OS X ON PC what if...

[vic]

this is a what if game, so play along nicely.

what would you say if apple DID ship os X for the PC?

let me tell you why i think they should, and why they should not:

why yes

1. More games for os x whether you use a mac computer or a pc computer.

2. more software whether you use a mac computer or a pc computer

3. it's a perfect bridge between the two worlds

3. the world would learn that apple is not such a bad company (that is from the pc user point of view) and might start buying apple hardware

4. if one day os x is the only operating sys on earth from a consumer point of view and unix admin (maybe) the peripheral developers would not have a hard time making pluginds and drivers for either pc or mac hardware especially if the world is headed to fire-wire and usb.

5. microsoft will die (get sick the least)

why not

1. apple want to increase sales on their hardware and they see this as the opportunity.

2. Microsoft will/is threaten/ing apple not to

3. microsoft is controlling apples decisions

4. apple is a dumbass

[AdmiralAK]

Hypothetically:

1 & 2) games are irrelevent. YOu are supposing that people are gonna flock to OS X which is not the case. IF that were the case people would have flocked to other *free* and capable OSs in the past. NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP were on the PC, BeOS is on the PC, Solaris is on the PC, and countless more examples but they did not/are not faring well. People will *not* switch over, except for a very limited crowd that wants to test it out. What makes you think that devellopers who are not making mac games/software now are gonna do so if there is OS X on intel ? Programming in windows is different from programming in OS X. Devellopers use windows APIs and windows technologies like directX for their windows programms and apple/NeXT APIs to use their apple products.

3) Perfect bridge...dont think sooooo. SAme reason as above.

4) PC users are dumbheaded. They will always think that apple, and any other OS copmany is *bad* because they dont run windows (unless u get an educated user that has used another OS other than windows SERIOUSLY )

5) MS will NOT die and will not get sick unless the goverment breaks them up just like they did in the AT&T and the standard oil cases.



1) Apple WILL NOT increase hardware sales.

2) Maybe

3) Perhaps

4) No way

[vic]

firs of all openstep and nextstep were not as powerfull OR as good looking as osx, nothing right now is, that is why i think + right marketing moves, apple can get people flocking to os x there are online petitions run by people on intel asking for osx badly, so i don't think it's just a few people that want to test it out...
as for the rest of the response, you may be right or wrong, we can only speculate

[Kazrog]

Porting the Mac OS to the Intel platform would kill Apple. The whole point of Apple is that they make not only the software, but the computers as well.

Apple tried licensing out their hardware platform a few years back, if you recall. I owned a Motorola StarMax Mac clone for years. This was the darkest period of Apple's history, and they had to pull the plug on the clones or else they would have gone under fast.

Bottom line, Apple's hardware is better than anything the rest of the PC industry has to offer. If it wasn't, then they would not be making hardware, but ultimately I feel that as long as the current x86/Pentium hardware platform exists, Windows will be the dominant OS on it. The average person doesn't even upgrade their current OS, let alone switch. Apple would face the same fate as Be if they were an OS maker.

[ScottW]

Not that I agree with what I am about to say, but it is food for thought in this conversation...

I know many who enjoy the Mac interface and OS X, but never would spend the money for a Macintosh... because they already own 4 windows boxes. These same people are happy to use one box for a Redhat Linux box... and if they could use one of their boxes for Mac OS X, they would do that as well.

Unless your buying iMacs... systems don't come as cheap. Granted, you get what you pay for... but for people to migrate from one system to another, they have to have time to experience the OS, before committing to be a $1200+ Mac hardware system.

The fact that Apple creates its own hardware is a good thing, because they do make the software. If OS X runs on Intel based platform... and Winblows users test out the software on their own platform for machines... they *may* be more willing to purchase a Apple Macintosh which will run better with Mac OS X, than "compatible" Intel platforms.

Food for thought.

Admin

[monolith]

I think the long term effect would be a significant decrease in Apple's (already limited) market share - in other words, the demise of Apple.

Here's why I think so:

1. Many of the Mac faithful would convert to Windows.

Most consumers shop for bargains. If Mac OS X is available for Intel-based machines, many of the Mac faithful will buy cheap PCs. They will buy Intel-based machines not only for the price, but also for the opportunity to run all the wonderful Windows software they've been missing. Once they spend enough time in the Windows environment and outside their "comfort zone" (Mac OS), they will realize that living with the foibles of Windows is a reasonable price to pay for more games, more software, and more compatibility. After all, Mac OS X is also squarely outside the "comfort zone" of the classic Mac user (and has its own foibles). So, if you're a classic Mac user and you buy an Intel machine, the choice of operating systems is no longer black-and-white, it's shades of gray.

One more point: There's a good chance the software situation would get worse if Mac OS X was released for Intel-based machines. Software publishers would be less inclined to port their products to Mac OS if many Mac users have the option of running Windows.

2. Not many Windows users would convert to Mac OS X.

If your comfort zone is Windows (i.e. you've lived with its defects long enough that you no longer view them as defects), why would you switch to a completely foreign environment with less software? You wouldn't. You might buy OS X and install it, but mostly as a curiosity. This is what my Windows friends do with Linux. They call themselves Linux users, but when they want to do real work (or play), they switch back to their comfort zone: Windows.

[rharder]

Monolith (above) has a good point. Comfort zones are called comfort zones for a good reason, and people are reluctant to try new things. Those of us who think we know linux because we dual boot are <u>really just playing around</u>.

Most people I talk to are completely ignorant about OS's they don't use. This goes for both Mac-, Windows- and *nix- users. I often have people ask me if <u>anyone makes software</u> for the Titanium I bring into my office. "No, Apple has stood in the face of Microsoft the Competition Slayer for years because no one makes software for the Mac." Oh, please.

What really amazes me are the people who are truly offended (like my boss) that the world would dare support <u>more than one operating system</u>. It's as if they're directly harmed by people using other OS's.

<strong>I hope we never do go to one OS everywhere. Imagine the fun viruses would have then</strong>. Besides, I've yet to see a single OS with all the strengths of the major OS's combined into one platform.

-Robert

[_Score]

I think it should be ported to x86. I have three PeeCee's, two Sun Workstations and various other hardware and systems including a couple old macs.

I run mainly Windows2K and Linux on the x86's, Solaris on the Suns and MacOS 7.5.3 on the old macs. Now to the point, I'd like to try the OS I'm going to be stuck with before I buy the hardware to run it. osX looks very, very nice but how does it run? I wouldn't know because I don't have a Mac. From what I've messed with of it at the local Circut City on an iMac it was damn nice but worth buying the machine over? perhaps

All I'm trying to say is that's a big step just to try out the latest Operating System.

Just what I think of the situation.

(I do plan on getting a G4 sometime soon)