Comment Re:It wouldn't go that way (Score 1) 1409
I am not saying it is likely because Apple culture seems firmly against it. But it makes sense:
>1. Apple makes a lot of money on their hardware.
But a x86 OS package would likely be a hit too. Apple could sell a lot of these. The market for hardcore tirekickers in the PC world may be as big as the native Mac OSX upgrade market.
Further - the commodity PC is exactly the product they want to support. Apple has a competitive workstation. They have a boutique all-in-one desktop and they have good competitive laptops. The machine they need is the cheap headless desktop. And around $100 per seat is good money in this market segment. Apple could sell to corporate desktops if they have this sort of PC box support. That is a considerable upside. And most current Mac buyers are not going to run out and buy PC boxes, they like the fit and finish of Apple hardware too much for that.
In my opinion Apple is perfectly positioned to roll a PC box version of the OS, simply because they have no current hardware that fits in this category, the cheap headless desktop box. Without a product in this low margin catagory they have little to lose in term of real hardware sales.
>2. OS X has limited driver support, opening up to all breeds of >hardware would slow the development of the OS down and > > >reduce stability.
Opensource community can help with this on the Darwin level. They already support the video cards, USB, firewire, PCI. It might not be that bad. They don't have to be 100% from day one. They could target specific setups and go from there.
>3. There's stuff you have on Macs that just doesn't exist with >your typical PC BIOS, stuff like target-mode and netboot (much >better implmentation than PXE).
These sort of aspects are partly an answer to point 1. They differentiate the Mac hardware. Apple could ship OSX for x86 and still offer an enhanced user experience on Mac hardware. Just like with the iPod you can use a PC, but a Mac makes life a little nicer.
>4. Apple are about the total experience of the platform, putting >OS X on your Dell with it's rat's-nest of cabling is something >that makes Steve Jobs cry. Steve has a VISION, and a huge part >of it is massive reduction in cabling.
Again, this speaks to point 1. The ascetics of a Mac are a real differentiator for Apple hardware. Is someone who buys a $700 pc box really the same customer as the new $1300 iMac at twice the cost? I don't think they are. The iMac buyer is already sold on the sleek form factor being a selling point over the rock bottom price.
>1. Apple makes a lot of money on their hardware.
But a x86 OS package would likely be a hit too. Apple could sell a lot of these. The market for hardcore tirekickers in the PC world may be as big as the native Mac OSX upgrade market.
Further - the commodity PC is exactly the product they want to support. Apple has a competitive workstation. They have a boutique all-in-one desktop and they have good competitive laptops. The machine they need is the cheap headless desktop. And around $100 per seat is good money in this market segment. Apple could sell to corporate desktops if they have this sort of PC box support. That is a considerable upside. And most current Mac buyers are not going to run out and buy PC boxes, they like the fit and finish of Apple hardware too much for that.
In my opinion Apple is perfectly positioned to roll a PC box version of the OS, simply because they have no current hardware that fits in this category, the cheap headless desktop box. Without a product in this low margin catagory they have little to lose in term of real hardware sales.
>2. OS X has limited driver support, opening up to all breeds of >hardware would slow the development of the OS down and > > >reduce stability.
Opensource community can help with this on the Darwin level. They already support the video cards, USB, firewire, PCI. It might not be that bad. They don't have to be 100% from day one. They could target specific setups and go from there.
>3. There's stuff you have on Macs that just doesn't exist with >your typical PC BIOS, stuff like target-mode and netboot (much >better implmentation than PXE).
These sort of aspects are partly an answer to point 1. They differentiate the Mac hardware. Apple could ship OSX for x86 and still offer an enhanced user experience on Mac hardware. Just like with the iPod you can use a PC, but a Mac makes life a little nicer.
>4. Apple are about the total experience of the platform, putting >OS X on your Dell with it's rat's-nest of cabling is something >that makes Steve Jobs cry. Steve has a VISION, and a huge part >of it is massive reduction in cabling.
Again, this speaks to point 1. The ascetics of a Mac are a real differentiator for Apple hardware. Is someone who buys a $700 pc box really the same customer as the new $1300 iMac at twice the cost? I don't think they are. The iMac buyer is already sold on the sleek form factor being a selling point over the rock bottom price.
