Mac OS X86
I remember hearing rumors of Apple building and testing x86 based PowerMacs with an x86 build of Mac OS X back months before the announcement of the PowerMac G5. Well now in an interview on Fortune (subscribers only for full article) it is mentioned that Apple has been contacted by PC manufactures about licensing Mac OS X for their machines in order to give their customers alternatives to Windows.
I love Apple, and I love their hardware, but it is mainly the software that I use a Mac for. Truth be told if I could run Mac OS X on a Dell or even better a custom built 64-bit AMD based PC I would. Hardware sales count for the majority of Apple’s business though and releasing their OS for another platform would likely cause their computer based hardware sales to decline while causing an increase in their software sales. The question though is would they sale enough software to compensate for the decline in hardware sales?
Hat tip: ArsTechnica.
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#1 Electric Monk says:Not even close. Apple would suffer huge. Porting OS X to x86 is fairly simple, so is porting some of the applications. But porting all the applications, keeping independent developers on board, etc… Very hard.
Now if those companies were willing to use PowerPC I think Apple would deal. Sony especially if Apple decides to use parts of the Cell chip in future computers.
#2 muhammet says:ss
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