[fryke]

It's an old thing. Say you want to protect your real-world snailmail. You can build a super-duper super-safe mailbox. Won't hinder a thief from getting to the postman before the mail even _enters_ the mailbox. See?

Now... Apple can make use of those DRM chips. They've done so now, someone circumvented that protection (i.e. got to the mail before it was in the protected mailbox...). They can use proprietary chips on the motherboard. But then, too, maybe some mind will find a patch for the OS X code, so it never even checks for those chips for some reason or other.

It breaks down to a basic philosophy thing. Apple has to decide how much energy they want to waste. In my opinion, people are going to find ways around. And it only takes ONE bright mind to find a way around Apple's protection for the many who want to make use of it. It's like with protected music files. I've never understood why music labels copy-protect Audio-CDs. Because it only takes ONE pirate to create a copy. The millions just download copies of that first copy and never have to even CARE about the protection...

In my opinion, Apple should go on as prepared. Light protection. Prevents the casual user from simply using a friend's original DVD on his vanilla PC. So those who want to pirate really have to pirate. They have to know they're doing something illegal, have to visit a site that offers the illegal code and have to illegally install the code on their machine(s). Apple will still make enough money with their Macs.

And if it _really_ becomes a problem, they should be ready to _sell_ OS X licenses to vanilla PC users. Maybe it's time. Who knows... Let's take a look at it...

1.) iPod has generated 'good vibes', generally, for Apple. Soft factor, but a fact.
2.) The transition to X86 has generated quite some interest in the 'X86 community' for OS X. It's a fact, too, although I couldn't put any numbers to it.
3.) Viruses and malware plague Windows users.
4.) Longhorn is always some years off, it seems. It's now called Vista and expected at the end of 2006 _earliest_.

Hey, Apple: Finish your work on a working Tiger version for OS X _now_ until the end of 2005. Release it at the beginning of 2006 - or even before the end of 2005. Sell millions of copies. Make them work on, say, a specific motherboard from intel and only chips that include SSE3, let's say. THEN if someone finds a hack to also make it work on AMD machines and intel machines that only have SSE2, that's THEIR problem. You're selling licenses. Millions of. And if you're ready to also provide the best notebooks and desktop machines, people will actually BUY those Macs. If they run Windows, too, people who like and love their iPods will buy Macs. Even if they're about to install Windows, they still count as "Mac users" in the market-share statistics, because they actually bought a license with the Mac. And if you can get 10 or 15 percent, you've started a revolution. And isn't this almost the wording of EVERY BLOODY Apple press release? Isn't it about starting computer revolutions...?