Can Apple REALLY think different?

It seems this argument goes around every couple of years. HEY! Why doesn’t Apple make OS 7-8-9-X available for Intel based PCs? Let someone else take the hit for making the hardware and Apple just collects for licenses like Microsoft does.

The problem with this thinking is that it doesn’t take into account the kind of company that Apple is. Apple makes great hardware and software. However, with the exception of QuickTime and iTunes (There are other examples as well, but these are the big two), every piece of software created is to further the capabilities of the Mac platform. Apple isn’t a software company that just happens to make great computers, they are a hardware company that happens to make great software. Also, most (not all) of the software they have created was to fill gaps left by Windows-blinded software companies. Yes, they have also stepped on the toes of a few as well, but we have all gained by best of class (on any platform) stuff like iLife. Also remember this; THE OS WARS ARE OVER! APPLE LOST A LONG TIME AGO! It’s time to get over it and move on. It would take an act of God Himself coming down from the heavens and smiting every PC out there with Windows before Apple would have a serious chance to gain significant marketshare. Moving OS X to Intel is essentially a death sentence for the Mac and probably Apple.

Alright, this might seem like a repeat of what I said yesterday, but I’m going somewhere with this. One other possibility I haven’t seen floated out there yet is another OS all together. Apple has the capability to put out an X86 based operating system with Unix at its core that isn’t the Macintosh OS.

Linux has made great strides in usability for its customers, but there are still too many hoops for the average (IE Ma and Pa Kettle running some virus/malware infected Windows box) user to make a switch. Apple has proven that with drive, marketability, and ease of use, they could make a sucessful Unix based OS that anyone can use based on PPC processors. Why not do the same with X86? Don’t make it a OS X clone, make it look different. The Mac line on OS X is strong enough to stand on its own and Apple’s profit margin is too high for them to abandon it completely. So how do you get all those people currently running Windows buy an Apple OS?

Give them something better, yet different from the Mac line.

A Linux distro from Apple. Or just another Unix based GUI. Call it what you want. Make it cute for marketing. Find a hook to bring people in. Include some of the basic software needed to make it usable from the open-source Linux/Unix applications. A word processor, email client, address book, web browser, ect. Of course more software would be needed, you can your own list of what you think should be included and I wouldn’t argue about it.

If I were doing this, I wouldn’t even bother making hardware. Team up and let someone else do the hard work. Don’t even try to be compatible with every single piece of PC hardware, concentrate on the things that matter. Team up with ATI and Nvidia for graphics cards. Team up with key players for networking, team up with anybody for games. Make it compatible with the big boys, and the smaller market (hardware) will come along. The installation process should include a check of non-compatible hardware and a suggestion for replacements. Heck, make a free version of the checker that people can use before they buy the OS. Have a proprietary chip built-in or on a PCI slot so that not just anyone could load the OS on just any computer. Get a cut of that as well. This not only assures that PC makers can make their money, but will allow Windows zealots to scream to their heart’s content about MORE Apple proprietary crap in PCs! Everybody’s happy!

Windows (non-OEM) sells for over $200 a copy. Apple sells a 5 user licence for OS X for that much. Sell the new OS for less than $100.

Apple could do this without sacrificing their loyal Macintosh fans. Even better, if it becomes popular enough, maybe they could be the next Microsoft! Except, why does that fill me with dread?