The Mac is doooomed (tell me I'm crazy)

[hennessymac]

Interesting analogy "can {a} Leopard change its spots" lol

;-)

[Sunnz]

Just to make things more interesting...

Microsoft Norway, has been showing off Microsoft's latest OS, Vista...
http://atvs.vg.no/nyheter/7334-slik-blir-vista.html











... on an iMac...

[eric2006]

Originally Posted by Sunnz

Just to make things more interesting...

Microsoft Norway, has been showing off Microsoft's latest OS, Vista...
http://atvs.vg.no/nyheter/7334-slik-blir-vista.html











... on an iMac...

I guess they couldn't use that good-looking PC, the..

umm..

something.

[Mikuro]

That's no surprise. Bill Gates and Microsoft have always had something of an Apple fetish. Apple's release of Boot Camp probably gave their lives new meaning.

[Sunnz]

Well, it was said that Vista only runs the well on the latest and greatest hardware available...

[Lt Major Burns]

Originally Posted by Mikuro

Again I'd like to stress the difference between "Macs" (the computers) and "the Mac" (the OS and platform in general). Macs can run Windows. The Mac is the opposite of Windows (more or less). There's a big difference.

yes, but i think Steve Jobs has far too much of a deep-seated vendetta against windows to let his child die to it. it won't happen in his life-time, and there are far too many blood-thirsty mac fans, who, like you say love 'THE' Mac, not macs in general.

no one on this board, with it's thousands of memebers would ever willingly choose windows over mac os ever again.

it's this community that will ensure the mac stays alive. it's the the only example in the world of a technology company with a cult status.

[fryke]

cult status does _not_ help the platform when it's dying. so i'm glad it's not. can't we just tell him he's crazy and that the mac isn't doomed and move on?

[Mikuro]

Originally Posted by fryke

cult status does _not_ help the platform when it's dying. so i'm glad it's not. can't we just tell him he's crazy and that the mac isn't doomed and move on?

Case closed!

Seriously, though, it's heartening that so many people think the idea is crazy, but...can you point to any one step along my path that you think will never happen and explain why? Specifically:

Why would Apple never release Safari for Windows?
Why would Apple never pre-install Windows on their hardware?
Why would Apple never release Cocoa for Windows?

As for iLife, they would obviously not do that unless they were definitely planning to move away from the Mac OS. At that point it would be fairly obvious, so they could only do that very shortly before the switch. All the others I would not be at all surprised to see one way or another.

I'm not saying I expect this to actually happen. It's just something that's been in the back of my mind for...well, since shortly after Steve Jobs's return to Apple and the infamous "1984" keynote with Big Brother Bill on screen and Steve Jobs happily announcing that the OS wars were over (and Apple lost). Back then I just felt dirty for a little while and didn't worry about it anymore, because I knew that there was no way in hell they could switch to Windows even if they wanted to. But at this point, that really could change. The question isn't so much "could they" (they could, within a few years) as "would it ever be profitable to do so, and would they care even if it were" (...I'm not sure it wouldn't, and I definitely think they would).

I don't think the sky is falling just yet. When Apple starts shipping machines with Windows preinstalled or releases iLife for Windows, I will take that as my cue to get comfortable with Linux. Until then I'll stick with OS X. I'd even look at the bright side of Cocoa for Windows if they released it (actually, as a developer I've always wished they would).