This content is 18 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.
I’ve just read in today’s Windows IT Pro magazine network WinInfo Daily Update that Intel-based Macs will be able to run Windows (which presumably means they can also run Linux, or any other x86 operating system). I probably will buy a Mac Mini then (once they go to Intel too)… maybe I could find a way to turn it into a media centre PC (I could just use Front Row I guess) – a very nice set top box that would be…
I do think that Apple are missing a trick though by restricting OS X to Apple hardware. Surely software margins are much higher than (even Apple’s premium-priced) hardware margins.
How great it would be if Apple made OS X available for other platforms. However, although software margins may be much higher than hardware margins, software and hardware margins together are a very happy couple.
I’m not saying that Apple’s PC’s aren’t a pleasure to interact with, but OS X is the reason that my next computer purchase will be a Mac of some description. If I could save myself a grand and just buy Tiger I would have already done it by now!
It’s also worth considering (in farness to Microsoft) that OS X might not be the gorgeous, sleek and efficient epitome of stability that it is, if Apple had to program support for myriad different hardware vendors’ products, rather than limiting the configuration choices to perhaps two or three.
Apple’s not just avoided other operating systems. It’s embraced other operating systems with a view to gaining even more of a market share. If Microsoft was to do the same, Apple would start to diminish in it’s consumer trade market (or maybe PC manufacturers should possibly get their act together first and do away with “tin can” computers they think consumers want.)
Come on… I wrote this post six years ago and you are commenting as though it was current… unless you are a spammer just trying to get a link back to your site?