Seeing as it's lunchtime here at my nifty new job, I thought I'd blog something quickly. Problem is, I haven't really got much to blog. I'll try, anyway.
I saw an article this week which suggested that Mac may be looking to ditch OSX as a product, and keep their focus on hardware, which (according to the article) is where they've always wanted to be. What would they replace it with? Well, this article suggested... WINDOWS! HAH! Now, while I know that the article is most likely just the opinions of the writer and not necissarily based on any solid factual evidence, he certainly made a convincing argument. Most interesting to me is the fact that Microsoft has announced it's ditching Office for Mac after the next version, and the new version of Windows will include native support for booting on Intel Macs. Oh yeah, and Mac have allowed and supported this move. Why? Well, they want to sell hardware. If you like Windows, but think Macs look snazzy, you'll buy a Mac and install Windows on it. Bill is happy, Steve is happy - everyone is happy. With this situation, why would Apple continue to pump money into OSX? Surely they're not making that much money off it. Why not let Bill's boys do all the hard work, and instead focus on making a packet of their lucrative consumer hardware and related services? I mean, with things like iPhoto's micropayment publishing options, why not release their iStuff suite for Windows? They'd make some more money with comparitavley little outlay.
CONCLUSION: In my opinion, OSX is a liability in the long term for Apple. They should ditch it, and I think there's signs that it may well already be happening.
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2 comments:
I suspect that people buy macs for a reason other than that they look cool. Personally, I'd rather be running OSX on generic hardware than Windows on mac hardware - the hardware doesn't seem too special, especially with the changed chipset, but the OS is better than windows in some ways. When apple's selling an ipod or some other hardware distinguished device, then that's a different story...
My two cents.
Maybe this article could have been titled "Let's bait Nathan", because you know I can't not answer this!
Firstly, this article shows how difficult it's going to be in reality for Apple hardware to boot Windows, XP, Vista or otherwise. Secondly, don't confuse the difference between where Apple make their profit and where Apple get their edge. Apple may indeed make the lion's share of their profit from their excellent hardware, but I believe it's the Operating System that drives people to buy that hardware. Remove the OS and you remove the main incentive for people to but that hardware. There are plenty of high-end hardware vendors like Sony or Alienware. Apple aren't competing against them.
No one would be happier than me if there was an elegant solution to the issue of running Windows Apps on a Mac. The new Intel hardware opens the door to better emulation or virtual machines (I'll look at Qemu as soon as I get my MacBook Pro), but the Mac OS is still far and away superior to the steaming ordure Microsoft are offering.
Now Macs are running Intel silicon, this is a rumor that will never die. We'll see this over and over- trust me. It isn't true now, and very unlikely in the 10-year timeframe. Beyond that, we'll see if Microsoft are still in business.
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