Mac OS X could destroy Microsoft

LXer ^ | Nov 20, 2005 | Tom Adelstein

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Apple can alter its business plan slightly and become the well-liked dominant force in the technology market. Everything Apple needs sits right in front of them for the taking. We're just sitting here waiting to restart global innovation and take the PC to the next step.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

The subsequent posting that's spawned from this oughtta be fun to read.

[A CA Guy]

They just want to get enough of the market so they to can have hackers considering them worthwhile enough to write viruses and adware for them.

[Gay State Conservative]

They said the same thing about Beta for years!

[elfman2]

"OS X for Intel would change the PC landscape like no other operating system has or could. Apple should open-source their operating system, port Openoffice.org to Aqua and bundle it for Intel PC's. Offer it for $199 for a home edition and $299 for a professional edition and the world will say goodbye to Windows for good."

Out with the old boss, in with the new boss.

[Starter]

Ooh. And I'm sure that Bruce Campbell is just one role away from being a bigger star than Brad Pitt!

But I'm not betting on it.

[Swordmaker]

Hmmmmm... Mac OSX Ping...

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[SunkenCiv]

Microsoft should consider changing their OS packaging...

[Question_Assumptions]

Isn't going to happen. First, Apple is a hardware company. Second, part of the stability of OSX comes from Apple's control of the hardware that it runs on (and, as a correlary, much of the remaining instability in Microsoft's OS is due to cheap hardware and bad third-party device drivers). Third, Apple is a hardware company (in case you missed that the first time).

Now, if Steve Jobs was really devious, he'd wait for Microsoft to port MS Office to Mac OSX for Intel and then open up OSX to run on any PC so that users could have MS Office on an Intel PC without Windows. That could make Bill Gates' head explode.

[coconutt2000]

There's a great deal more to MS Office for Windows that makes the Mac OS port unsuitable for integration into large companies that use Microsoft's servers and server software.

Apple is developing its own versions of these features, in a manner that in my opinion will eventually result in an Apple brand of office software targeted at providing the feature set of Microsoft's enterprise server software for small and medium sized business.

Many people disagree with me on this, but I personally think this is going to happen much sooner than later.

[noblejones]

>>
Ooh. And I'm sure that Bruce Campbell is just one role away from being a bigger star than Brad Pitt!
<<

Brad Pitt is 5' 11" and Bruce is 6' 2". Significantly bigger.

[opticks]

I've had conversations with a former Mac guy who runs a small internet business that runs 100% Microsoft. The first thing that comes out of his mouth when I ask him about switching to Macs is "commoditization of hardware." It's just simpler and cheaper for businesses to run PCs. Nobody wants to learn a new OS (as easy as OS X is) and more importantly, buy new software (especially when a lot of pirating is going on)

Even when Apple switches to Intel, Apple will not support loading OSX on your Dell. Sure, people are going to try it, but the results are probably going to be less than spectacular for long-term use. I hope Apple makes this experience so bad that OS X will not be passed around like a cheap whore amongst the pirates.

An analogy is appropriate here: switching would be like the U.S. converting to the metric system. Sure, the metric system is better, but the cost of retooling and reeducation is too high in the minds' of businesses. That, and the 800 lb. gorilla, Office, still has to be tamed.

Finally, a lot of Mac users simply appreciate the engineering and design of the entire Power* line. Most PC users could care less (unless they are case modders). Certainly the average family views the PC as a box that plays games and sends email, much like a fancy dvd player or microwave. It's just another appliance. And sadly, most of them don't care or want to know how to get rid of all the spyware and viruses.

[HangnJudge]

Sorry

I'm a Mac Addict since '84
And I would just as soon pass on this

The computer community thrives on competition
Apple is also strengthened by it
I like the lively give and take

Besides, if people want to use the Windows WPOS
Why should I care

[avg_freeper]

"And I'm sure that Bruce Campbell is just one role away from being a bigger star than Brad Pitt!"

Bruce is already a bigger and better star than that forgettable twerp.

Hail to the King baby!

[Question_Assumptions]

I think you make some good points. I think the biggest battle isn't an issue of operating systems but the software that runs on the operating systems. Businesses are far more dependent on MS Office, Access, SQL Server, MS Project, Outlook, and Visual Basic than they are dependent on Windows itself. As viable alternatives to those technolgies become fully available on Macs or Linux, then you'll see those OSes grow much faster.

[SunkenCiv]

It's true that Apple isn't too likely to compete with itself again (as it did during the hiatus between Jobs, when it licensed companies to build Apple clones, and they were all based on Apple-built PM 7200 motherboards if memory serves), but Mac OS X sales to people hacking it to run on Wintel CPUs doesn't seem all that farfetched.

Lawsuits to follow of course.

[SunkenCiv]

most of them don't care or want to know how to get rid of all the spyware and viruses

They're finding out how -- dump Microsoft OS.

[opticks]

In my case, I had to have an intervention to switch my parents over to a Mac. The Dell they had was overflowing with viruses and spyware and I'd spend a day or so cleaning it off only to return every 6 months and repeat the exercise. It was slightly easier to make the transition because a few of my mom's friends have switched.

[Mr. Blonde]

After a year of trying I got my dad to switch to a Powerbook a few months ago. A few weeks ago he called and told me I need to get one too. That was a joyous phone call. I find out I'm finally getting a Mac and get to gloat about being right.

[SunkenCiv]

My dad first bought a Timex 1000, and later bought a second one for $10 somewhere. Those are still around. His next computer was an Apple II GS, which he used for six or seven years. The next one was a Mac Performa 6360 (a "pizza box Mac") which is a pretty good box if you pull that BS modem out of it and hook up an external one. Had a hard time talking him into doing that kind of thing. His last computer, about six months before he died, was an eMac.

I had to talk him out of getting a Wintel before the GS and before the 6360, and various other times. My argument was that he would probably rely on me a lot to fix things and the like, and that I had more experience with Apples. When I pulled the 6360 modem and hung a nice 56K external modem on it, he used it for a while, then had some puzzling hangs, took the system to a supposed expert shop specializing in Macs, and came home with ANOTHER slow internal modem. Same troubles emerged. We pulled the second modem, and I gave him an L2 cache I tracked down, and we upgraded his hard drive at the same time. The L2 card went spla about a year later, so we pulled that. He finally made noises about getting a new box.

It's still possible to get the Sonnet accelerator for 6360 et al, and I've been thinking about that. Also, Sonnet now has a 1GHz upgrade for the PCI Macs (I've also got a 7600) and I'll probably do that pretty soon. That one has more RAM than my usual machine (a rev b iMac, 233 Mhz), and can easily be expanded.