“Are humans just naturally driven to want what they cannot have?” David Berlind asks in his ZDNet blog.
“Apple may be resisting the OS licensing model that has traditionally worked so well for Microsoft and perhaps that resistance is finally paying off as Macs nibble away (albeit very very slowly and from a distant blip in Microsoft’s rear view mirror) at the market share of Windows-based PCs. Apple goes to great lengths… to tightly control the relationship between its software [and] its hardware,” Berlind writes.
“But none of this seems to be phasing the tenacious mice (the hackers) who are managing to keep the Apple cat on its toes. Most recently, under the headline $399 Ultraportable Apple Laptop, Gizmodo has coverage of how OS X has been hacked to run on the Asus EEE PC. Based on the buzz around the Net, Hackintosh How-To author Adam Pash is already a folk hero in certain circles. But if a Hackintosh isn’t your speed, then maybe the Torrenttosh is. There’s apparently a pre-hacked version of OS X floating around on Bittorrent that takes most of the hacking out of Hackintosh,” Berlind writes.
“Perhaps its time for Apple to reconsider its Apple-hardware-only policy and once again look into licensing OS X. Clearly… there are no technical barriers. And, compared to selling hardware, selling bits is like printing money. There’s no question the demand is there… Apple could, if it wants, roll the program out on a limited basis. For example, it could pick one or two other hardware partners… and work exclusively through them in a way that those vendors shoulder the lion’s share of supporting users.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: “iPod success paves the way for Mac OS X on X86. People have argued for years for and against the release of Mac OS X on Intel (and AMD) commodity hardware, but Apple derives such a large portion of its revenue from hardware that doing so could potentially damage the company beyond repair. But, what if Apple replaces that lost Mac hardware revenue with iPod revenue? Steve Jobs would then be free to drop what amounts to a hydrogen bomb on Microsoft. Mac OS X that runs on ‘regular’ off-the-shelf x86 hardware. Or partner with a Sony, for example – to insure quality.” – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, March 04, 2004 (yes, 2004)
Not really. It’s on there because Americans are greedy bastards who will steal whatever they think they can get away with. I saw this even in Europe, where “ugly American” tourists would cheat the transit systems that operated on the honor system.
Well your experience with Americans is slim obviously and since Americans are tourists in Europe they might not be familiar with the “system”. Just like a lot of Europeans fail to tip in America, at least we know they don’t know any better and don’t judge them all by it.
In my building there are some assholes who are using P2P software to download and upload music, totally whacking the speed for hours at a time. Not only are they stealing music, they’re also denying the rest of us usage of the wireless network. It’s the Me Generation.
So your sharing a internet connection with a whole apartment building?
Naturally this is going to slow things down and it doesn’t say a whole lot of good about your economic status which may contribute to your bad attitude. Work harder, get better creature comforts and your life will be happier.
All I want to know is when will Ford start selling engines separately?
Exactly what are we trying to fix by licensing OS X to commodity box builders?
Well first off commodity box builders won’t sacrafice their relationship with the majority Microsoft Windows for minority OS X on PC.
However they will use Mac OS X as a bargining tool against Microsoft.
Apple most likely won’t approach these commodity box builders anyway, rather selling OS X/PC on their own shelves with a list of tried and proven hardware vendors.
Apple is obviously very successful and profitable company with its current business model. I don’t see any reason to stir the pot.
Apple has a problem, they got so much exposure now that their hardware choices are too limited to provide what the real world needs.
Either they need to expand hardware choices or release OSX/PC.
I much rather prefer they release more hardware choices.
the botom line is that who wants to HAVE to support every little and last crappy this and that. Apple enjoys the success of making sure the insides of the computer are GOING to work with some managable margin of error.
Simply put, if they let OSX out of the bag then Apple would be in support hardware hell…..and really…who would want that?
How about license Tiger for ordinary x86 hardware and keep the feature rich Leopard for Macs. Tiger is a great OS that kicks the socks out of Vista and XP! double wammy!!! keep robust hardaware sales and software sales as well. Once a peecee user gets familiarized with tiger, the jump to a real Mac with leopard will be easy!!!
ok, let’s get a grip. admit that the current apple leadership could implement a much better version of licensing than the apple/pepsi/nec version, but why?
1) recent article in cnet reported that intel’s otellini informed the industry at oracle world [http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9816311-37.html] that semiconductor demand shifted to consumers in 2004. that means from here on out, consumers will dominate the shaping of IT. who kicks ass in the consumer IT world today? why would you ever want to go capture market share in the shrinking future market of enterprise computing? that’s what licensing osx really means.
2) sj called it right back in 2001. the strategic shift to intel had less to do with enterprise computing marketshare than dependable performance. if you have a couple of hours, read “blue ocean strategy”. you’ll be able to understand the deeply embedded strategy of sj to create new markets rather than compete in old ones. it did not hurt his pride whatsoever to proclaim the desktop os war was over and lost to ms. he knew when he said that it did not matter as long as you defined and shaped the future. that’s exactly what apple has done and the equity price reflects that.
apple under sj has always been about shaping the future rather than padding the bottomline. that’s what ms is engrossed with now and you can imagine what will happen to their equity price when their performance starts south. buying profits is not the same as making them. that’s the difference between apple and ms.
unlike what most people are thinking, apple is not on a hot streak, their strategy is just playing out. when you place your confidence in strong core values like identifying with the customer (mba-talk for make products you would like yourself) your strategies will win the day.
@Anonymous
“After all Apple hardware is premium, most people can’t afford premium, having to settle for MicroCrap Windows and once they get used to that, it’s harder to switch them to Mac OS X later on.”
Apple is NOT for everyone. Just like Sony hardware is not for everyone. Get it!
NOOOOOO
Don’t do it… let the hackers keep on hacking, and keep OSX proprietary.
The margins on ANY software is NOT 100%. There are these little inconvenient things called development costs, packaging, shipping, support, servers, electricity, computers, employees, etc., etc.
“Margin” refers to profit margin, not gross sales. BIG difference.
No. The primary difference between Apple and everybody is is the operating system.
By a huge margin.
You don’t give away your advantage just to be “popular.”
It would make no sense whatsoever for Apple to betray its own corporate philosophy by licensing out OS X to Dell et al.
It’s oh so simple, really. Want OS X? Buy a Macintosh!
OS X on any other machine just wouldn’t be the “Apple experience” imo. I just don’t think they should do it… even under tight control with 3rd party computer makers as suggested in the article. Seems like it would be a mistake, I mean, look at microsoft. yeah, it’s good financially, but not for the customer… and, at least i like to think, Apple appears to care more about their customer base.
just my 2¢
No, but effing hell no! It would destroy Apple. Apple would suffer the fate of Microsoft, taking forever testing the OS against a vast array of combinations of hardware, a lot of which have defective designs. It would kill Apple’s business model, margins and corporate culture.
Get this you schmuck David Berlind. You idiot pundits are not going to drag Apple into corporate suicide by supporting your half witted strategies.
In any case, many of those who get OS X running on pee cee hardware will eventually get fed up with always being behind and having half working systems by buying Macs and making life easier. And a large group of users running OS X on non Apple hardware denies competing operating systems of market share.
“partner with Sony – to insure quality”
???
Anyone remember the exploding notebook battery fiasco? All Sony batteries.
In the list of companies without moral or ethical compasses, Sony is on par with Microsoft. I would hate to see Apple getting too friendly with them.
I think the Microsoft megalomaniacal obsession of having total domination of the desktop has rubbed off on the few Windows fanboys out there. And they seem to want to use it as a blunt instrument to wave in the face of us Mac users.
The thing is Apple are the most profitable computer manufacturer on the planet so lets not take the bate. Apple are great where they are right now. Let them chip away at MS market share slowly so they can control it. And by no means should they license their OS again.
Microsoft’s profit on Windows is in excess of 90%, so it’s not that far off 100%. Their net profit would be higher if they didn’t piss money up the wall on Zune, XBox, WebTV and such like.
Look at it this way, they give a disc to OEMs, and a piece of paper. The piece of paper may be a license for 1,000 or 10,000, the extra cost? – a minute fraction of a cent on ink. (Don’t tell me about support issues, if the product didn’t suck then they would have significant support issues). Marginal profit? – 99.9999999999%
Apple is a solutions company, you could say a design company. Like Apple doesn’t build any hardware, it’s all contracted out. Apple works with partners very well when the partners can deliver, if they can’t Apple does it themselves and with the prime directive of put the customer first.
Any move that creates a sudden upsurge in sales of any component will stress the system and cause failures, bugs, hardware breakdowns etc. Organic growth is the best, add a little here and there (like Final Cut Pro for example) but 30% growth per annum is about all that it is possible to deal with and keep quality standards.
At 15% marketshare Apple would have enough depth to consider licensing but at the stage the question is why bother. New models to fill the gaps, easy, pick the moment and do it. But if filling the gaps now means a sales uptick of more than 30% that in itself promotes problems.
Apple should authorize the use of PC’s as land fill for their new campus.
Sure. . . Apple’s headed into licensing mode. . . or theMDN/Apple sounding board wouldn’t be discussing it. That old yellow brick road so well-trodden by Micro-wart is much too intoxicating a prospect for the Steve NOT to follow in unca Billy’s footsteps. Besides, Apple has already begun violating its own (unspoken) sacred pledge to clients that it will never engage in snooping and low-level seediness, with the advent of v10.4. Tiger. A little spybot lives in an onboard software component of Tiger, which is comparable to Microsoft’s PROMIS-ware, such as found in the CommonName parasite. The latter, do recall, was shipped in every version of Windows OEM/bundled media over a period of a quarter century. What is the similarity to CommonName that now lives in Apple’s retinue of recalcitrance? ––– try SyndicationAgent on for size. It monitors a users’ every move, frequently sending letters home to muthah Stevo-o. Try blocking SyndicationAgent in, say, NetBarrier, ticking the box for popup alerts (Antivandal/Anti-Spyware/Options)–––and see what happens. You won’t be pleased. How much further in this same direction. . . i.e., that of monitoring users’ browsing habits (and no telling what else), has Leopard been engineered to go?
Responde sez vous plait. Respond IF YOU DARE!
When the best Windows platform is an Intel Mac, why would Apple license a crown jewel to substandard hardware?
OS X licensing will never happen. If you want it you get Apple hardware. Very simple.
I think if Apple was making enough profit from their non Mac items, they could easily license the OS to PC makers with the stipulation that Apple had a say in the hardware and prices. They could control the quality to a certain extent. If they didn’t sell a retail version to just anyone they could limit the hassles that MicroSoft has. I could see Steve Jobs doing this some time in the future. What a kick in the arse to MS that would be. And I would bet that Gates and Ballmer have that little scenario in the back of their minds. Sweet dreams.
“Respond IF YOU DARE!”
Ok, I’ve responded. Now what?
I’m just not sure what it is that I responded to.
Will put on my tin foil hat for protection…..sez vous plait
Well your experience with Americans is slim obviously and since Americans are tourists in Europe they might not be familiar with the “system”. Just like a lot of Europeans fail to tip in America, at least we know they don’t know any better and don’t judge them all by it.
Oh boy, moral equivalency, huh? You must be a republican, and not a well-traveled one at that.
So your sharing a internet connection with a whole apartment building?
Naturally this is going to slow things down and it doesn’t say a whole lot of good about your economic status which may contribute to your bad attitude. Work harder, get better creature comforts and your life will be happier.
Definitely a republican. No intelligent response, so a fallback to ad hominum attacks. Does posting here take away much time from Bittorrent-Kazaa downloads?
No, no, no y no!!!
OMG, I’ve taken to writing Spanish! Not that there is anything wrong with that, it’s just that I don’t understand the language.
Very simple. This will never happen.
Let’s face it: Steve Jobs is not John Sculley. He knows how suicidal it would be to license the keys to the kingdom (OS X) at this point or ANY point. The differentiation between Windoze and the Mac is too great; it’s at a point where a Mac newbie/novice can see it, and that divergence is widening.
They say, “Never say never.” I’m saying “Never.”
To paraphrase what others have already said, “If you want a superior computing experience, do what me and my ladyfriend did…GET A MAC!” Period.
Peace.
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Olmecmystic