Apple’s move to support the intel platform has virtually pulverized the PC & related industry. David Kirkpatrick writes, Michael Dell is interested in licensing Apple's Mac OS. Excerpts with edits & comments:
Dell has for several years fearlessly & lucratively sold servers loaded with Linux, the operating system Microsoft reviles and dreads. And as the industry's top dog it wields more bargaining power with Microsoft than other PC-makers. Michael Dell says in an email to David Kirkpatrick that"If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to offer it to our customers,"It's the first time any PC industry executive has openly shown enthusiasm for selling machines with Apple's software. There’s no doubt that Apple's move to Intel could usher in a new era of success.It may be seen to be making little sense for Apple to license its OS to the PC universe, as one of Apple's advantages is that it has complete control of the specs for both the hardware and software in Macintoshes. "Having to support legacy hardwar and coping with several applications may be a tough one to support Some suggestions to itigate include, Apple licensing the next version of its operating system, known as Leopard, but only to PC vendors who agree to put it on systems with certain specifications. Apple may in such a scenario, insist on a minimum system price. PC vendors, may find this attractive as making money in that business is so tough.
Another reader opinion that David highlights include :"[IBM's] PowerPC chips used to be the chip of choice for embedded applications, precisely due to power/performance/heat advantages that they have over Intel, which outweighed the popularity penalty for software. With new Intel chips that beat PowerPC in performance per watt, IBM is on the edge of losing not only Apple, but the embedded market, where the ability to cool the processor is one of the major design constraints for the system as a whole. The Apple rationale is probably the last nail in the PowerPC coffin”.
|
