The Tech Zone has an interesting editorial on how Apple is missing a huge opportunity by limiting OSX to Apple PCs:
I heard a rumor last week that Apple would announce they are switching to Intel chips. My first thought is that I hoped that Steve Job’s success selling iTunes to the other 95% of the world – Microsoft Windows users – would embolden him to take a strategic step that could shake up the PC business as we know it. I was hoping that he would catch the openness wave sweeping the technology world and apply it to his business. I would love to see Apple’s PC market share reverse its downward trend. Few people know it, but I started my tech career as a Macintosh user, ran a consulting company specializing in Macintosh, and even wrote my first commercial application, Network Security Guard, for the Macintosh.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed with Apple’s actual announcement on Monday, which revealed not a bold strategy embracing the openness movement but confirmation that Apple is still a company locked in the time warp of the go-it-alone ’70s. Apple agreed to switch from processors made by IBM to special processors made from Intel over the next two years – that’s it. This is only slightly more significant than Apple choosing to change the hard disk or memory supplier it puts into its computers.
While this surely is a dumb move for them, it’s no biggy for power users. Sooner or later someone’s going to come out with a hack and we will all be able to use OSX on generic PCs for a fraction of the cost of an Apple PC, which will undoutably be ludicrously expensive.
You are right, Apple is still a company locked in the time warp of the go-it-alone ’70s.
Apple could have been at the Top of the World instead of Microsoft and IBM but, I think it was more Greed then anything else.
Steve Jobs really blundered with his decision to keep Apple products a closed system. He was within reach of having the whole world use Apple Computers but he blew it. Unfortuntately, you only get one chance and now he is just making little music players that just fill peoples heads with crappy music and not ideas!
Hehe, nice way of putting it. While Steve Jobs has made a lot of cool desicions he has also made some horrid mistakes. He’s sorta like a double edged sword.