I still don't get what Apple is doing. What can they offer that Microsoft can't on the Intel platform? The answer? A snazzy GUI on top of BSD subsystem?
That "snazzy GUI" is the guts of the issue. Try it out, you might see why it's so importtant.
I mean, if you go with Windows you get Microsoft along for the ride. You also get an amazing variety of hardware and software. If you go with Apple you get fewer options all the way down the line.
This is somewhat untrue, it's gotten VASTLY better the last couple of years. There are very few peripherals at CompUSA that won't work with a Mac - many times the box fails to mention it'll work witha Mac, or that Mac drivers are available on their website, or, they don't need drivers for Macs. Software? Outside of engineering and CAD, most of the important titles exist, or there are equivalent titles available. Most of the software issues are games, and stuff nobody really buys anyway - like the 40 different versions of family tree software. The *good* ones were ported to Mac.
And then, on top of that, we've got Final Cut Pro, Motion, Shake...
In my opinion, this is about the stupidest decision Apple could have made. What's laughable is that Jobs actually thinks OSX is so wildly superior to anything out there that it's worth betting the farm on.
Have you tried Mac OS X, especially the current build, Tiger? I somehow think you have'nt, if you say that. The "Mac" has evolved from hardware tightly integrated into an OS, into a platform, and it runs rings around Windows in many, many areas. I doubt it'll ever capture more than 25% of the market, but I think they can reach that goal, now that the Intel factor is in place.
All of the current comments about the Intel migration are identical to the PPC migration Apple made years ago. We've been through this before.
I've used it. I administer a number of OSX servers. I have hundreds of clients.
I'm not saying OSX isn't well-designed. I'm not saying it isn't stable. I'm not saying the GUI isn't a pleasure to use. I'm saying that, in the real world, no one wants to deal with OSX when it's much easier to run Microsoft software. Tech support issues alone make the decision an easy one, I'm afraid.
Now it may be that Jobs wants to corner the market on home entertainment and digital media. In that case, I think the idea of a hardware-level ID is a bad one. People don't want the entertainment industry intimately involved in their computing experience, and they certainly don't want to deal with the possibility of mortgaging their homes when Junior decides to download an unlicensed copy of Lethal Weapon III.
Sure, we love Hollywood. We even indulge the idiocies of the entertainment elite. Whe won't, however, tolerate Jobs and Hollywood poking around our home networks so they can find a way to haul us before the courts.