Mac or Windows?
I’m reading lots of stories about people getting Mac OS X running on all sorts of different x86 systems a.k.a. “PC’s” today. Although this means the security measures were about as good as most security measures; hackable. It also means that Mac OS X has some serious potential beyond the OS of choice for design conscious nerds. What would happen if OS X would simply run on any machine like say… linux. If Apple would still make hardware but only for those who don’t mind paying extra for design. If Apple would essentially become a software company. Although public predictions are dangerous i wouldn’t be surprised if they would have 25% market share (instead of the measly 4% they have know) of the OS market in say… 3 years? Apple is not a great software company mind you but it’s -so much better- at making software than Microsoft. I have to use excel on my mac to fill in my bookkeepers sheets and trust me it sucks. Not because it’s bookkeeping but because the software is essentially broken. So if Apple started releasing boxed OS X for any old machine i wouldn’t mind at all. My bookkeeper would probably start using decent software for her sheets, and i would probably still pay extra for a nicely designed computer.
August 11th, 2005 at 21:06
I think you are talking about PearPC. This allows you to run Mac OS on top of Windows.
As for the Excel sheets, wait ’till you have to do any other timekeeping system. Believe me, you’ll wish for Excel! Time keeping is a bore anyway you look at it.
As for Mac experiences. I’m an iBook owner since a week: http://www.thinklemon.com/weblog/2005/08/09/apple-ibook-first-impressions/
August 12th, 2005 at 02:51
Well yes, but they just used PearPC to hack the security i think since it is the Mac OS X build for intel they are running: http://www.osx86project.org/
August 16th, 2005 at 03:36
It’s interesting and exciting, but I don’t think it will ever really happen. I was reading about this on slashdot and someone there said something really sensible: Mac OS X is only very stable because it is tested extremely well on specific Apple hardware. There’s no telling how good it will function on the wildly different x86 machines out there. This you notice when you badly install (bad) software on Macs - they still crash because they are still computers.
I seriously doubt Apple will ever put their “always run, never fail” image on the line by releasing OS X for x86 PC’s.
Oh and your remark about *probably* being willing to pay extra for a nicely designed computer… I am *probably* willing to pay extra too. But then again, not too much. And *probably* I’m lying