not make the video cards or the processors: i know they don't make the monitors either. is apple just like Dell in that they chose what parts they want from other manfacturers and then put it together in their own box? i know apple makes their own software, for the most part. (i'm not trying to being dense, i just don't know apple manufacturing. half the time i read posts and it sounds like apple makes all it's own stuff which i know is not true.)

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You're correct here, but unlike the PC market, the product as a whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The only exception in the PC world is Dell, who has terrific marketing and branding, much like Apple. Dell PC, Dell keyboard, Dell mouse, Dell printer, Dell Mp3 player, etc.

falltime said:

Smith is an idiot, he's always been.


He's the laughingstock on several PC enthusiast forums because he is the "Technical Editor" at MaxPC, yet he hardly has a single clue about the platform he writes for.

Awhile back he wrote a few e-mails to some very serious and very educated PC modders regarding the titanic ATI vs nV debate. He was so far off-base that the modders decided to post the e-mails in a few forums for a good laugh. Smith got pummeled so badly, he actually posted back trying to deny he ever wrote the e-mails in the first place. Somebody "hijacked" his e-mail.

Oh jeese.

OS X will never see a broad release. Period.

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do you happen to have copies of those emails? i know some folks who would love to read them, including me! :spook:

Apple will sell boxed copies of OS X for any PC when and if the business case exists. Meaning, whenever Apple's accountants and market researchers say that Apple will make more money from selling software than it would lose in hardware sales.

We can guess and suppose and hypothesize as much as we like, but until the numbers match up, Apple won't do it. It's too much of a risk, and you don't become a multi-billion-dollar company by taking that kind of risk just because "it's a good idea."

It seems to me that an awful lot of the speculation on this topic is done by people who think that the general computer user reads trade magazines, visits computer forums and spend lots of time trying to figure out how to use scripts and code to create all sorts of high tech features and plug Windows leaks.

I hate to break it to them but far more millions of people than use "Konfabulator" are patrons of those much maligned "Dell" crap boxes. While the uber-geeks that frequent computer forums and inhabit the IT departments of our companies that pay our checks may be able to fortify Windows against the constant security attacks the vast majority are being attacked and forced to pay a quite a few dollars a year to buy virus scans...not to mention the value of processing power that PC users are forced to use to try to keep the vandals out of their personal computers in order to just use their computers as intended.

Thus Mac's allowance of the common user to put it's OS on the unstable type of systems that PC users have been using for years would be suicide. I hope they do everything possible to prevent it.

hmm...not only do i see a lot of people bashing Microsoft in here but also Dell. I have owned four Dell computers in my life. The company I work for uses Dell as their workstations. Dell is one of the most successful companies out there in the tech world. They sell to the high end and the low end, depending on what a person can afford. IMO, Dell is not crap. It's market share and selling power prove my point. Not even Apple can match that. In fact, Dell set some of it's own records this last quarter.


I have seen some good case arguements for both sides of this thread. It will be interesting to see what Apple does with OSX and it's x86 architecture switch. With iTunes and the iPod, Apple has shown that it can adapt and readily be used and used easily on a PC. I hope Apple will continue this trend and that they continue to expand their horizons beyond their traditional smaller user base.

damontgo said:

Have you guys seen any of the screenshots for Longhorn? It looks remarkably different from any previous Windows environment, much more sleek, and OSX-ish

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HMmm. I wonder where they came up with that idea.... OS 10 Of course.