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The computing world has three dominant platforms: Windows,
Macintosh, and Unix and its variants. Despite porting Windows NT to
the Alpha and PowerPC processors, Microsoft has abandoned all
hardware platforms except one.
The Macintosh market has been split in two with OS X. The classic
Mac OS is closely wed to Apple's own hardware and a handful of
licensed clones. Mac OS X only runs on PowerPC hardware,
although parts of it (notably Darwin) have been successfully compiled
and run on PC hardware.
The third platform is not hardware specific. Linux, Unix, and
their variants run on anything from decade-old Macs and PCs to
minicomputers and mainframes. IBM itself has adopted Linux as its OS
of choice for servers.
Looked at from another perspective, we have Windows wed to PC
hardware, the classic Mac OS wed to Apple hardware, and OS X and
other Unix variants that are more or less platform independent.
Although low-end Mac users are unlikely to abandon the classic Mac
OS, for all intents the battle will come down to Microsoft's virtual
Goliath and a handful of Unix pebbles in David's hands.
The Real World Limitations
Because of the dominance of Microsoft Office on both Macs and PCs,
Apple is unwilling to take on Windows and has consistently refused
officially port OS X to Wintel. Were Microsoft to pull Mac
support, Apple would be in a tough spot.
Yes, I know there are alternatives to Microsoft Office. I use
AppleWorks myself, but in the business world it's Microsoft
Office that counts. We may not like it, but that's the
reality.
That said, there is great potential for Apple to expand their base
as the industry moves beyond the traditional 32-bit Intel processors
and their workalikes. AMD has a new 64-bit CPU that's backwards
compatible with Athlons and Pentiums. Intel has Itanium and should
soon have Itanium II. IBM has their Power4 architecture - and a
roadmap for Power5 and Power6.
Each of these provides an opportunity for Apple to port OS X
to hardware that is not already dominated by Windows and carve out a
new market without undermining Microsoft on the Wintel side of the
street. And Apple's announcement that OS X 10.2 will use the
FreeBSD 4.4 code base will facilitate adapting the next generation
Mac OS to the next generation hardware.
Unix Infighting
For nearly as long as there has been Unix, there have been Unix
variants. AT&T had their Unix, and USC-Berkeley had theirs. Then
came Linux and who knows how many more variants. Each *nix has its
own fervent disciples and a dedicated core of programmers adapting
their flavor of choice to their hardware of choice.
For nearly as long as we've had Macs and Windows, Unix users have
been developing their own GUIs - X Windows, KDE, and Gnome
among them. There is no single standard interface, just as there is
no single standard underlying hardware platform.
Apple could provide a unified interface by porting Aqua to the
dominant Unix and Linux platforms, selling it as a commercial GUI
that could sit on top of everything from Linux-based Pentiums to IBM
Power-based computers. And with OS X as the dominant Unix
distribution already, Apple has the base to do it.
I think there's great potential for Apple to port Aqua to various
flavors of Unix and a wide variety of hardware platforms. And to
really sweeten the pot, they could do things like port and bundle
iTunes, iPhoto, iTools, iPod support, and a few other goodies to
provide some added value to the Aqua package. Next step: Port
AppleWorks and help it become recognized as the real world
alternative to Microsoft Office that it's always been.
This would also facilitate software development on Unix and Linux,
since Aqua would quickly be recognized as a dominant interface. As
the *nix world moves toward Aqua, it would become an increasingly
viable alternative to the dated Wintel platform.
Apple could eventually move beyond the Aqua bundle to marketing an
entire OS X distribution for various hardware platforms, but by
starting small and porting Aqua to new hardware that Microsoft
doesn't already dominate, OS X could be perceived as a real
world alternative to Windows, something the classic Mac OS was never
able to do.
Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986,
sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and
has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
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