Apple to sell A hybrid OS X and Windows Box?

[gentry]

Here's a thought:

Given that OS X is native Unix, and that there are some limitations to the architecture of the Motorola Chip, it's rumored that OS X can run on an Intel Chip.

Apple 5 year agreement with Microsoft ends this summer, and what if Apple licensed Windows OS and put out a machine which was partitioned to run OS X (and 9 of course) as well as Windows.

Sure they could license the technology to Dell and others, but given Steve's prediliction against clones, it might make sense for Apple to make the box and be the only place you can buy a machine that looks as cools as a Mac, while running ANY software for PC or Mac.

Microsft would really have to license the technology or risk further Anti-trust suits. Frankly, it's another outlet for the Windows armada. You might find Dell and others beating down Apple's door to license OS X so their machines can run everything too. How's that for Mac market share?

Imagine Video departments running Final Cut Pro 3 and exchanging files with Maya running on the same computer? Or file sharing between Director for PC and Mac. The list goes on and on.

All of the folks who run PC's at work but prefer Macs now can buy a new machine for home that seamlessly can accept any program. Gamers, designers, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised to see this before the endo of the year.

 

[mischief]

Damn, now there's an idea.

It's VERY unlikely. HW limitations would make it difficult and I think it would be easier for Apple to just buy Connectix. Integrate VPC into OS X. Yeah, that could get very ugly. Combine that with the "Apple/IBM buys AMD" thought and M$ would be screwed.

 

[Ensign Paris]

They should run it like classic, although I would want to use it, I hate the interface of Windows appz and I can do everything I want to with OS9 and OSX.

Ensign

 

[Digidesign]

Re: Apple to sell A hybrid OS X and Windows Box?

Given that OS X is native Unix, and that there are some limitations to the architecture of the Motorola Chip, it's rumored that OS X can run on an Intel Chip.

Oh absolutely! (Never mind the fact that porting OS X to wintel would slay Apple's hardware sales.)

what if Apple licensed Windows OS and put out a machine which was partitioned to run OS X (and 9 of course) as well as Windows.

What a wonderful vision! (Never mind the fact that this would destroy Apple's software support. WHy buy for mac when you can buy for windows?)

All of the folks who run PC's at work but prefer Macs now can buy a new machine for home that seamlessly can accept any program. Gamers, designers, etc.

"Riots in the streets, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!" - Peter Venkman

I wouldn't be surprised to see this before the endo of the year.

Uh-huh... Riiiiiight.

Read the (many) discussions on Apple and OS X coexisting with Windows. my stance (obviously) is that it'll never happen unless Steve Jobs is in utter and complete demise.

 

[Biggles]

best case scenario

What I would love:

Apple and MS make a deal to make a "port" of their OS on each other's chip-set. You could run Windows XP on your mac exactly like you would run Classic mode of OS X. You could also run OS X on a wintel machine using the same philosophy. Neither would be an actual port (you can't start up with OS X on a wintel machine), but you could run the software fairly nicely with enough RAM

 

[Taft]

What???

What limitations do you think motorola processors have? Any processor in particular? Are you talking about MHz caps?

I am personally not aware of any technological reason that Motorola chips cannot outperform Intel chips. Of course they announce that certain chips have a limit to the MHz they can produce. But there are always new fabrication methods, new chip technologies, etc. that make these limits fleeting.

Also, from all indications the G5 will be a *huge* boost in performance from G4 levels. Check out old TheRegister.co.uk articles about the next generation chips. While these benchmarks aren't in any way conclusive (or necessarily real) they indicate huge potential for Motorola's future.

Matthew

 

[lewdvig]

Why???

It would only make Macs even more expensive!

Walmart just started selling a line of PCs with no MS OS. The price of these units is way cheaper. A user can pick their own OS.

Hardly a great out-of-box experience though...

If Walmart had any brains they would do a WalOS with Mandrake and install it on their PCs. Watch out MS!

Would you want to pay an extra $100 for a Mac with windows? Why not buy VPC? Its all the rage with people who can't commit.

Switching chips on the other hand may not be such a bad idea...

Would I like to see a AMD clawhammer based Mac running 32/64 operations at an effective clock speed of 3600mhz? Hell yeah! Anyone wonder why Apple doesn't give the G4 a PR rating like AMD? They must be stupid. PR ratings have destroyed the mHz advatgae Intel had, and has increased the average sale price of AMD chips. Its all about perceived value.

But lets not pre-empt the new 7500 series G4s (which will be marketed as G5s). 2 or 4 of those in a box with rapid I/O will DESTROY even recent big iron - if you believe the hype.

Apple is going to have a good year. Exactly what the industry needs in this year of MS' decline.

 

[Falleron]

You people make me laugh!!!! A question! What makes a mac? Its the combinations of hardware + software!! Porting to windows in any form would surely kill the platform!!! Its suicide!! They are doing quite well at the moment anyway. Why bother?? It would only ever be a last resort.

 

[kishba]

my friend is buddies with an editor at a local (yet large) newspaper company. apparently the paper was looking for a new archive server and apple is letting them beta test a server.

it currently runs os x server. here are the kickers: it has a g5 (not sure of the speed) and a second processor. not a g5 but an x86 chip. the server supposedly can boot off the second processor into win2k. i'm not completely sure if this wasn't a joke but the paper WAS in need of a server and they were wanting support for their win2k and mac computers

i hope it's true but i'm also confused about why apple would do this

 

[mischief]

IBM's next trick.

Will be to buy AMD if this has any credability. If Apple produces the next case cross-platform equipped at the Mobo...........

We would probably see all that stuff we've been wanting on the Mobo.

 

[gentry]

So I started this thread based on a lot of circumstantial "evidence", but it's all just conjecture. There have been many comments on similar thoughts throughout the Web, most focus on Apple licensing OSX. However, it would make more sense to have Apple run a dual system and be the only company selling that box.

I wonder if you could run a dual processor and share them on certain applications like photoshop, etc. I wonder if that's one reason why photoshop and others are late to the table????

 

[mischief]

I think you could parse around it.

One drive volume each:

OS X.2 (default boot)

Win (Boo hiss) dows XP (loads as Classic does)

OS 9.2.1 (bootable)

Code routes by associated volume//memory set n to n+y//system.

You'd simply install the version on ANY system and OS X routes things the way it does with Classic. I think this was why Apple wasted all that time on Classic. To explore neutering an OS. Neuter yours some then neuter theirs some.......Switch to Unix......wait for the "monkey see monkey do" from Bill Gate$. Wait for M$ to go Unix. use Unix as a way in. Rip out the structure Unix occupies and shove OS X up it.

How does that feel Bill???

 

[Nipsy]

Not again...

How many of you bought these machines the first time Apple did it? Ya' know the 6100/DOS, 7200/PC, etc?

VPC has killed this idea.

If you wanna play PC games, you should do it on a PC. Although, if you get a Mac and a game console, you should be able to alienate your wife and friends without a PC. Everything else can be done under VPC...

 

[Nipsy]

Ummmmmm.......

[begin quote]
my friend is buddies with an editor at a local (yet large) newspaper company. apparently the paper was looking for a new archive server and apple is letting them beta test a server.

it currently runs os x server. here are the kickers: it has a g5 (not sure of the speed) and a second processor. not a g5 but an x86 chip. the server supposedly can boot off the second processor into win2k. i'm not completely sure if this wasn't a joke but the paper WAS in need of a server and they were wanting support for their win2k and mac computers

i hope it's true but i'm also confused about why apple would do this
[end quote]

We all know how seriously The Steve takes Apple's privacy...do you really beleive there is a snowball's chance in hell he would give a prototype of this nature to a ... cough ... newspaper!

 

[Catfish_Man]

I agree...

...that having a Windows compatibility layer like Classic would be a good thing. However, there are only a few ways it could be done:

1) Get MS to port WinXP to PPC and release their source code (feel free to start laughing now)

2) Port OSX to x86 (would make all applications have to be ported to run).

3) Integrate VPC (This would actually work, I think it's a good idea).

4) Get Transmeta to make code morphing software that translated PPC instructions (this would be great, but they'd have to make a higher performance version of the Crusoe [quite possible] if they wanted decent performance).

The last two are plausible, but there's no evidence supporting them.

 

[lewdvig]

Yucky!

I AM WALKING AWAY FROM 7 YEARS OF WINDOWS, WHY CAN'T YOU?

Who the hell needs dual boot servers? All you need is on Mac! Apache and MySQL.

 

[lewdvig]

Steve will never admit defeat...

...not when MS decline is so close.

WTF!

Do you guys not followthe States vs. MS trial? It si going so baddly for MS.

It should be all Mac users are talking about!

 

[Rower_CPU]

I was at a recent Adobe seminar where an Apple rep was demoing X for the attendees. Somebody asked if Apple would port X to run on a PC and the rep flat out laughed and said "Why would we?"
Apple doesn't need the x86 platform to stay alive. It's doing better than most computer/software companies out there!

 

[AlphaTech]

WHY????

Why would anyone want to have window$ xp on their Mac in anything other then a VPC environment??? I DREAD the day I am told by corporate to install xp onto the peecee's.

Having one G4/G5 chip and one x86 inside the same box doesn't really sound all that possible these days. Unless the peecee part is on a PCI card and addressed through software. I seriously doubt that a x86 chip could properly talk with Apple hardware. Hard drives alone would be a problem. Unless some serious code changing was performed, they wouldn't be able to use anything on the drives since the formatting is too different. Try putting a drive formatted for OS 9.x into a peecee and see what it does to it. While this MAY be different when you go from OSX to another Unix variant.

I say leave the peecee's to the mercy of m$, or their Linux packages. I will be glad to have my OSX TiBook running smooth while they get crash and burns.