Possibility of OS-X for PC? (Opinion)

[scooter]

I was reading "Maximum PC" newest issue and I read the Editor in Chiefs opinion article concerning apple switch to Intel and the x86 architecture

copy of article:
http://www.maximumpc.com/2005/07/apples_x86_inva.html

his take on some things sounding interesting, for instance concerning the G5:
"Apple has finally conceded that the ludicrous thermal profile of the G5 processor is a big problem. In fact, the IBM-produced CPU runs so hot that desktop units actually require water-cooling. Putting a G5 in a laptop is thus out of the question, and so without a switch, Apple laptops would forever be limited to the inferior G4."

and on why OSX will go PC:
"Windows is a mess. Spyware, viruses, and all the problems inherent to a 4-year-old OS have left Joe and Sally Consumer without a reliable home computer. The PC isn’t the problem. Windows is the problem. .......Apple’s current position is just a smoke screen in order to build a software application base and work out kinks in its driver model. After five years of planning, Jobs and company have launched their first assault on Windows. I bet we’ll see a full-on war by the end of 2006."

 

[trpnmonkey41]

I don't think it will happen. I am sure people will figure out how to hack the x86 OS X to work on any PC but it will be tough and Jobs wants people to purchase the MacIntel's that OS X was developed on to run perfectly. I don't think he wants to open the door to hardware compatibilities with people building their own computers

 

[Abdiel]

I don't think it will happen. I am sure people will figure out how to hack the x86 OS X to work on any PC but it will be tough and Jobs wants people to purchase the MacIntel's that OS X was developed on to run perfectly. I don't think he wants to open the door to hardware compatibilities with people building their own computers

I agree, one of the reasons Macs work so well (and I'm always pushing my department to go with them for our sound and video needs) is that our well-intentioned but frequently screwed up IT department can't "save us money" by building Mac clones. It's taken them years to realize that they can't just build a bargain PC to the minimum specs of our video and audio software and expect it to work well.


While the nice "user friendly" gee-whiz features of OSX are cool, they are not be best reason to buy a Mac. If Macs ever loose their reliability and stability then that will be the death knell for Apple...because Windows will steal all the "interface" features just like they originally did with the entire "windows" concept.....look for "Widgets" and "Spotlight" on the next versions of Windows....of course...god help you if you run Widget type programs on a PC....Your spyware filter will probably explode.

 

[Acill]

Yeah Macs and OS X do so well because the hardware is controlled. If Apple had to support all the billions of hardware options in the average PC things would get ugly fast. Lets hope they dont decide to go that route. Apple is just as much a hardware company as they are a software one.

 

[scooter]

because Windows will steal all the "interface" features just like they originally did with the entire "windows" concept.....look for "Widgets" and "Spotlight" on the next versions of Windows....of course...god help you if you run Widget type programs on a PC....Your spyware filter will probably explode.

i have been using "widget" style thing on my PC for a long time now, they are just not part of Windows but separate programs.

i thought the next version of Longhorn was supposed to have something like "spotlight" already part of it, a better extension/program of the 'find' command.

 

[damontgo]

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

 

[Texasmeat]

....

I think that most people underestimate the number of highly qualified hackers and their impact on p2p's across the globe. The hacked version of os x will be installed on a regular PC soon enough. Most people are trying to act as though if someone gets os x running on a commodity pc, it will be archaic in nature and not real easy to do. I think once they get their greasy hands on the actual disk image of os x x86, they'll hack it to take away whatever hardware locks apple has put on it, and then put the hacked version onto the torrent sites. Then the number of people with os x will far surpass the number of people with actual apple hardware within a real short period of time.

 

[Morrigan]

Really? Everything I've seen so far looks remarkably similar to XP...

Do you wanna post links to those OSX-like screenshots?

 

[falltime]

While the nice "user friendly" gee-whiz features of OSX are cool, they are not be best reason to buy a Mac. If Macs ever loose their reliability and stability then that will be the death knell for Apple...because Windows will steal all the "interface" features just like they originally did with the entire "windows" concept.....look for "Widgets" and "Spotlight" on the next versions of Windows....of course...god help you if you run Widget type programs on a PC....Your spyware filter will probably explode.

Hehehe... Hmmm, you do realize Dashboard and Spotlight type apps existed on the Windows platform long before Tiger was ever released. These weren't innovative new features invented by Apple.

 

[Abdiel]

Hehehe... Hmmm, you do realize Dashboard and Spotlight type apps existed on the Windows platform long before Tiger was ever released. These weren't innovative new features invented by Apple.

Perhaps there were apps similar to them but explain to me me why I used Windows almost every day for years and years and never knew anything about them?

I've no doubt that the concept of extras that grabbed info from the internet or an actually useful search function actually existed but they certainly weren't build in to Windows and if they had been they would have been more useful as open windows through your security than as actual applications.

 

[falltime]

Perhaps there were apps similar to them but explain to me me why I used Windows almost every day for years and years and never knew anything about them?

I've no doubt that the concept of extras that grabbed info from the internet or an actually useful search function actually existed but they certainly weren't build in to Windows and if they had been they would have been more useful as open windows through your security than as actual applications.

I don't know why you never did. I did. And I know personally knew hundreds of people that did as well.

And, I didn't quite get the second paragraph. Try reiterating it.

 

[Abdiel]

I think that most people underestimate the number of highly qualified hackers and their impact on p2p's across the globe. The hacked version of os x will be installed on a regular PC soon enough. Most people are trying to act as though if someone gets os x running on a commodity pc, it will be archaic in nature and not real easy to do. I think once they get their greasy hands on the actual disk image of os x x86, they'll hack it to take away whatever hardware locks apple has put on it, and then put the hacked version onto the torrent sites. Then the number of people with os x will far surpass the number of people with actual apple hardware within a real short period of time.

Possibly hacked...maybe...but running well...I don't believe it. Hacked Mac OS on a non Mac hardware system will not be stable and will cause more problems that it will solve. Nobody that cares about the advatages of Mac will be doing that because it will be one crashing nightmare after another. I also wouldn't underestimate the ability of a hardware lock to keep the hacking to a minimum.

 

[Abdiel]

I don't know why you never did. I did. And I know personally knew hundreds of people that did as well.

And, I didn't quite get the second paragraph. Try reiterating it.

Oh come on. Are you actually telling me that your average windows user has any widget like apps running on his computer? What....Weatherbug or some of the other "taskbar" apps that are actually just trojan horses for spyware? No way. I know a lot more users who are struggling with system crashes and other security issues than I do ones who have found applications as simple to use and as integrated as widgets.

And as for the second paragraph let me put it as simply as possible:

Windows Search Function Sucks.

Most widget-like apps on Windows XP would be security nightmares and invitations to spyware and viruses.

Simple enough for you?

 

[Ghostshadow]

longhorn is just dirt , it's baisicly xp with a new theme , and faster image rendering ... nothing else .. it's not going to sell well at all .

also it will be a shame if os x gets on pc , i dont think steve will let it happen , but if it does it will be the downfall of osx because people will start trying to exploit it and then everything would be like it is in a windows enviorment ...

here a couple screen from 5048 build

they try to make thumbnails out of your images ... but it doesn't do a good job haha . ..

 

[section31]

I think that most people underestimate the number of highly qualified hackers and their impact on p2p's across the globe. The hacked version of os x will be installed on a regular PC soon enough. Most people are trying to act as though if someone gets os x running on a commodity pc, it will be archaic in nature and not real easy to do. I think once they get their greasy hands on the actual disk image of os x x86, they'll hack it to take away whatever hardware locks apple has put on it, and then put the hacked version onto the torrent sites. Then the number of people with os x will far surpass the number of people with actual apple hardware within a real short period of time.

This will most likely be the case. My opinion is that OS X will be hacked quickly so that it can be installed on any x86 system. This will show the interest of consumers who would like to run legitimate copies of the OS on PCs and I believe that in turn Apple will soon offer a PC version of OSX.

Clearly Apple doesn't have a problem creating an application that can run on the PC platform and they certainly have found out how lucrative it can be to open up the Apple door to PC consumers. When the iPod first came out, many Mac supporters couldn't fathom that Apple would ever support a PC version or even more so create a windows version of iTunes. Take a look at the landscape today (or Yahoo! finance ticker AAPL) and you'll clearly see the impact that the PC market can have. I believe that this is all part of Apple's attempt to chisle away at the marketshare that Microsoft has.

My 2 cents.

 

[falltime]

Oh come on. Are you actually telling me that your average windows user has any widget like apps running on his computer? What....Weatherbug or some of the other "taskbar" apps that are actually just trojan horses for spyware? No way. I know a lot more users who are struggling with system crashes and other security issues than I do ones who have found applications as simple to use and as integrated as widgets.

And as for the second paragraph let me put it as simply as possible:

Windows Search Function Sucks.

Most widget-like apps on Windows XP would be security nightmares and invitations to spyware and viruses.

Simple enough for you?

Ummmm.

Konfabulator=Dashboard
Copernic=Spotlight

Millions of Windows users were using them way before Apple ever even mentioned these features with tiger.

OSX users were also using Konfabulator on previous versions of OS X before Apple decided to take the concept and integrate it directly into Tiger.

 

[Abdiel]

Ummmm.

Konfabulator=Dashboard
Copernic=Spotlight

Millions of Windows users were using them way before Apple ever even mentioned these features with tiger.

OSX users were also using Konfabulator on previous versions of OS X before Apple decided to take the concept and integrate it directly into Tiger.

I didn't doubt their existence. I do doubt your numbers about how many average Windows users are using applications like this. I am convinced you that I could go over to another completely non computer related forum that I frequent and poll the users there...most of whom....like every where else...are not Mac users and they would never have heard of either of those specific applications.

I've yet to press F12 in front of any Windows user, while running Tiger, and failed to get a "wow" or ''that's pretty cool" out of them.

All I'm saying is that with Windows track record can you really argue that a "Widget-like" application integrated to an Windows OS is likely to be stable and secure?

As far as building in a stable and secure widget and and really useful search function as part of the actual OS Mac beat Windows to the punch by several months and counting.

 

[technologist]

Konfabulator=Dashboard
Copernic=Spotlight

Millions of Windows users were using them way before Apple ever even mentioned these features with tiger. ...

Absolutely, totally, 100% false.

Tiger was announced at WWDC in April, 2004 and Spotlight/Dashboard were demo'ed.

Konfabulator came out for windows in November 04
Copernic only came out in August 04.

Please explain how "Millions of Windows users were using them way before Apple ever even mentioned these features with tiger." when in fact they weren't even available?

[And, in case anyone's wondering...global search ("Spotlight") was introduced in the BeOS in 1995ish. Desk accessories were introduced in 1984 on the original Mac, though the eventually became seperate applications.]

 

[falltime]

I didn't doubt their existence. I do doubt your numbers about how many average Windows users are using applications like this. I am convinced you that I could go over to another completely non computer related forum that I frequent and poll the users there...most of whom....like every where else...are not Mac users and they would never have heard of either of those specific applications.

I've yet to press F12 in front of any Windows user, while running Tiger, and failed to get a "wow" or ''that's pretty cool" out of them.

All I'm saying is that with Windows track record can you really argue that a "Widget-like" application integrated to an Windows OS is likely to be stable and secure?

As far as building in a stable and secure widget and and really useful search function as part of the actual OS Mac beat Windows to the punch by several months and counting.

What are you talking about???

Apple developed Dashboard after Konfabulator. Dashboard copied Konfabulator's look, feel, concept, and terminology, without so much as a reference. It was a HUGE deal after the WWDC2004 when Dashboard was previewed. Arlo (Konfab's creator) was so upset he proceeded to give several interviews to online publications so he could broadly express his scorn for Apple's maneuver.

I'd honestly have a hard time finding someone who HASN'T heard of Konfabulator.

And Copernic is all over the place. It's received awards from several of the top PC magazines and has a "Popular" rating @ Download.com. I'm sorry if you or any of your usenet buddies haven't heard of it. I don't know what to say. It should rather apparent these aren't "mystery" apps found only in unknown, tucked-away corners of the net.

I don't know why you'd think Konfabulator would have issues on a Windows machine. It's just a simple Javascript/XML runtime engine. It's runs fine... In fact, it actually runs noticeably better on my Windows machine than it did on my Panther machine before Konfab became obsolete with the implementation of Dashboard on Tiger.

And it's funny that you'd mention Microsoft not implementing these features into XP. Several friends of mine over at MS frequently joke about what would happen if Microsoft were to integrate some of these apps directly into the OS.
Chris Pirillo sums it up:

Well, Microsoft gets in trouble with the law if they bundle too much with their OS. I'm not against it, mind you, but... you can't have it both ways.

 

[Ghostshadow]

funny how your bickering about konfabulator being so great and copied from windows but you failed to mention konfab was created after karumba on linux ..