Two things came to light from PC pundits yesterday. One: Apple’s chicken and doesn’t want to knock off Microsoft. Two: Mac OS X will eventually run on any Intel-based PC, not just Apple-built Macs. Whew.
I’ll ignore most of the former and target, with relish, the latter. Why relish? Two words: John Dvorak.
First, Apple and the Jaws of Intel, by Paul Frommeyer.
Paul lauds our favorite Cupertino, CA computer maker (and his own former employer); “I’m the first to admit positive bias where Apple is involved. Where computing is concerned, they make the best product. IMNHSO, the best got better with the switch to OS X.”
Then, he points out Apple’s “…steadfast refusal to just target Redmond and start in with the broadsides. This is the core problem that all the glitz and glitter keeps covering up: Apple just won’t try and take down the neighborhood bully.”
What? Apple is backing away from a fight? “Apple has been placed in a position where they can absolutely conquer the personal computing Universe, and every single time they have backed away rather than duke it out with Gates and Co. Whether this is incompetence or cowardice is a darn good question.”
I want to begin but I don’t know where. Statements that are so broad and sweeping require multiple pages to respond appropriately. Tera wants us to be disciplined and conserve bits. But this is oh, so tempting.
Why is Apple not attacking Microsoft? “Cowardice against Redmond is a possible reason, but with such a history of missed boats, I think at this point it’s pervasive in the corporate meme pool. Apple just can’t conceive of itself being bold enough and successful enough to take on Microsoft and win, no matter what it takes.”
Of course, nothing is mentioned about Microsoft being predatory, Microsoft perhaps dropping MS Office for Mac, or Apple’s sales dropping like a rock should Apple become just another software company.
This is worse than a David and Goliath analogy. Microsoft is Goliath. How many stones did David pick up before slaying the Philistine? Look it up. More than one. If Apple is David to Microsoft’s Goliath, I’m convinced that Steve Jobs & Company are still collecting the proper number of stones.
OS X on Intel chip PCs. Not made by Apple. That leads me to the second part. John Dvorak, who says Apple is on the Brink.
The arguments for Apple building their own Intel-based chips are obvious. Quality control. Maintain revenue and margins. Easy right? Apple does NOT want OS X to get ‘out in the wild’ for fear of making Microsoft angry, right? Hmmmm.
Dvorak says, “I see the OS getting out in the wild as having the opposite effect. For one thing, it would increase interest amongst developers, which should boost overall sales.”
“A public announcement about OS X comes. “It works on machines that Microsoft Vista won’t run on!” says Jobs. The crowd goes wild. And it’s priced below Microsoft Vista.”That would be sales of OS X to other manufacturers, sales of Apple-built Intel Macs, and sales of other Apple software (iLife, iWork, Pro series, etc.), right? If
Apple is truly a hardware company, then people would continue to buy Apple hardware, AND buy PCs to run Mac OS X.
More Dvorak. “I’m completely convinced that Apple could still get the same premium for its machines that it does today. People simply like the design of Apple gear.”
So, basically, Dvorak says Apple will make sure that Mac OS X runs only on Mac hardware, not generic PCs. However, it’ll happen anyway, and Apple won’t do anything to stop it because that will effectively reduce Microsoft’s market share, and increase sales of Apple software.
Everyone wins. Except Microsoft. Hmmmm. I don’t see anything wrong yet.
The whole premise says that Apple starts OS X on Intel with some kind of secure, technical ‘lockdown’ to prevent OS X from getting ‘into the wild’ and spreading to every generic PC. That trick is, the ‘lockdown’ is “… actually weak and meant to be cracked. Soon the crack is on the Net, and with or without a hardware bypass, the code is shown working on a Dell. Apple protests and threatens to sue anyone caught running the code. This results in all sorts of publicity, as the average user wants to know what all the fuss is about.”
Wait! There’s more. Once OS X is available on any PC, Apple CEO Steve Jobs says, according to Dvorak, “that the company is going to rethink its marketing strategies regarding the OS in the wild. He’ll say he is disappointed.”
Then, a new version of OS X: “In the wings is waiting a shrink-wrapped upgrade that works perfectly on older machines. A public announcement comes. “It works on machines that Microsoft Vista won’t run on!” says Jobs. The crowd goes wild. And it’s priced below Microsoft Vista.
And everyone lives happily ever after. Oh, except for Microsoft.
Is Dvorak on drugs? Or is he on to something?
