Is Steve putting Apple in position for world domination?

[mcarnes]

I got to thinking about this and yes it is a good move for Apple to use Intel chips. They can make the smaller, faster, more sleek machines they want to make. They can boot windows if you want, which should ease the switchers. The general public doesn't care about the processor brand anyway. Apple will sell a ton of these machines.

But if they wanted to, just theoretically, license OS X to run on all PCs... Wow.

They would really give big M$ some competition. I think Gates might really be worried about this. Even if Apple has no plans of doing this now, the pieces will be in place that at the flick of a switch, Steve could make this a reality. Steve has quietly made a step in this direction and is holding all the cards now. Bill better not piss him off!

 

[MongoTheGeek]

They would really give big M$ some competition. I think Gates might really be worried about this. Even if Apple has no plans of doing this now, the pieces will be in place that at the flick of a switch, Steve could make this a reality. Steve is holding the cards now. Bill better not piss him off!

I've been passing that around as a possibility here at WWDC but the general feeling is that supporting all the hardware will be nearly impossible.

I don't know. Drivers from linux should come over fairly easily.

What I think Apple should do is wait for the announcement of Longhorn shipping and then ship Tiger86 2 months earlier and $50 less.

 

[barneygumble]

muha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

says the person with the worst evil laugh, i do not hink they will license at the moment or in the near future if they do they will get a good share of the market but microsoft is so entrenched that it will never take over

 

[Mr. Durden]

And lets not forget how Microsoft got to be the dominant force it currently is. Strong Arm Tactics. The second Apple tries to make any real moves to eat into MS's monopoly, MS will heavily lean on all its partners, Intel included and squeeze Apple out at every turn. Apple cant compete directly with MS and win. Not because MS has better products, but because MS has infinately more money and enough market share they can bully everyone into submission.

However, I would love it if Apple were able to make some serious progress vs. MS. Just dont realistically see it happening.

 

[rockthecasbah]

I doubt we'll an Apple OS on any other computer other than an Apple anytime soon. Apple makes the real money from selling the machines, not the software. Frankly would we want to see our niche OS on anything but Apple?

 

[iGary]

I wouldn't put anything past Steve at this point.

 

[mac-er]

I can see it now..
anti-trust lawsuit 20 years down the road..

no more bubdling iLife, Safari, Mail, or Quicktime with OS X

 

[wdlove]

I do think that Steve is possibly putting Apple in a good position. At a place that if done correctly Apple can increase its market share.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Pretty hard to go anywhere but up when you are at bottom. 3% ...I remember the old days when Apple had marketshare. Man iam getting old but not as old as as Steve.

 

[Cooknn]

Intel is pissed at Microsoft and Apple is pissed at IBM. This is playing out like freaking Melrose Place. Everyone ends up sleeping with each other We've got two angry company's that have the potential to do some serious damage to the competition. It should be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years.

 

[zap2]

Pretty hard to go anywhere but up when you are at bottom. 3% ...I remember the old days when Apple had marketshare. Man iam getting old but not as old as as Steve.

they could g out of buisness,but i doubt people on the mac forums on the internet would ever let that happen. Fight MS's monopoly on software. I'll use Linux if anything happens to apple's few market shares.( which it will not)

 

[deanbo]

Apple And Intel Up A Tree

Yes, I'm sure Apple and Intel could do so serious damage to the competition, how could you not with the world's greatest OS and the worlds biggest microprocessor company.

Intel is probably looking for a break from Microsoft dominance, (why do you think the designed the P4 the way they did?), Apple has a chance to break into the mainstream.

 

[MacNut]

If Apple can make a pact with HP to sell iPods, why not make a pact to package OSX into HP computers too.

 

[apple2991]

If Apple can make a pact with HP to sell iPods, why not make a pact to package OSX into HP computers too.

Because Apple would probably ask that the machines running OS X not be complete garbage, thus immediately disqualifying HP.

 

[wdlove]

Intel is pissed at Microsoft and Apple is pissed at IBM. This is playing out like freaking Melrose Place. Everyone ends up sleeping with each other We've got two angry company's that have the potential to do some serious damage to the competition. It should be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years.

It just goes to show the old maxim, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Should keep your friends close and your enemy closer. The future should be very interesting. If Bill Gates isn't watching this all could hit him before he realizes. Yes, this has so much potential.

Dont Hurt Me, I'm actually older than Steve.

 

[512ke]

I've already posted this on like two other forums but... in the interest of being boringly repetitive... I'll post the idea again.

Bill could kill the Mac as a consumer platform with the flick of a switch. All he has to do is announce that "Office" will not be available for the Mac. Bye bye switchers and a lotta Mac users.

I know there are reason$ why Bill won't do the above but he could.

No Office, no Mac success.

I personally hate that reality and hope that Apple's own offerings mature and migrate to PC to take on Office.

 

[mcarnes]

I've already posted this on like two other forums but... in the interest of being boringly repetitive... I'll post the idea again.

Bill could kill the Mac as a consumer platform with the flick of a switch. All he has to do is announce that "Office" will not be available for the Mac. Bye bye switchers and a lotta Mac users.

I know there are reason$ why Bill won't do the above but he could.

No Office, no Mac success.

I personally hate that reality and hope that Apple's own offerings mature and migrate to PC to take on Office.

Sorry, but I just don't agree with this. I have many friends in the graphics and music industries and I don't know anyone that has office on their mac, not to mention all the typical consumers that make up the bulk of mac users. Maybe it's needed in academia, but in the average household even appleworks is fine. iLife is the app suite I see most people actually using. Personally, I hate office. Terribly unorganized and confusing. I have it but only consider it a translator, nothing more.

I'm not saying Office is not important to the mac, of course it is. But if it was not available I would not go so far to say it is the death of Apple. Apple is innovative and would surely find a solution that could read MS Office docs, especially with Steve cracking the whip.

 

[AoWolf]

Microsoft needs apple for anti trust purposes. MS invested in apple and saved it when they did for a reason. They may not let apple get to big but they won't let it die.

 

[Loge]

Bill could kill the Mac as a consumer platform with the flick of a switch. All he has to do is announce that "Office" will not be available for the Mac. Bye bye switchers and a lotta Mac users.

Linux seems to manage fine on the desktop without a version of MS Office. However, I think Office will remain available for Mac for the medium term at least.

 

[sbb155]

512ke is right

oFFICE IS THE defacto standard for corporate and educational workplace. No other alternatives. Gates pulls the plug on office would lead to apple bankruptcy
The graphics design and music markets are incredibly tiny. Photoshop is the same on both platforms.
Office is the key, and there are no alternatives for the corporate workplace. You guys are dreaming... Jobs knows this already and is willing to live with a <5% market share.

 

[MisterMe]

.... MS invested in apple and saved it when they did for a reason. ....

Please, not this old saw again! Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple back in 1997 because Apple had it dead-to-rights in a possible intellectual property lawsuit. That settlement amounted to less that 4% of Apple's cash assets at the time, a drop in the bucket. Rather than engage in protracted litigation that would have dragged on for years, Apple leveraged the certainty of its legal victory into Microsoft's agreement to develop M$ Office:mac for at least five years and that $150 million non-voting stock purchase.

 

[dubbz]

Linux seems to manage fine on the desktop without a version of MS Office. However, I think Office will remain available for Mac for the medium term at least.

Linux, however, have OpenOffice.org (which at v2.0 is becoming very nice) and the ability to run MS Office using WINE.

 

[Loge]

Linux, however, have OpenOffice.org (which at v2.0 is becoming very nice) and the ability to run MS Office using WINE.

This is also available on OS X. But your point is well made - there ARE alternatives to Office.

 

[sbb155]

openoffice? No way.
few corporate and educational customers will put in the tech support and IT hassles of openoffice
Again, corporate and educational markets are the key. Seemless integration is necessary. I work in both the corporate and educational markets. We sometimes have a hard time with office:mac's compatibility. Openoffice? Forget about it. It is cheaper for us to buy an extra PC for an employee or student than use a free copy of openoffice, because of efficiency issues.

Thank goodness for gates supporting apple with office. Otherwise... we could be looking at os/2 situation, or worse.

 

[Westside guy]

This is also available on OS X. But your point is well made - there ARE alternatives to Office.

I don't think there really are viable alternatives - at least not for people who aren't hobbyists or simple home users. Companies are not switching away from MS Office in droves. Even in those well-publicised experiments where places like Munich's municipal government are trying to get away from the Windows hegemony, they're still looking at using MS Office with the Crossover plugins (a commercial variant of Wine) for the forseeable future.

Pretty much everyone I know that uses their Mac for work uses MS Office. StarOffice/OpenOffice has been around for quite a few years, and has never managed to get any traction in large part because it still doesn't do the MS compatibility thing well enough.

Lord knows I've tried it enough times. Last time I looked, OpenOffice didn't handle Word docs even as well as Abiword (BTW if you're really intending to get away from MS, Abiword is rather nice and lightweight option to OO).