Microsoft has no problem granting Windows license to Apple

“Microsoft… said it would have no problem granting a Windows licence to Apple, in exactly the same way it currently provides licences to Dell and HP. ‘Just like all Microsoft’s OEMs, Apple can build industry-standard hardware that’s compatible with Windows; Microsoft has an open specification and a process for certifying the hardware,’ said a Microsoft spokesman. ‘Microsoft would support Apple the same way it supports every other PC manufacturer,'” Stewart Mitchell writes for PC Pro. “However, running Mac OS X on a significantly cheaper PC remains an elusive dream, because Apple ‘will not allow Mac OS X to be run on anything other than an Apple Mac’, said the company’s senior vice president Phil Schiller.”

“Nevertheless, it seems certain that hackers will work out a way of doing exactly this, although it won’t be easy since Apple’s Intel-based Macs use extensible firmware interface (EFI), whereas Microsoft’s Windows XP relies on BIOS, and the two aren’t natively interoperable,” Mitchell writes. “In reality, however, the biggest news for Windows developers is legally porting their software to Apple. CodeWeavers, for example, has expanded its software porting capabilities to include support for Windows-to-Mac – in theory, significantly reducing the time and cost of developing Mac versions of Windows software. ‘The shift to Intel chips is good news for Windows developers who, for reasons of time and expense, have never created Mac versions of their key applications,’ said CodeWeavers chief executive Jeremy White. ‘It’s a new opportunity for them.'”

Mitchell writes, “Apple’s move to Intel has hardly turned the world of Windows on its head. But it has thrown up new hope for cross-platform development, which in the long term may bring great benefits to PC professionals.”

Full article here.

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41 Comments

  1. I don’t see what the big deal is about going to the corporate market? Apple makes computers for designers, movie makers, creative thinkers. Why bother?????? I think it would just be a big headache for apple. just my thought

  2. Simple really:

    I want to live in a world of QUALITY. Not in a world of VOLUME.

    Try searching for simple WinBox software and you have a million choices – and a million minus ten chances of getting something completely rubbish.

  3. Well of course MS would license Windows to Apple. Why wouldn’t they? A sale is a sale.

    Back before Apple bought NeXT, when they were shopping for a new OS to rework into their own, one of the possibilities that they gave consideration to was Windows. Bill Gates pushed very hard for this because the deal he put forth had it that Apple would redesign the GUI to make it more Mac-like, but they would have to also create the GUI for the next version of Windows as well. Perhaps what MS should do is license OS X from Apple, and have them design the next version of Windows. Then it might be worth using! ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue wink” style=”border:0;” />

  4. Petey–
    ‘cough’ HERES SOME NEWS FOR YOU M$ – APPLE MAKE THEIR ON OS!
    AND IT MAKES YOURS LOOK LIKE A POS.

    To be fair, Apple does not make Microsoft’s OS like like a POS… Microsoft does that.

    Still though, it would be nice to be able to use the Windows-only software that I have to use at work, natively on my Mac.

    And don’t kid yourselves, the dark side also has all the good games.

    Sorry, but I am a realist.

  5. Back before Apple bought NeXT, when they were shopping for a new OS to rework into their own, one of the possibilities that they gave consideration to was Windows. Bill Gates pushed very hard for this because the deal he put forth had it that Apple would redesign the GUI to make it more Mac-like, but they would have to also create the GUI for the next version of Windows as well. Perhaps what MS should do is license OS X from Apple, and have them design the next version of Windows. Then it might be worth using!

    I’d rather have Apple put the finishing touches on Copland than use the NT kernel in the underbelly of Mac OS! Besides, Unix (especially BSD flavored) is the best thing going for Mac OS and its future.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copland

  6. Emil, a windmill is clean and elegant. Fusion spits out a neutron that makes everything it touches radioactive, not to mention the lovely x-rays and gamma rays and what they can do for your health.

    So why would Apple, which has an OS that is clean and elegant, want to license an OS that is so radiologically smelly as to bring the wrath of Godzilla down on one’s head (see “Godzilla vs. Megaguirus”)?

    “Your way of thinking is completely different from mine!”
    Mac user Shinoda to PC user/villain Katagiri, “Godzilla 2000 Millennium” (Japanese version)
    (From the world’s biggest switch commercial, starring Apple’s biggest fan: Godzilla!)

  7. >And don’t kid yourselves, the dark side also has all the good games.>

    I wonder how many CEO’s play computer games.

    Not too many I’ll wager, but I’ll bet a lot of janitors and big mac flippers do.

  8. I already have Vista and it’s not even out yet.

    It’s called OSX.

    MS is just trying to avoid lawsuits when Vista comes out when people see the only thing not copied will be the name.

  9. windoze-blows sucks!!
    i would never use windoze ANYWAY even if it was pr-installed on new macs.

    some IT drone said ‘Pirates of silicon valley’ makes jobs seem like a god.

    what? who cares?

  10. “Microsoft… said it would have no problem granting a Windows licence to Apple”

    OIOW, “Take our software…please!”

    NEVER take MS up on a business offer. It’ll only help them and will probably kill you.

    MS having “no problem” makes the strongest case yet to keep Windows off Apple hardware. If anything let us run Windows apps, but please keep Windows itself away.

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