What's the purpose?

[bobogs]

EDIT: I added the reply below, which is just a bit less abrasive against OSX86Project, on 6/21. Ignore this old, first post if you don't mind.

 

 

 

Please pardon me for being a newbie, but...

 

I messed around with OSX86 in a VMWare vm a few months ago, and it turned out to be a major hassle and not worth the effort...to me, at least. I love the idea of what the folks like maxxus are doing, but I wonder if anything will ever come of it?

 

For example, if one goal of OSX86Project is to get to a point where I could buy an OSX cd (Tiger, Leopard, Puma, Cheetah, Siamese, Tabby, whatever) from CompUSA, pop it into my Dell and install it seamlessly onto a partition, with no huge tweaks or funky bootloaders, that would be pretty cool. However, it would appear that Apple's refusal to license OSX for hardware other than its own would make my system a rogue, and it would probably not be allowed to download updates, so my OS could become out of date after just a few days. Does everyone here plan on running their OSX86 off of quasi-legal install cds, or do you think the super-brains here will come across a way to get OSX installed from a store-bought cd? Do stores even stock packaged Intel versions of OSX?

 

Is there an expectation that Apple might license OSX for other hardware? I don't like being tied to Apple's hardware (even though it is pretty :-) ), and I don't like the idea of dual-booting XP on the mac, because you lose disk space for each OS.

 

Eh...I suppose I'll just stick with XP, and when Vista comes out, I'll curse at how my new pc isn't powerful enough to run it. :-)

 

Thanks!

Gary

[bobogs]

I read something recently in Maximum PC (I think), where the article's sidebar read that the author thinks there's a 75% chance that Apple will release (license) OSX for non-Apple hardware by mid-2007. That would be pretty cool.

 

I've been thinking the same thing, but I'm not at 75%...maybe 40%. I figure Apple's waiting around to see how well received and adopted Vista is in early 2007, and how well it survives in the wild of the internet, with all its attacks on the Windows OS. If the adoption of Vista is slow, or if there are widespread security or usability issues after a month or so, I could see Apple releasing OSX, essentially saying, "We know you all just bought these powerful pcs, and we feel bad that you're stuck with this "revolutionary" OS from Microsoft...here's our OS...we think you'll like it."

 

I realize that Apple makes their money from mac hardware sales, and OSX is just along for the ride, but they won't be giving away OSX in my scenario. If a nonUpgrade, nonOEM version of Vista Ultimate is expected to fetch $350 (upgrade $199?), Apple could sell OSX for $200-$400, and I'll bet there will be folks willing to pay that for the ability to install full-blown, legal OSX on their Dell pc.

 

Any thoughts on the % chance this might happen?

 

Thanks!

Gary

[brockwitting]

lets put it this way. This is done because it CAN be done. Plus, this is a better overall OS. As for the chance of commercial availability, honestly, I think it would be great, and maybe, apple would start to re-gain the market. All I know is that if Apple Macintosh OS X is ever made publically available, me along with a bunch of people know will purchase it no matter what the cost is.. To be quite honest, there are 3 main reasons Apple has not released the X86 Generic version for sale yet is

 

1.) Driver support- Read the forums, read all the issues, unless apple is secrectly porting EVERY windows driver in existance, this is not going to be an easy job. Windows has a tough time with drivers as it is, let alone Mac..

 

2.) Support- Right now, 3.48% of the computers in the world are Apple based, lets say the OS goes for public sale, and BAM, that changes to lets say 7%, apple cant handle all that support, plus what happens when people call saying "I cant get this program to run" and it was designed for windows. Programs almost need to be universal for apple to consider even doing this move.

 

3.) Apple has never sold ONLY an OS... The bottom line is, Apple used to be a computer company. Then, they were mainly a hardware company, with a nice OS, then more recently, after the move to the X86 platform, they are now a software company. Now apple is in a tricky situation... The market is now only there because people like there OS, and the DESIGN of the hardware, not the Hardware itself, since almost every PC is X86 based, the hardware is the same. The bottom line is apple, if they decide to sell the Software, will be jumping into a Windows dominated, attempting to tip the scales aginst MS... This is nt going to be a peaceful battle.

 

 

Overall, I really hope that apple DOES release the retail OS X for non-Apple hardware. Weather it is likely or not, I shure hope so!