Equal Opportunity Operating System Support
With the advent of the Intel based Mac and the subsequent addition of bootcamp to allow dual booting of OSX and XP, Mac users have been blessed with the best of both worlds. The long running rivalry between the Mac and PC has come to a new place, leaving the Mac with a distinct advantage. As a PC user myself, who dual boots between Ubuntu (Linux) and XP, I can’t help but have a bit of jealousy when I think about the new found capabilities available in the latest generation of Intel based Macs. Apparently, I’m not the only person who recognizes that the operating system support paradigm has shifted. According to James Coates, a writer for the LA Times, Michael Dell himself has voiced his desire to see operating system support reach a new found balance by implementing OSX support in Dell PC’s. In a recent email to Forbes magazine Dell said, “If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to offer it to our customers.” Naturally, Apple responded with perfunctory rhetoric; saying that it will only sell OSX for installation on Mac hardware. Microsoft was understandably silent on the issue. Presumably they are content making a few extra sales of their OS to Mac users and see no need for reciprocal action by Apple. Fortunately for wishful thinkers like me, Steve Jobs is given to flip- flopping (as he initially did with his decision against supporting XP on the Intel Mac). However, at this point I’m certainly not ready to hold my breath in anticipation of a situation where Apple will offer OSX support for PC’s.
With the advent of the Intel based Mac and the subsequent addition of bootcamp to allow dual booting of OSX and XP, Mac users have been blessed with the best of both worlds. The long running rivalry between the Mac and PC has come to a new place, leaving the Mac with a distinct advantage. As a PC user myself, who dual boots between Ubuntu (Linux) and XP, I can’t help but have a bit of jealousy when I think about the new found capabilities available in the latest generation of Intel based Macs. Apparently, I’m not the only person who recognizes that the operating system support paradigm has shifted. According to James Coates, a writer for the LA Times, Michael Dell himself has voiced his desire to see operating system support reach a new found balance by implementing OSX support in Dell PC’s. In a recent email to Forbes magazine Dell said, “If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to offer it to our customers.” Naturally, Apple responded with perfunctory rhetoric; saying that it will only sell OSX for installation on Mac hardware. Microsoft was understandably silent on the issue. Presumably they are content making a few extra sales of their OS to Mac users and see no need for reciprocal action by Apple. Fortunately for wishful thinkers like me, Steve Jobs is given to flip- flopping (as he initially did with his decision against supporting XP on the Intel Mac). However, at this point I’m certainly not ready to hold my breath in anticipation of a situation where Apple will offer OSX support for PC’s.
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