1999 – Here’s one I’ve been sitting on for a while. Not that it isn’t credible, but because it’s a bit more esoteric and shocking than the hardware rumors I’ve been sharing.

According to “The Looking Man,” Apple has once again changed OS direction – expect an announcement of the company’s final OS about-face at next week’s Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

Remember when Mac OS 8 was going to be Copland? Or Rhapsody? Or based on a highly tweaked Mach kernel?

Forget it. Apple will be reabsorbing LinuxPPC and using it as the core of the new OS X, code named OS Linux. This will allow Apple to leverage development for the hot Linux market, slowly reducing the impact of Microsoft Windows on the market.

In fact, Apple may spin of a completely new OS division, complete with IPO – and we all know how much cash that could generate! Internet IPOs are hot, and Apple (especially since the iMac) is as much an internet company as a hardware one. And Linux IPOs are hot. Combine that with Apple’s track record for the past year, and we’re talking killer investment opportunity for those who can get in on the ground floor.

Beyond that, this will assure that the Mac OS, much of which will become Open Source, will be available not only for the PowerPC, but also Intel, Alpha, Sparc, and other platforms that can run Linux – with a little work.

Not only that, but because there are 68K versions of Linux, owners of positively ancient Macs with 32-bit clean ROMs will also have OS Linux as an option! Imagine the server possibilities for a Beowulf cluster composed of “wicked fast” Mac IIfx machines….

 – Anne Onymus