Should Apple offer Mac OS X to all?

... or if it does, Apple will die.

"Apple's eco-system would grow and Steve would prosper like never before."

No, no it wouldn't. Apple makes half its money off of HARDWARE (The other half is iPod, and a minuscule amount is software.) Apple funds its OSX development with HARDWARE sales. Apple pushes OSX to sell HARDWARE. Apple makes OSX better because its tied to the HARDWARE.

That's what these people don't realize. They want to enjoy OSX without paying for it. And Apple's entire "ecosystem" is based off this.

This is also why I'm opposed to the Intel transition. Regardless of how much Apple locks down OSX, it will never be enough, and now geeks can get OSX without paying for it(well, not entirely for it).

you know, there are a lot more PCs out there that could run os x. before jumping to conclusions, we should do a little math and estimate exactly how apple's profits would be affected.

we need: average profit per computer sold and and estimated number of people that would switch.

microsoft makes quite a bit of money off it's os sales, so it's not like it's a crazy unproven concept.

Microsoft makes most of its money selling office. Apple doesn't care how many people run their OS. All they care about is how many people by a mac or ipod.

The biggest reason why people don't buy Macs is ignorance and the fear, uncertainty, and doubt campaigns waged by Microsoft bought journalists. Unless this changes or people are aware they can't trust the people who review the products Microsoft will continue to dominate the desktop. The biggest thing Microsoft has is old timers who are ill informed and are still in a 1980s cold war worldview of technology who are in power and the buyers of technology for business. The 2 reasons people decide which computers to buy is by what they use at work (determined by the IT managers described above) and what they can play games on. Apple's best bet is to start their own game software division. Selling OS X independent of hardware isn't going to make up the needed revenues to finance its development.

Apple should give everyone an iPod too - then their sales at the iTunes music store would increase.

This guy is a tech geek and has no idea of Apple's company structure, and how vitial their hardware sales are to the company's bottom line. Apple would go out of business if it relied on OS sales alone.

Steve Jobs not only has the ability to distort reality, he also has a very good sense of timing and planning. I think that somewhere in the OSX plan is the release of the operating system for non-Apple PCs. It is in fact, the end game against Microsoft.

But it won't happen for at least another year. It would make no sense to release it until all of those Mac 86 applications are ported over and the problems are all shaken out. Letting it out now would not allow it to reach critical mass and only result in a flood of criticism due to the lack of things to run.

All in due time... all in due time.

.. Give it away with new hardware, sell it for $299-$399 with a read-only USB dongle, and continue to charge for upgrades.

wishful thinking

How is making games going to help Apple crack the corporate market?

People don't buy PCs for games any more - they buy a Playstation or xBox for that.

Apple is headed in the right direction - if they could just find a way to make their systems just a little more affordable without breaking the bank, they can continue to make strides. There are enough people who want out of the Windows nightmare to support them.

Why does this invoke images of Steve Jobs sitting alone in a poorly lit room with a very low and ominous laugh?