The people over at DailyApps recently let us know how to install the latest version of Mac OSX (Leopard) on our non-Mac computers and it makes me wonder if this is truly a “hack”.
When Apple moved the Mac from PowerPC to Intel x86-based processors two years ago, everyone was talking about running Windows on their sexy little MacBook Pro’s. Could it be done? Would Windows handle the Apple-brand hardware? Would it be something that people would want?
Within weeks of the Intel-based MacBooks hitting the market, an application called XOM was released giving people the ability to boot Windows on these machines. A few months later, Apple released a beta of BootCamp and the rest is history. But for a long time, people were left wondering what it would take to install the Intel version of Mac OSX on their PCs. Well … now it can be done.
Many people know that I’m not a very big fan of Apple. I don’t like many of their practises, nor am I a fan of their leader. Do they make some good looking hardware? Sometimes. I liked the Mac Mini design, and the 4th generation iPod. The others are a little iffy, though. Do they make some decent software? Sometimes. In my experience, the Apple software crashes while the non-Apple software keeps on working. All software has a bug or two, but in terms of reliability, the Apple stuff was the worst. So what do I think of running Mac on a PC?
I think it’s about time.
I will not be running OSX in the near future, but if someone was able to get it operational on a non-Apple computer within a day of Leopard’s release, it’s because Apple is likely getting ready to market their OS to Windows users. It’s not enough to sell a ridiculously over-priced Intel-based computer anymore … you need to cater to people on any budget. MacBooks sell for about $1600 come with the same hardware we find on $900 notebooks. Desktop models also seem to sell for almost twice as much as they should. Because of the high entry costs, many people stay away from Apple computers and buy lame Gateway or Dell machines that can barely handle Vista and manage a half-assed job with XP. Apple knows this. Microsoft knows this. Everybody in the industry knows this. So why not change the playing field?
We can’t go one week without seeing a high-profile rant against Windows Vista or some other blunder at Microsoft. I stayed true to the Redmond team for as long as possible, but even I knew it was time to walk away from Windows and try something else. So with Apple releasing Leopard and someone making it run on a Plain-Jane PC within a day, we can assume that Mr. Jobs is about to try and gain some more market share while promising a low sticker price.
Will people switch over to Mac in droves? No. Most people are happy with their computers just the way they are. If something works, why fix it? But for people who want to try something new, or who just want to save themselves a few hundred dollars when buying something that runs Mac software, this ability is going to be a God-send.
Hopefully this will mark the start of a true migration from Windows. For far too long, Microsoft has been very slow on giving customers what they want. In many cases, they tell people what they want, and we’re forced to listen. Palm tried to do this (several times), and look where they are today. So if Big Redmond starts losing a significant amount of market share — say 5 to 10% — to other operating systems like OSX, Ubuntu or any of the other quality OSes, they’ll be forced to sit down and think long and hard about what customers actually want to see in an operating system. Once this happens, they’ll likely churn out one of the most incredible platforms ever seen in computing history and potentially win back much of the market they lost. But until that day comes, we need to start moving away from Windows.
Microsoft has the resources to give us something truly incredible. They have the best hardware support in the industry. They also have some of the world’s best applications written for their systems. Microsoft is very prominent in data centers and other businesses, and there’s no denying the incredible robustness of their development platforms. All in all, Microsoft is in the best position to give people what we need. We just need to send a message to help them listen.
So if you can run Leopard on a PC, surely people would stop buying Macs, wouldn’t they?
You’d think so, but what’s one of the biggest gripes people have when they run Windows on a Mac? Lack of driver support. I’m sure we’ll see the very same thing but on a larger scale with Leopard.
Mac doesn’t support “crap hardware”. So when you go to the store and buy the cheapest thing to fill a need, you can’t be guaranteed that it will work with OSX, whereas you’ll at least get some half-assed performance in Windows.
A great example of this would be a video capture card. Real video capture cards are at least $200 and need to be installed inside the computer. But you can get a basic capture device for $80 that connects through USB. The quality sucks, the video resolution sucks, the software sucks, and there’s barely any support for it in Windows. But at least you know it will “just work” with XP (or Vista). You won’t be able to do this with OSX.
Most of us have hardware that will work with both Mac and Windows (printers, usually) but millions of us have hardware that is Windows-only. So if people install OSX only to find their $40 webcam, game controllers or other external hardware doesn’t work, they will either go out and replace that hardware with something that will work (which benefits Apple indirectly) or they’ll live with it until they can afford a Mac (which benefits Mac directly).
Just like when you bought a new printer because your old Canon wouldn’t work in Vista.
That’s the theory, anyways. I might be completely wrong, but Apple usually doesn’t make it easy for people to do unexpected things with their hardware and software. Installing OSX on a PC is definately unexpected.
Of course the other option is that Apple is gearing up to be less Apple-centric (yeah, right) and wants to entice people to upgrade with their $130 operating system. I don’t think there’s a single version of WindowsXP or Vista that we can buy for that price, and XP’s been out for six years.
People practically fall over each other trying to buy iPods, iPhones or iWhatevers. If they wont’ buy a Mac, why not entice them with an iPC?
I use XP at home but I’m forced to use an Apple at work and honestly I couldn’t care less which operating system I use. Both does what I need it to do. Once the Leopard-PC kinks are worked out, I will install it on my Thinkpad just to see if I can run it but if it doesn’t work I’m not too worried.
There are a few things I have to put up with when using my work PC laptop, that my sexy little Macbook has no problem with. First, the pc actually has a fan in it! A noisy fan. What the heck? None of my macs ever had a fan, including desktop models. I can blowdry my hair with this thing. Was it made by some stoneage savages? Second, the lid is loose, after only a year. I’ve owned a couple mac laptops, and their case quality was a lot higher.
Yes, they cost more. Nope, they can’t run all your pc software. I find the mac software runs just fine, or at least as well as my crashable windows xp stuff at work.It sure would be nice to blend all the good elements from the two. I just can’t see using crappy cases,designs and latches on this ultimate combo machine.And no fans.
MacBooks have fans, too. Well … some of them. A processor without a fan is a dead computer waiting to happen. That said, many of the Macs do make use of heatsinks in order to dissipate heat. Others just don’t use processors that run hot.
It’s unfortunate that your PC-based notebooks have been of such low quality. My last two notebooks have been HP and I can’t believe the quality of these devices. Both long outlived their expacted lifespans, and this one here (almost 5 years old, now) is still kickin’ along just great. This is despite the fact that I brought it to work everyday for years, and I’m not too nice to it when I’m losing the occasional video game
I’ve used Macs for a while in a previous life, and I found that they crashed more often as their PC counterparts. That said, it seemed that only the Apple software would give me the happy little bomb, whereas software written by Adobe or other publishers would be rock solid. The same is said with Windows-based applications. Some designers are just better at writing software than others. We can’t blame all of our problems on Windows or Mac OS.
That said, at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference. I’m now running Ubuntu full time and, aside from the occasional quirk here and there, it’s been rock solid. It can’t run most of my old software, but it can give me exactly what I need for the next little bit. That, and I don’t have to worry about viruses quite as often.
To each their own, right?