Steve Jobs Asked Dell to Pre-Install Mac OS on PCs and Pay Hundreds of Millions in Royalties

[iHorseHead]

YES!!
DO IT NOW!!
Mac Hardware SUCKS!! So many faulty and burned out video cards over the last 20 years.

I saw the future in Intel Chips.

The 12th generation Intel Chips are going to WASTE APPLE silicon.

I might be in no position to judge, since I've had only 3 MacBooks, but I never had a single issue with any of them.
MSI is the reason why I went back to Apple. Yes, there are fast and great PCs out there and my MSI was fast and launched everything I threw at it with no issues, but then the keyboard broke and the hinges broke as well. I took it back to the store and they told me they can't take it back. (The seller was sure that I broke it, even though I didn't) after doing my research I discovered I'm not the only one with that issue and you shouldn't close your laptop and the keyboard is just badly made. I was told never to close my laptop and use external keyboard only.

I sent it back to MSI and they fixed it for free (I had warranty left), but I had to wait for 5 months to get it back. I kept thinking how my old MacBook Pro 7,1 had never such issues even though it was 10 years old and got myself a MacBook Air M1. No regrets.
I use HP as my work laptop and I have 4 Chrome tabs open, Citrix, Remote Desktop Control and Teams and it sounds as if it was going to blow up soon. The fans are super fast. Even my MacBook Pro mid 2010 isn't that bad, so I wouldn't say that MacBook hardware is bad. And yes, I put my old MacBook through some rough usage and at the end it was slow. Exporting a game in Unity sometimes took over 48 hours and the bigger the games got the more my MacBook Pro 7,1 struggled, but that was due to it's age. My point is even though it was slow and struggled to keep up it never broke down on me nor crashed.

 

[Benjamid]

"The math didn't work" put all your eggs in one basket has always been a great strategy..

Depends on the basket

 

[MacsRgr8]

This story makes no sense when you consider Jobs' war on third-party Mac manufacturers, which he took up pretty much immediately upon becoming interim CEO. In fact, because Apple had existing deals to license any version of MacOS 7.x to those manufacturers, Jobs insisted that MacOS 7.7 become MacOS 8 so that they could kill all the licensing. Michael Dell has always been a grifter. Don't believe him.

I agree it is similar, but those were the PPC days, and the "clones" would only have been bought by people who would have bought a Mac anyway. Definitely 100% cannibalism.

Mac OS X was always running natively on x86, and it seemed Apple (Steve) took another stab at the idea of licensing Mac OS, but this time using a already very established and successful PC hardware vendor which was never compatible with Mac OS. So no-one who bought a Dell PC would have considered Mac.

So, I can see this is a somewhat different scenario as this scenario would help "exposure" of Mac OS.

However, I am happy this never went through. Apple being in control of the hardware and OS is part of "Mac".

 

[ja']

the MacMan

the WHAT‽ lmao, i did not know this. that’s hilarious!
have you heard of Mr. Macintosh? if not, here’s one for you: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Mister_Macintosh.txt

 

[vmistery]

I’m actually quite disappointed this didn’t happen, MS still badly needs competition and despite the performance of the M1 enterprises and even most users won’t switch. Outside the US Mac OS machines are still a relative blip in OS share and I don’t see that changing quickly if it all. Now from a ‘was the decision good for Apple’ standpoint I think they dodged a bullet, Dell hardware a decade ago was almost all terrible, they’d have been better off with HP or IBM (now Lenovo).

 

[WebHead]

the WHAT‽ lmao, i did not know this. that’s hilarious!
have you heard of Mr. Macintosh? if not, here’s one for you: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Mister_Macintosh.txt

Yes, Steve was a big fan of Sony and wanted to mimic the branding. Thank Jobs it didn't come off.

As for Dell, it was the "premium" PC brand at the time, so it wouldn't have been such a mismatch.

 

[ilikewhey]

A good amount of Dell's current clients are enterprise (I type this while looking at a Dell monitor at my job hah), but was it also true back in the day where he is claiming this happened? If so, then yeah I agree it wouldn't have made a lot of sense back then. On the other hand, enterprise software these days for most tasks (especially non-engineering related) is cross platform or web based so the OS doesn't really matter in that regard, whatever lets the user be most productive. I work at a large enterprise company and we are a mix of Mac and PC, employees get to choose. It would be a huge benefit if they could manage only one set of devices instead of two while giving employees the ability to use whatever OS they prefer. Could be a missed opportunity.

what field was your previous work that use both?

at my old place at the public sector, all we have is dells, and at my previous venture into the private sector, you can see dell monitors across the trading floor. i think the misconception alot of folks get is they see students in colleges carrying more and more macs around, and that leads them to believe there are significantly more macs on the marketshare than it is.

 

[ilikewhey]

Is that included Surface and chrome tablets?

no mention of tablet styled devices but I imagine chromebooks was used for its estimate.

 

[rezwits]

To me I just think, could Apple have supported ALL the "non-Apple-PCs" out there? I would say no I mean sure Hackintoshes have done a good job with drivers and such for a while, but, look at how IMPOSSIBLE it's been for Microsoft to support ALL the "non-Apple-PCs" with supreme experience.

If Apple would have only done DELL, then yeah probably would be a different place.

The hackintosh community would have had some support to further their conquests, IF they would have even STARTED up, which they would have, starting with DELLS and then whatever else other machines and hardware.

I just think if Apple would have had to "eventually", starting with DELL, support ALL the non-PC, manufacturers out there, MAN what a mess Apple would have been.

I mean heck I have to admit I am a JERK when it comes to Apple nowdays, I used to try and convice people they should use Windows, I've done enough in 40 years. Now I just WANT [people] to keep using Windows and defend it, let um suffer in denial, like I said I am JERK about it and I know I am. I would have hated for Apple to be not as OPTIMISED as it is nowdays.

We have things so good. 15% market share, no monopoly, whew... HAPPY DAYS.

Come on 16/512/32/M2/M1X, "Daddy needs new shoes!"

Laters... 2¢

 

[FelixDerKater]

Better that this didn't happen.

 

[Jeaz]

I mean Dell did made lots of innovation in Supply Chain and management during its era. Cost optimisation and stock management before anyone in the PC industry knew anything about it. From an operation perspective they were a real innovator.

That's true. I often say that Dell is a logistics company first and foremost, we just happen to deal in technology. And it's often beneficial for us. Like cost control, delivery time and better control of our subcontractors the social and environmental impact it has.

 

[Krizoitz]

what field was your previous work that use both?

at my old place at the public sector, all we have is dells, and at my previous venture into the private sector, you can see dell monitors across the trading floor. i think the misconception alot of folks get is they see students in colleges carrying more and more macs around, and that leads them to believe there are significantly more macs on the marketshare than it is.

I currently work for a large Japanese IT and e-commerce company in the tech side. I have also previously worked at another large IT company in America. Macs were/are used in both. At my current company the ratio of use is around 50/50 in my experience on the engineering side (sales/marketing is definitely more PC tilted). I don't think the end user marketshare in general is anywhere close to 50/50 but its also not as low as 5-10% Macs as some people report because infrastructure computers (servers, routers, etc.) that aren't used by people directly are HEAVILY skewed to PC and thus skew the overall usage numbers. Data centers aren't buying hundreds and hundreds of Macs after all.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I’m curious. Just what do you win if you die with more money?

The distinction of being the personification of everything that is wrong with our species.

 

[Wanted797]

I actually don’t believe this.

Maybe I’m a fanboy. But I just cannot imagine Jobs caving to that.

 

[Bug-Creator]

But I just cannot imagine Jobs caving to that.

He didn't cave in, so....

Nothing in that story is hard to believe. Jobs pushed out a halfbaked idea and destroyed it by not being able to see through his own distortion field.

 

[MathersMahmood]

I honestly wonder how apple would be if Steve was still here. Just imagine.

 

[nova motum]

The 10 year anniversary of Steve Jobs death took place earlier this week, sparking tech leaders to share their stories of Apple's former CEO.

Dell CEO Michael Dell spoke to CNET, reminiscing about the time that Steve Jobs aimed to get Dell to license Mac OS to run on Intel-based PCs and how that might have changed the PC industry.

As the story goes, Jobs first approached Dell about a partnership after being ousted from Apple and establishing NeXT. Jobs wanted Dell to use the NeXT operating system on Dell PCs, and he claimed that it was better than Windows.

Dell told Jobs that it wasn't going to happen because there were no applications for it and "zero customer interest."

After Jobs rejoined Apple, he once again attempted a software licensing deal, trying to get Dell to license Mac OS. At the time, Jobs pushed Dell by telling him PC buyers could choose between Apple's software or Microsoft Windows.Dell thought it was a good idea and wanted to pay Jobs a licensing fee for every PC sold with Mac OS, but Jobs was worried about PC sales cannibalizing Mac sales because PCs were cheaper. Jobs instead wanted Dell to load Mac OS alongside Windows on every PC, which would have cost Dell hundreds of millions in royalties.The royalty cost dissuaded Dell from the deal, as did the lack of a guarantee that Dell would continue to have access to Mac OS years in the future. Dell customers could be out of luck as the software evolved, with no way for Dell to offer support.

Dell said that had that deal gone through, "It could have changed the trajectory for Windows and Mac OS on PCs." In a 2005 interview, Dell said that if Apple "opened the Mac OS to others" Dell would be happy to offer it to customers, but that did not happen and Apple kept Mac OS exclusive to Macs.

Though a software deal was never reached, Dell said that he remained friends with Jobs over the years despite various arguments. Dell one time was asked what he'd do to fix Apple if he was CEO, and he said "I'd shut the company down and give money back to shareholders," which angered Jobs.

Jobs ultimately used the quote from Dell to motivate his team, which Dell respected. "I probably would've done much the same thing if I was in his position," Dell told CNET. "When the company you started is fighting for its life, you do whatever it takes."

Michael Dell's story about Mac OS X is featured in his newly published memoir, "Play Nice But Win," which also features stories of how he met Jobs, his infatuation with the Apple II, and how he developed a friendship with Jobs.

Article Link: Steve Jobs Asked Dell to Pre-Install Mac OS on PCs and Pay Hundreds of Millions in Royalties

Until the year 2000, there was only NeXT - no OS X, no macOS. That deal must have been discussed before 1997, when Steve Jobs returned to Apple and the merge of NeXT to Mac OS X was to be performed...

 

[nikaru]

MacOS is primary good because its deep integration and optimization with the hardware of the Mac. If you remove this part, MacOS is still great operating system, but not significantly better than Windows.

 

[Kabeyun]

Or maybe it didn't happen quite the way it's being retold.

Or maybe Jobs approached a few PC execs and Dell is the only one who gave an interview.

But that's not entirely a fair comparison...isn't Dell really only a computer company?

Meanwhile, Apple has been transitioning to more of a lifestyle brand/services company for a few years now.

It’s entirety fair to compare relative value then vs now, however the two companies may or may not have evolved. I didn't randomly pick Dell as a benchmark; Michael Dell wanted to shutter Apple because it was dying and now look at its worth.

 

[mabhatter]

"The math didn't work" put all your eggs in one basket has always been a great strategy..

The Math was the preferred position Dell had supporting the Microsoft and Intel monopoly at the time. BeOS was also making similar requests around the industry during the late 1990s to get supplied with PCs for people to try it out. Microsoft was at its monopoly peak of demanding EVERY PC sold paid them for a Windows license (with windows or not) and dual booting was (and still is today) against Micro$oft's contract terms.

 

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

The Math was the preferred position Dell had supporting the Microsoft and Intel monopoly at the time. BeOS was also making similar requests around the industry during the late 1990s to get supplied with PCs for people to try it out. Microsoft was at its monopoly peak of demanding EVERY PC sold paid them for a Windows license (with windows or not) and dual booting was (and still is today) against Micro$oft's contract terms.

still is not right strategy by any investment to stick to one thing.
also they could have reached a compromise, Dell sells machines with red-hat or Ubuntu

 

[progx]

Haha. Steve hated the idea of Mac clones. Wouldn't be a surprise if he was trying to prank Michael Dell like he did Carly Fiorina and the "HP iPod."

 

[shplock]

YES!!
DO IT NOW!!
Mac Hardware SUCKS!! So many faulty and burned out video cards over the last 20 years.

I saw the future in Intel Chips.

The 12th generation Intel Chips are going to WASTE APPLE silicon.

I hope you are being sarcastic because if not then you need to try again.

 

[shplock]

Sometimes Jobs was the brilliant ideas and marketing man that we all know brought us the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Other times, he was the absolute idiot who tried to stop third parties from developing for the iPhone, said people would never buy an E reader because people just don’t like reading, tried to call the original iMac the MacMan… and did this

I see your point and agree that this was not one of Jobs best moves, however two points. 1) He was fighting for survival so was doing whatever he could to survive and keep Apple alive and 2) Dell was with respect an idiot for saying the would have shut Apple down because err no!
Has anyone told him how much Apple is worth today? Has anyone told him that last year Apple made more money in 6 months than Dell made in the entire year! 😂
So with so called business gurus like Dell who needs a recession 😂

 

[shplock]

Michael Dell actually seems like a good, smart dude. He also is a self-made entrepreneur and is always business-first - and this has come at the expense of quality for Dell Computers. Can't wait to move past my Dell XPS and get a MacBook Pro this fall.

If Dell really was that smart he would not have said that he would shut Apple down considering how much Dell is worth today $50 billion and Apple is worth over $2 trillion.