If OSX was available for everyone...

[tjwett]

What if OSX was sold off the shelves and could be installed on Wintels also? Would you buy a beige box for the speed and price and run OSX? Or do you feel OSX is better complemented by Apple's hardware designs? What about OSX for Windows? Would you even bother or do you not trust Windows at all? Do you think this would be a good or bad way to turn potential "switchers" on to Apple? What are your thoughts? I wanted to make this a poll but I couldn't think of a clear way to do it.

[stoid]

Apple sell ideas and concepts, not just software and hardware. If OS X was available to wintel users, Apple's concept and hardware sales would go down because why buy a fancy $1500 computer when you can spend $300, and feel like you're getting the same thing.

[edesignuk]

I think that part of the stability of the Mac platform is that 1 company designs both the hardware and the OS to run on it, there for they work together perfectly.
Making a x86 based OSX would just be plain awful (and a total outrage!).

[Nipsy]

I would happily buy and run OSX on the fastest possible hardware, but only if it was Open Firmware based.

I don't want to deal with the horrid BIOS core that makes PCs such crap. IRQs? Boot variables? No thank you.

Put twin Athlons into an OF board, make everything transparent (I, the end user don't know its not Apple hardware) and I'd be happy with it.

But the Wintel world is so mired in its antiquated ways, that it will never outgrow BIOS, extended memory, IRQs, and all the other junk that makes it such a kludge.

That's why it won't work...

[strider42]

Originally posted by tjwett
What if OSX was sold off the shelves and could be installed on Wintels also? Would you buy a beige box for the speed and price and run OSX? Or do you feel OSX is better complimented by Apple's hardware designs? What about OSX for Windows? Would you even bother or do you not trust Windows at all? Do you think this would be a good or bad way to turn potential "switchers" on to Apple. What are your thoughts? I wanted to make this a poll but I couldn't think of a clear way to do it.

What a nightmare that would be. OS X would have to rewritten to run on intel, meaning many programs would have to be rewritten, sot hen we'd have developers having to have two version of the programs just to run on OS X, meaning confusion in the market place and more expense for developers to support an already small market. Such an idea would absolutely bury apple as a viable platform, and completely destroy their profits since every penny they make is made on hardware. They don't make a thing on software.

Plus, a lot of things on a mac work seamlessly because apple has control of the hardware. The R&D needed to support the myriad of intel systems out there woudl compeltely bury apple. They'd be broke and out of business in less than a year I'd think.

[cb911]

in works so good because Apple make the OS and the computers, otherwise it would be screwed.