The buzz in building around Mac OS X. If early signs are any
indication, OS X will be the hit Apple hopes it will be.
A good indicator of the popularity of the new operating system is
the demand from the Wintel side to have OS X ported to their hardware
of choice. With this demand, Apple has a real opportunity to make
deep inroads into Windows territory.
Apple won't, of course, port OS X to Intel. Too much of Apple's
profit relies on hardware sales. Granted, if demand was great enough
and Apple felt that they could compete strictly as a software
company, OS X would likely be ported to Intel, and poor old Bill
Gates' biggest nightmare would come true.
Barring that, Apple should seriously consider releasing a plain
old beige box that is easily expandable and upgradeable. They will
still sell the boxes, but at a cut-rate price.
This would meet the OS X on Wintel crowd halfway. They don't want
to shell out for an iMac that lacks the upgradability that geeks so
love. They also don't want to shell out bigger bucks for the roomy
and sleek G4 tower. Why not
introduce a low-cost, boring, beige box. No monitor, no fancy
widgets, just beige plainness with plenty of space for upgrades the
Wintel (and face it, Mac) crowd so loves.
The OS X on Intel crowd would, of course, still have to buy Apple
iron, but at least the cost would be so greatly reduced that they
wouldn't have to spend a lot to get a decent Mac. They could salvage
their monitors and be off to the races.
Take my computer, for example. The Power
Computing PowerCenter Pro 210, with scads of bays and slots, is
just what the OS X on Wintel lovers want. Put some decent Apple parts
in it, slap a $999-1,199 price tag on it, and I think they would sell
pretty darn well. Apple sells hardware; the OS X on Intel crowd gets
OS X.
Drawbacks, of course, abound. OS X on Intel is exactly that: users
who want to run OS X on their existing hardware. I guess it all comes
down to how much they're willing to give to get on the OS X
bandwagon. They're not willing to buy iMacs or G4s. A cheap beige box
might fit the bill nicely, though.
Heck, that machine might even be a hit with the current Mac-lovin'
crowd.
Stephen Van
Esch is the founder and president of
the
E-learning Foundry, an online training
resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual,
since he's also fluent in Windows and French.
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