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Should Apple Sell OSX For Use On A PC?


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I have been a Die hard PC user for more years than I care to remember.

Two years ago I came into a little bit of money and was going to build a new PC. A friend said I should buy a mac and to cut a long story short I did.

I bought A Mac pro and 6 weeks later it was stolen when my house was broken in to.

 

I have never been able to afford to replace it as we all know Mac's cost silly money.

 

But in the six weeks I owned a real Mac I have got to say I loved it.

 

Point I am trying to make is. Why don't Apple simple release OSX for PC's?

 

Before you all say it would hurt the sale of Mac's. I don't think it would.. Here's why

 

You can got to any computer store and buy the parts to build a PC. This doesn't hurt the sales of Dell or HP or any other computer company.

Microsoft is still the biggest software company in the world. This is mainly dew to the sales of windows

 

A copy of Windows Vista Ultimate can cost you $400. I tried going to best buy to buy a laptop with NO os and couldn't get one.

A hp laptop would cost me $850 and it comes with Windows. Why should I be made to buy something I don't want?

If the OS costs $400 then I should be able to buy it with out a OS for $450.

 

Microsoft as truly got the OS market.

 

If Apple released OSX for PC,s

 

1 It would make money for Apple..

The sales of real make may go down but company's like Dell and HP would pay Apple for there OS instead of paying Microsoft.

 

2 The main income for Apple is not the Mac but the iPod and iPhone. If released OXS could reveal windows and over take windows sale.

 

3 If Apple released OSX for PC,s Hardware manufactures would write drivers for OSX.

 

4 Microsoft Corporate Greed is now getting so bad I think more people would just walk away for windows.

I bought a legal copy of both XP and Vista. Both copies don't work any more.

This is because Microsoft as now installed a database which stores all your activation key and give each key a unique code to match your hardware.

If you upgrade your hardware as I did and reinstall windows it will active but as your computer downloads the update. It will check your code against the database and see the code no longer matches. Next time you restart your computer it tell you you have 30 days to activate windows but windows tell you it is already activated. (ONE BOX ONE MACHINE) Microsoft treats us all like thieves. I am not going to buy a new copy of windows each time I upgrade. I know you can call Microsoft and they will activate windows again but only 3 times.

 

5 Lets fact it OSX is the only os you would ever need. As we all know A Mac can run windows and linux.

So apart from the sales of real Macs dropping what is the down side for Apple?

Apple is a company that is in business to make money and I think the money made from selling OSX for PC's would far out weigh any losses of sales of real Mac's.

 

Dave

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I PRAY this will never happen

 

"A hp laptop would cost me $850 and it comes with Windows. Why should I be made to buy something I don't want?"

 

You dont have to , buy a MacBook incl. OSX

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you are missing the point

 

The point is why will Apple not release OSX for a PC...

As this site proves it is fairly easy to install OSX on a PC and I don't think apple will ever be able to stop people from doing this.

So as the old saying goes "If you can't beat them join them"

 

So if you can't stop people installing it on a pc anyway you may as well sell it to them.

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Sure , it does install and run on PC .... but if not - it isnt Apples problem.

If they would sell it for PC , it would be.

 

One of OSX Fortunes is , that it doesnt have to run on any fancy system ( like windows )

 

Dont get Me wrong Mate , I dont judge Hackintosh

I own one myself :rolleyes:

 

And for now I payed for OSX , a Mac Keyboard , Mighty Mouse ...... and since some weeks a 24`iMac.

 

So my guess , Apple isnt too upset about Hackintoshs ....as they kmow

lot of today Hackintosh`rs will buy Apple in future.

 

Aslike Me , as I love my "Mac" and I could kick my b... for wasting years with {censored} of Mr. G....

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The point is why will Apple not release OSX for a PC...

 

I swear I need to post a guide for not posting...

 

Apple won't release OS X because it's a HARDWARE COMPANY with software components. The profit margin for a disk with OS X in it isn't as much as a shiny new Mac. So in order to stay competitive with opening up the OS, Apple either...

 

1. Has to increase their base to Microsoft porportions, which won't happen

 

OR

 

2. Raise prices on OS X install disks, which in turn increases supply and lowers demand.

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I agree with what people are saying here. If Apple released OS X for PC, the quality would go down because they would be confined when working on the OS be having to make sure all of their changes and what not wouldn't break a particular type of PC. You may even start to see more MS type problems from having too many different people involved in the driver writing process and end up with systems that work better than others with it. Having complete control over the hardware as well as the software give Apple the advantage. They don't have thousands of computers to try to test the system over. They know exactly what hardware they need to write drivers for and it's easier for them to more thoroughly test everything. They know their platform better than anyone else and it would loose some of it's advantage and appeal if they had to play by other computer makers rules. Besides, I haven't seen an HP or any PC for that matter that I thought was better designed than a Mac in my life. HP uses very cheap plastics in their construction. I hate the fact that they always show them in those "laptop hunters" commercials because they look so damn cheap and crappy. Most PCs do when you think about it. Most PC manufacturers just have custom cases built for them and then plug everything together. They are nothing more than parts changers. Apple designs and engineers their computers. The only personal computer company to do that. I mean, they have their own CPU manufacturing line at Intel, for crying out loud!

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  • 2 months later...
I swear I need to post a guide for not posting...

 

Apple won't release OS X because it's a HARDWARE COMPANY with software components. The profit margin for a disk with OS X in it isn't as much as a shiny new Mac. So in order to stay competitive with opening up the OS, Apple either...

 

1. Has to increase their base to Microsoft porportions, which won't happen

 

OR

 

2. Raise prices on OS X install disks, which in turn increases supply and lowers demand.

 

 

And what hardware do they actually produce ? imo apple is not more then a intel based custom system assembler with a improved bsd os, i like OS X (i even brought my copy )but id never ever buy any of Apple's overpriced "hardware" products, or any other x86 system builder, with a bit of knowledge you can just make your own, the cash should go to the productors(they invest in the REAL!! research) not to those who pack it in some pretty boxes.

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I swear I need to post a guide for not posting...

 

Apple won't release OS X because it's a HARDWARE COMPANY with software components. The profit margin for a disk with OS X in it isn't as much as a shiny new Mac. So in order to stay competitive with opening up the OS, Apple either...

 

1. Has to increase their base to Microsoft porportions, which won't happen

 

OR

 

2. Raise prices on OS X install disks, which in turn increases supply and lowers demand.

 

 

You fail at economics. First of all, the margin on a disk with OSX would be FAR more than a PC. It costs what, about 50c to produce a disk they can sell for $150 (for example). You really think hardware would have the same margin? 3000% is a pretty fat margin. Just look at Microsoft. They are doing pretty well outta the software sales.

 

2. Apple artificially reduce demand for the goods by restricting access to it. If it was able to run on custom PCs, there demand would be there. And how does apple increasing it's prices lead to increased supply? APPLE CREATE THEIR OWN SUPPLY.

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I swear I need to post a guide for not posting...

 

Apple won't release OS X because it's a HARDWARE COMPANY with software components. The profit margin for a disk with OS X in it isn't as much as a shiny new Mac. So in order to stay competitive with opening up the OS, Apple either...

 

 

Sorry to say but anyone who thinks Apple is either a hardware company or a software company are totally missing the point, much like McDonald's is a hamburger company. Apple is first and foremost a MARKETING company. BOOM! Its all about the big things that get customers in. Wide eyed and full of rapture the little things always seem to be forgotten. How long have we waited for itunes to have multiple libraries. i.e movies, music, TV shows on multiple disks not just slapped together, istead they give us genius. Wow!...

 

Now I am typing this on one of my two Mac's and I do appreciate the operating system, but I refuse to fall into the FANBOY bull that seems to follow. I see the faults with the system and that's why I also built a Hackintosh. Thanks for all the great work guys once again it cannot be said enough. If Apple will not release the system take it, make it better make it the way it could be. That's when Apple may sit up and listen!

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You fail at economics. First of all, the margin on a disk with OSX would be FAR more than a PC. It costs what, about 50c to produce a disk they can sell for $150 (for example). You really think hardware would have the same margin? 3000% is a pretty fat margin. Just look at Microsoft. They are doing pretty well outta the software sales.

 

If Apple's programmers worked for free this would be true. Although Steve Jobs have very strict control over his company I don't think that is the case.

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Sorry to say but anyone who thinks Apple is either a hardware company or a software company are totally missing the point, much like McDonald's is a hamburger company. Apple is first and foremost a MARKETING company.

 

Their marketing is top notch, but it still don't make them a marketing company. They don't make any money from the marketing itself.

 

To all of you who believe otherwise. Go to www.apple.com and look at what products they showcase; it is the Mac, the iPod+iTunes and the iPhone. Three familes of hardware and store for music and videos ++ for the hardware they sell.

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If Apple's programmers worked for free this would be true. Although Steve Jobs have very strict control over his company I don't think that is the case.

 

Yes there would be a large fixed cost for software development, but then there would be large overheads attached to hardware development too. Simple fact is, software has a far higher margin.

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You fail at economics. First of all, the margin on a disk with OSX would be FAR more than a PC. It costs what, about 50c to produce a disk they can sell for $150 (for example). You really think hardware would have the same margin? 3000% is a pretty fat margin. Just look at Microsoft. They are doing pretty well outta the software sales.

 

Not to sound rude (well, you were rude first, but I digress), but you're a moron if you think the only cost to Apple is the CD pressing.

 

2. Apple artificially reduce demand for the goods by restricting access to it. If it was able to run on custom PCs, there demand would be there. And how does apple increasing it's prices lead to increased supply? APPLE CREATE THEIR OWN SUPPLY.

 

Apple does indeedy do create their own supply, but what it can't do is create DEMAND. People don't demand something like this. The demand isn't there at this time (5,000 people out of 7 million Mac users isn't a high demand for example). The demand may never be there (never say never with Apple for some reason). Increasing prices lowers demand and increases supply (this is economics 101, go study) because people simply don't want to buy something that is more expensive.

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Not to sound rude (well, you were rude first, but I digress), but you're a moron if you think the only cost to Apple is the CD pressing.

 

 

 

Apple does indeedy do create their own supply, but what it can't do is create DEMAND. People don't demand something like this. The demand isn't there at this time (5,000 people out of 7 million Mac users isn't a high demand for example). The demand may never be there (never say never with Apple for some reason). Increasing prices lowers demand and increases supply (this is economics 101, go study) because people simply don't want to buy something that is more expensive.

 

 

There are overheads associated with both software and hardware design. Obviously. However, once these overheads have been covered the margin on software is much higher, no?

 

And if you want to talk about economics 101, the price goes up when quantity demanded exceeds quantity supplied, due to a shift in the demand schedule, in a competitive market. As the firms prices go up, yet factor costs remain the same in the short run, it will increase quantity supplied (not supply). The increasing price will also reduce quantity demanded, not demand. This higher price will also encourage other firms to enter the market, causing the supply schedule to shift, supply to increase and the price to fall back down, causing quantity demanded to then increase. The demand and supply schedules are calculated from exogenous variables, and the market price is set at the intersection of the supply and demand functions. So I'm well aware of basic economic principles thank-you.

 

However, as Apple is the only supplier of OSX, we aren't working in a perfectly competitive market. As this is more of a monopoly situation, a profit-maximising firm would set prices would be set at where marginal costs equals marginal revenue. Development and RnD and programmers wages are FIXED overheads, as their costs don't vary based on the number of units sold. If you sell 1 or 1000 units of software your overheads remain the same. I'm not going to bother to attempt to explain price discrimination models of monopolistic firms and how selling OSX separately could be used to increase profits , as it seems you fail to understand "economics 101", so I'd suggest it's you, and not me, that needs to go study.

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Their marketing is top notch, but it still don't make them a marketing company. They don't make any money from the marketing itself.

 

To all of you who believe otherwise. Go to www.apple.com and look at what products they showcase; it is the Mac, the iPod+iTunes and the iPhone. Three familes of hardware and store for music and videos ++ for the hardware they sell.

 

Really, Look again. Their marketing is top notch because their product, is designed to suit it not the otherway around. Look not at the product but take a critical look at the product launches. The keynote presentations, the fixes after the fact, the fixes for the fixes that come out. Its constantly said they are better because they only have to produce for a small group of products, so why all the issues. It took six months for a patch to come out that fixed my wireless issue. If it was M$ the fix would have happened in a week.

Going back to my analogue McDonalds markets their burgers, but is interested in owning the best street corners in the world. One suits the other. An Apple PC with windows on it is just another PC, pretty but no better.

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Yes there would be a large fixed cost for software development, but then there would be large overheads attached to hardware development too. Simple fact is, software has a far higher margin.

Well, then there is piracy issues. And even if the relative margin per unit is higher you have to sell a lot more before you make the same overall profit as more expensive units but lower margin.

 

Really, Look again.

 

They don't make the marketing campaigns and then design the product around it. Sorry mac (pun not intended), how can you believe that. Of course they try to make products that are easy to sell and of what their customers want, like any successful company.

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So will have no trouble listing the other firms that supply OSX then? I'll be waiting.

 

Only if you have no trouble saying why Linux is a craptacular failure compared to the dominance of Windows (which Apple falls under the same boat comparing it to Windows dominance).

 

Licensing OS X will make it into a craptacular failure...like Linux is compared to the absolute dominance of Windows.

 

Now with that in mind...

 

1. Apple is a monopoly

 

Boy it does look that way, doesn't it? I mean, the only way to use the Mac OS is to buy a computer from Apple. Well, wait, Apple isn't the only computer company you can buy from. You can buy from Dell, HP, etc. The only issue with that is you have to use Windows. Or Linux. But you can use Linux on a Mac too. Fact is there are lots of choices for your computing usage, and Apple represents just one of many many choices. It also represents one OS out of many many choices. And all of those choices are pretty viable choices.

 

Apple isn't preventing you from exercising your right to choice when it comes to what brand of computer you're using. You have a right to choose to use whatever brand of computer you want. You also have the right to choose whatever OS you want to use, even if those choices are limited by certain factors. Apple isn't forcing you to use their OS or buy their computers.

 

Now for a more acerbic option...

 

Apple should license their OS for every box!

 

Ahhh, another daily thread favorite. Seriously, you need to remove your feeding tube if you post this. Apple is a HARDWARE COMPANY with software components. In order to turn a profit as a software company, Apple has to either raise the user base to Microsoft proportions (which won't happen) or raise prices (which raises supply and lowers demand).

 

Your retard suggestion will most likely bankrupt Apple, so let's just stop.

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Only if you have no trouble saying why Linux is a craptacular failure compared to the dominance of Windows (which Apple falls under the same boat comparing it to Windows dominance).

 

Application support (can't get MS office for Linux), (until recently) complicated installation process, too many distros, lack of marketing. Next.

 

In order to turn a profit as a software company, Apple has to either raise the user base to Microsoft proportions (which won't happen) or raise prices (which raises supply and lowers demand).

 

Your retard suggestion will most likely bankrupt Apple, so let's just stop.

 

I'll repeat. As Apple is the only supplier of OSX, we aren't talking about a competitive market. In a competitive market, an increase in demand causes the price of a good to rise, which encourages more firms to produce and that is why supply increases. Apple raising the price of their OS will not increase the supply of the OS as APPLE IS THE ONLY SUPPLIER OF OSX. I'll say it again, you fail at economics.

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I'll repeat. As Apple is the only supplier of OSX, we aren't talking about a competitive market.

 

I'll repeat. You have CHOICES when it comes to what OS you can use: OS X, Windows, or Linux (you just don't get this part, do you?). Apple is only 10% of that market. 10% doesn't make a monopoly. 10% doesn't make monopoly power. 10% is nothing more than a flea biting the neck of the other 90%.

 

In a competitive market, an increase in demand causes the price of a good to rise, which encourages more firms to produce and that is why supply increases.

 

In a market with CHOICES (which the OS market has), raising the price of something will increase the supply because the demand for other cheaper CHOICES will go up relative to the price increase of said item. This in turn creates the surplus for the item which had the price raised. Since we live in a market of CHOICES, guess what happens?

 

Apple raising the price of their OS will not increase the supply of the OS as APPLE IS THE ONLY SUPPLIER OF OSX. I'll say it again, you fail at economics.

 

Microsoft raising the price of their OS will not increase the supple of the OS as MICROSOFT IS THE ONLY SUPPLIER OF WINDOWS. I'll say it again, you fail at economics. See what I did there?

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I'll repeat. You have CHOICES when it comes to what OS you can use: OS X, Windows, or Linux (you just don't get this part, do you?). Apple is only 10% of that market. 10% doesn't make a monopoly. 10% doesn't make monopoly power. 10% is nothing more than a flea biting the neck of the other 90%.

 

 

 

In a market with CHOICES (which the OS market has), raising the price of something will increase the supply because the demand for other cheaper CHOICES will go up relative to the price increase of said item. This in turn creates the surplus for the item which had the price raised. Since we live in a market of CHOICES, guess what happens?

 

 

 

Microsoft raising the price of their OS will not increase the supple of the OS as MICROSOFT IS THE ONLY SUPPLIER OF WINDOWS. I'll say it again, you fail at economics. See what I did there?

 

Look I'm sick of arguing this with you. For it to be a perfectly competitive market the two goods have to be perfect substitutes. OSX and Windows are not perfect substitutes as you can't run Windows programs on a Mac and visa versa. AMD and Intel, for example are perfect substitutes as for all intents and purposes they are identical. Everything you can do on an Intel CPU you can do on an AMD one. The market structure operating systems fall under would be monopolistic competition, which if you look at the demand and supply graphs resembles more of a monopoly situation, albeit with a more elastic demand (and therefore, marginal revenue) curve.

 

Also, you are making a common mistake 1st year economics students make. An increasing surplus doesn't equal increased supply. If I produce 4 units, and 4 are consumed the quantity supplied is 4. If I produce 4 units and 3 are consumed, the quantity supplied is still 4. If anything, this surplus will be added to the inventory and in the next production period supply will be cut. I'm not saying any more. I tutor economics an university and I'm sick of arguing such elementary economics issues with you. And yes, Microsoft raising the price on their OS will not increase the supply of the OS. So for once, you are correct.

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