Apple....intel inside? What does this mean for MS

>that ultimately now, we have another choice in os's...Linux,
>MS, OS X (derivative of a unix core...); Do you think this is
> going to affect MS at all?

Depends. The $1M question hasnt been answered yet: will Apple make OS-X available for any x86, or only their own machines ? IF not, nothing much changes for MS. If they do, I don't expect it to be a big success though, if you are switching to another OS, don't mind losing all your old apps/games, might as well consider Linux which is free, and just as virus proof, stable, etc,.. less userfriendly too I guess, but thats a relative small price to pay for it being free, and having vastly better software support.

>How much easier is it going to be to get software for OS X
>now that it's been moved (is moving) towards a x86
>instruction set.

Not much, if at all.

>How many more companies are going to be more interested in
>creating linux and unix based programs now that there's
>another big (relatively anyway) player on that side?

Dont think that developping for OS-X has much or anything in common with developping for *nix. OS-X has a Mach kernel, but all API's are Apple's own. See Johans article on Anandtech to see what a kludge OS-X really is underneath the surface.

> Is this a GREAT move for Apple?

IMO: definately not. On the plus side:
-> traditional Mac customers will get (much) better performance, likely price/performance too
-> euh.. not much else, unless Apple opens up OS-X for Dell customers as well, in which case they enter a huge potential market in which they likely will not gain anything significant.

On the minus side
-> Apple customers will be able to directly compare Mac prices with identical Dells. So much for fat margins. No way Apple can compete with Dell on x86 hardware.
-> Apple customers will face yet another painfull transition, with their old software no longer working, or at decimated speeds. native software will be unavailable in any quantity for quite some time
-> If they will allow Mac users to install Windows and/or Linux.. who would buy a Mac for that when a Dell is $250 cheaper ?

As I see it, Mac will exit the PC market within a couple of years. Or it will spin off this part of its business and focus on media and software, while selling their OEM business to someone like HP, maybe even Alienware or BoXX or something. If not, it will go down like Sinclair, Tulip, Commodore, Acorn, etc.

And OS-X will join the long list of EOL'd niche operating systems like NeXT, BeOS, OS/2, AmigaOS, that have all been made obsolete by windows and Linux in spite of being superior for the most part (arguably, unlike OS-X).. I'm looking forward to a free copy on the cover CD of popular magazines, just like OS/2 Warp once upon a time, and that will be the end of it.

RIP Apple as we have known it.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

Cool a different view! Exactly what i was hoping for.

I of course disagree with some of it, I think people will be more likely to give Apple a chance if they don't have to pay as much for hardware that's soo difficult/expensive to support. The bigger question in my mind isn't whether or not they will die off (which people have been saying since they started...and every time they've made a major change from the norm; Macintosh, OSX, scsi, iTunes, and the pesky music device), but how well they will compete (how well they will be supported by the different software industries out there, and in turn the public). I think that the OS itself is pretty nice, despite it's deficiencies in some areas (anandtech) with working with some kinds of software. Right now they're a very small company, with a big name, simply supporting and fixing all the kinds of problems they have isn't plausable. This OS has potential, if it's supported right, but then it always has.

So while i'm actually still a little dubious of whether this will even really happen, (despite the power point from jobs) I think this could turn in to a real headache for MS, from a standpoint of supporting software for a company that is now directly competing against you. [don't u hate it when people add something to an argument that they haven't supported at all...right at the end?!]

Bleh sorry about the rambling...I'm still kinda collecting my thoughts on this whole thing...Part of me wants to think this could be really good for the overall industry (OS wise), part of me wants to say, the hell with Apple, you can't trust them, they change at a flip of the hat, who knows what they'll do tomorrow, no use in investing in them. Oh well, here we go again...<twirls the merry-go-round and contemplates on my turn to jump on>.

Bleh and i forgot to respond to your $1 Million question...Probably best if i <i>ignore</i> what is probably going to happen, which is: Apple blocking the possiblity of using just any ix86 system and force us down the Apple only way or head north on state road suck my balls. But which would be sooo like them in keeping up with their near elitest Apple stance.

grr i'm annoying myself with how fast i'm bouncing back and forth...i better stop here...i reserve the right to come back and edit this later!!!

F@H:
AMD: [64 3000+][2500+][2000+ down][1.3x2][366]
Intel: [X 3.0x3][P4 3.0x2][P4 2.4x5 down][P4 1.4]

"...and i'm not gay" RX8 -Greatest Quote of ALL Time

I more or less agree with most of P4man's views, but I see a slightly different direction in the path that these things will take.

The way I invision the future, Apple will likely drop being a Mac OEM and just license the Mac brand to someone(s) because they're already making crap as a PC OEM anyway, so best to ditch a failing effort, especially if you can make licensing money on it by ditching it.

That'll let Apple concentrate more on software. Because Mac already has a lot of good commercial software and a fair ammount of PC software (especially game) ports, the Mac OS is a lot stronger than BeOS, OS/2, Amiga OS, and all those others who have failed. In fact, IMHO it's even a stronger OS to consumers than Linux.

So back to the $1M question, will Apple try to protect their brand name by requiring a special hardware key to install unhacked versions of Mactel OS X, or will Apple unchain the Mactel OS X to become a real Windows competitor?

If the former, the Apple brand will probably be like it always has been, a niche. And it will probably survive as such, more by luck and enthusiasts than by any real sense.

If the latter, Mactel OS X will probably be the first OS to give Windows a decent run, mostly because it'll have a noticable chunk of consumer software to appease the masses. (It'll even have a real version of MS Office.)

Obviously, I'd much prefer the latter as an outcome because someone needs to smack MS around a bit and finally get them off of their high horse.

But either way, someone, somewhere, will find a way to put Mactel OS X onto normal PCs anyway. So PC enthusiasts who are tired of Windows will still win anyway.  

Of course the real losers are the Mac enthusiasts. (What's new there?) Besides having just been given heart attacks, they'll also have to buy all new softwares, if not to run at all, then at least to get the full speed out of them. But then most Mac customers are probably already used to <i>that</i>. **ROFL** I think the Apple litany is "Buy new software. Buy new software. Buy new software."

<pre><font color=orange><i>Jesters do oft prove prophets.</i> -Regan in
King Lear (Act V, Scene iii) by William Shakespear</font color=orange></pre><p>@ 189K -> 200,000 miles or bust!