Operating Systems > macOS
Why my next computer won't be a Mac
gnomez:
Actually as long as I could play Blizzard's games on a Mac it wouldn't bother me very much. I'm not nearly as big a game player as I used to be. Like some of you said anyway most of the good games eventually get ported. However, what does matter is commercial desktop support; that is what is keeping me from using Linux. What is keeping me from Apple are their high prices and proprietary hardware. Just as I don't like seeing Microsoft control PC operating systems with an iron fist, I don't admire the way Apple restricts competition in their market niche. You can't buy from a 3rd party source a computer with a G4 motherboard and load OS X on it; instead you have to pay outrageous prices to Apple since they are a Mac hardware monopoly. There is no competition in the Mac world. To put it in perspective, I bet you wouldn't like it if you had to have a "Microsoft PC" to run Windows that you could only buy from Microsoft at inflated prices. I guarantee you Mac hardware would be cheaper if Apple didn't have some "agreement" with motorola or whatever they do to keep 3rd party Mac-compatible computers from existing.
psyjax:
Actually this has always been a long standing debate. When the mac Clones came out, everyone was thrilled and they sold like hotcakes. Mac market share went thrugh the roof (comparatively speaking I mean ), but in those days Apple was hurting real bad and the Clones, with their cheeper hardware, were sapping their income.
What to do?
When Job's came back he killd the clones and braught Apple back up to snuff. Which was a good move for the time and place. But today, I think since Apple is finaly profitable again, if they wan't to maintain their profitability, they are either going to have to find a way to make their comps. cheeper (without sacrificing quality) or start the Clone project again.
If Apple allowd clones under the strict quality control they kept the previus Clones the Hardware Software integration would not be compramised and the manufaturers would be able to suply alternet hardware.
Or... something much simpler... which is in the works and "unofficialy" supported by Apple. Is a port of OSX to x86 Darwin.
If OS X directly compeated with Windoze on PC's I think we all know who would soon win. This is not a dream concidering that all three of OS X's roots, NEXT Step, UNIX, and Darwin, all run on x86.
Why Apple dosn't do this is beyond me, but they are not stoping the third party open source comunity from going forward with the porting project. If it happens it will be quite interesting.
Something else of note, Moterola may not be making chips for Apple any more. It is belived Apple is looking at AMD as an alternative.
Hmmm.... this fellow has an interesting viewpoint:
http://www.lowendmac.com/myturn/02/0118.html
Tho, I think that MacOS would beat windwos by a long-shot.
[ March 28, 2002: Message edited by: psyjax ]
gnomez:
I think the smartest move Apple could make right now would be to go head to head with Microsoft. People are sick of Microsoft's crap, especially the ridiculous and restrictive new licensing on their software. We know who would win in the end. Or are they scared of Microsoft? Maybe they have some agreement with them, in return for M$ not squashing Mac, Macs won't try to eat up PC territory. Or whatever. Seriously, though, using restrictive proprietary hardware like the Mac does is not needed to be successful. They have a great OS, and there are many good reasons to ditch Windows in favor of OS X. There are many companies in the x86 PC world who make hardware and they are doing just fine. Why can't Mac be like Alienware and still sell Macs, but with top-of-the-line components put together by experts and optimized for the operating system? And they can still look cool and be well-engineered like Macs, but have different hardware inside.
PS If Mac is looking at AMD for their new processor, what kind of architecture would that be?? Would all the software currently written for Mac OS X have to be recompiled?
psyjax:
As far as I know... and most of this stuff is from rumer sites etc... Apple will likely be looking for another manufacturer when Moterola's contract comes up. They are sick of Motorolas crap.
So I am assuming they are looking for AMD to manufacture their chips. Namely the G5. Apple is looking at IBM for the G5 right now, but rumer has it AMD is not out of the question.
In any case specks for the G5 look real good. Up to snuff if not faster than a triked out AMD.
Here is some tech specs on at least the Motorola edition of the chip:
http://geek.com/procspec/apple/g5.htm
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