Misc. Ramblings

Apple is a hardware company, first, last, and perhaps, always. In fact, I understand it makes more profits from its iPod line than computers or operating systems and applications.

If this is true, then my hope of ever getting a copy of OS X and legally installing it on my non-Apple PC will never be fulfilled (there is a legal version for developers but, only for developers).

Why? Because if Apple is really only in the hardware business then, it is said, it makes sense to use OS X solely as an inducement for you to buy its hardware. I mean, if you could just pay $130 USD for OS X and then install it on your PC, Apple would no doubt make a lot of money on OS X. But. They say they are are not a software company and releasing a legal copy of OS X for non-Apple PCs, continuing this logic path, would increase software sales but hardware sales would likely plummet.

But. Would it? I mean, is Apple hardware so junk/good but expensive (choose one) that those who are buying Apple would stop doing so and switch away?

Even Apple's recent release of the Boot Camp application, that allows you to install Windows XP on your Apple hardware, seems to indicate that Apple will do whatever it takes to sell its hardware - even if it means allowing you to install the hated Windows OS on it (who would have thought that day would come?). Of course, Microsoft is a software company so being able to sell more Windows licenses which, I think, users must do if they wish to legally install Windows on another computer, is a win for them (wouldn't it be great if Microsoft created a way to run OS X in Windows?). But, I digress.

Yes, if Apple were to port OS X to i86 there is the problem of creating drivers for at least a large subset of the PC hardware that is different from Apple hardware but, I would think, they could use OpenSource Linux i86 drivers as a base to work from so it wouldn't be like they were starting from scratch.

That said, I still wish Apple would feel confidant enough in its hardware to release OS X for non-Apple computers. Unfortunately, it would probably take the equivalent of France forcing them to provide such a release for it to actually occur. Sigh. In the mean time, I can wait until things settle down before buying an Apple PC (probably not untill next year after Windows Vista ships and the emulation/virtualization software in OS X catches up).

{Post Note: After writing this, I went to PBS columnist Robert X. Cringely site and read his post that says he thinks Apple will release OS X for non-Apple PCs after it (Apple) switches to the i64 architecture. Maybe. If so, I will be very happy. But if that happens, will Apple become a software company that wags the hardware division (and does it matter)?

Aloha!