Is Apple planning an OS switch?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Thursday, February 16th

Is Apple planning an OS switch?

A professor at Rutgers University thinks Apple may be setting up to switch to the Windows OS. John Dvorak of PC Magazine writes that professor of psychology Yakov Epstein has noticed a few "coincidences" that point to Apple moving towards the Windows OS. Epstein's observations include the fact that the Apple Switch campaign is over, and "nobody switched;" the lack of FireWire connectors for new iPods as the PC world is the new "target audience;" very few consumers have switched to Macs after being more exposed to Apple products via the iPod; and the switch to the Intel-based microprocessor. Dvorak points to the fact that Apple has reacted strongly to Macintosh gossip sites, saying it is Apple's way of attempting to stem future rumors about product development.



The list of coincidences continues, with Dvorak noting an onscreen appearance by Bill Gates "during Apple's turnaround when Jobs was taking a pot of money from Microsoft," a comment by a Microsoft spokesperson at the Macworld Expo indicating that Microsoft Office would conitnue to be developed for the Mac for "five years" ("What happens after that?" asks Dvorak.)



"This switch to Windows may have originally been planned for this year and may partly explain why Adobe and other high-end apps were not ported to the Apple x86 platform when it was announced in January. At Macworld, most observers said that these new Macs could indeed run Windows now."



Dvorak says that a switch to Windows would make more financial sense for Apple, as it could allow Microsoft to do most of the work, put Apple in the mainstream to compete directly with Dell and HP, and with a little tweaking Apple could retain its GUI and perhaps even improve the OS. "Now with the cash cow iPod line, it can afford to drop expensive OS development and just make jazzy, high-margin Windows computers to finally get beyond that five-percent market share."



The main problem, according to Dvorak, would be appeasing the angry Mac lovers, whom he suspects Steve Jobs would be able to sooth with reminders that any program at all could run on a Windows-Mac, giving users the "best of both worlds."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 41
    zengazenga Posts: 267member
    I know..!

    .. is this man crazy..?

    ..what a load of crap..!
  • Reply 2 of 41
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Dvorak is interesting to listen to on TWiT. I agree with a lot of things he says. This is off the wall, though.
  • Reply 3 of 41
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    ROTFL



    Dvorak is a loon. I mean come on... his 'source' is a professor of PSYCHOLOGY. Exactly how does that qualify him as an industry expert??



    Yeeeeeeeeeeah. Dvorak needs to step away from the bong.
  • Reply 4 of 41
    wow...just wow...
  • Reply 5 of 41
    Apple is its OS.
  • Reply 6 of 41
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    What the hell is this guy thinking?
  • Reply 7 of 41
    Dvorak owes me a new keyboard. He's quoting a human fertility researcher as the source for his article. Here's Dr. Epstein's bio from this page :



    "Dr. Epstein and Dr. Rosenberg are a married couple and co-authors of the book "GETTING PREGNANT WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU COULDN'T." They are co-founders of the Infertility Counseling Center. Dr. Rosenberg serves on INCIID's Advisory Board. The doctors, successful fertility patients themselves, are experienced counselors qualified to offer guidance on a wide range of emotional issues related to infertility, including donor issues. Dr. Epstein, Co-founder of the Infertility Counseling Center, is also a Professor of Psychology at Rutgers and acting director of the Center for Math, Science and Computer Education at Rutgers."



  • Reply 8 of 41
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    "A danish sociologist and moderator at a large Apple centered rumour website have noticed several things that point in the direction that Apple may start a weapon manufacturing sub-division.



    1) Their computers have become more square formed over the later years, pointing towards a design that doesn´t register on radars (known as "Stealth" in layman terms)



    2) The plastics used in their popular iBook line is (sort of and applied in many layers) bullet proof.



    3) Build in cameras in their iMac line makes it easy to transform them to unmanned flying spy drones.



    4) Their iPod serie has the ability to make the enemy deaf, partial disabling him.



    5) Their computers run a mission critical OS (although other rumour talk about moving them to a lesser stable OS)



    6) The marked for military hardware has higher growt rates than computer hardware."
  • Reply 9 of 41
    Well, I hope Appe does switch. I mean, come on, you can't even run SpywareBlaster or AdAware on a Mac. If Apple switched to Windows, then I could run all my spyware programs. That would be AWESOME man!!!
  • Reply 10 of 41
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CosmoNut

    Dvorak is interesting to listen to on TWiT. I agree with a lot of things he says. This is off the wall, though.



    Kind of like in 2003, ehwn he said something like "the G5 is the end for Moto/IBM and apple, they will make a desicion to increase the bottom line by using intel or AMD commodity hardware"
  • Reply 11 of 41
    Quote:

    ...indicating that Microsoft Office would conitnue to be developed for the Mac for "five years" ("What happens after that?" asks Dvorak.)



    Either there will be a renewal of the agreement, or Apple will be producing its own full Office suite that is fully compatible with Microsoft Office formats. Seems like the most logical prediction, at least.



    And what's with his talk that Apple could retain its GUI after switching to Windows? What, like create an OS X skin? Does he think that Apple would kick themselves in the crotch by reducing OS X to just a pretty face? Yeesh. The day they switch to Windows is the day of Apple's death sentence - simple as that. What a wacko.
  • Reply 12 of 41
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    "A danish sociologist and moderator at a large Apple centered rumour website have noticed several things that point in the direction that Apple may start a weapon manufacturing sub-division.



    1) Their computers have become more square formed over the later years, pointing towards a design that doesn´t register on radars (known as "Stealth" in layman terms)



    2) The plastics used in their popular iBook line is (sort of and applied in many layers) bullet proof.



    3) Build in cameras in their iMac line makes it easy to transform them to unmanned flying spy drones.



    4) Their iPod serie has the ability to make the enemy deaf, partial disabling him.



    5) Their computers run a mission critical OS (although other rumour talk about moving them to a lesser stable OS)



    6) The marked for military hardware has higher growt rates than computer hardware."








    We need to do what we need to do to protect freedom.
  • Reply 13 of 41
    I never have had any respect for this guy. this makes me wonder about his mental health.
  • Reply 14 of 41
    anandanand Posts: 285member
    Regardless, it is a possibility. Apple sells hardware. If they could sell a computer with a Mac "theme" for XP or whatever, they will do it. Apple is a business. Simple as that. If they feel more people will buy their machines with a MS OS, they will do it. They don't owe use Mac OS users anything.
  • Reply 15 of 41
    Quote:

    Originally posted by anand

    Regardless, it is a possibility. Apple sells hardware. If they could sell a computer with a Mac "theme" for XP or whatever, they will do it. Apple is a business. Simple as that. If they feel more people will buy their machines with a MS OS, they will do it. They don't owe use Mac OS users anything.



    It's true that Apple is a hardware company, but without the software, the appeal of the hardware takes a dive. Having the Mac market to itself, its sales are right up there with the biggest Windows-machine manufacturers...throw that away and take a chance with the saturated market of the "dark side"? I don't know. Now, if they were to stick their hands in both cookie jars, that'd be a different story.
  • Reply 16 of 41
    *points and laughs*



    There's no point in discussing this. John D is currently being hugged by his editors for bringing so many visitors to their page.



    He's the journalistic equivalent of a "shock jock". Claiming plainly silly things just so people can give him attention.
  • Reply 17 of 41
    The guy is a fruit cake
  • Reply 18 of 41
    Yeah, it would make a lot of sense for Apple to abandon the high-profit hardware/software model they have used to make money these last few years to instead pursue a low-margin, high-risk consumer electronics and commodity PC market--one that has seen even Dell struggle over the last few years.



    I could see Apple abandoning hardware, and just selling the OS, far more than I could see them becoming just another PC maker. Gateway, HP, Dell... Pretty much anyone you can think of is struggling in that industry right now--because white-box dealers can usually underprice and outclass them.



    I hear Dvorak's next column is about how Microsoft is planning on giving up on the XBox 360, and switch to making games for the Nintendo Revolution.
  • Reply 19 of 41
    anandanand Posts: 285member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by D.J. Adequate

    Yeah, it would make a lot of sense for Apple to abandon the high-profit hardware/software model they have used to make money these last few years to instead pursue a low-margin, high-risk consumer electronics and commodity PC market--one that has seen even Dell struggle over the last few years.



    I could see Apple abandoning hardware, and just selling the OS, far more than I could see them becoming just another PC maker. Gateway, HP, Dell... Pretty much anyone you can think of is struggling in that industry right now--because white-box dealers can usually underprice and outclass them.



    I hear Dvorak's next column is about how Microsoft is planning on giving up on the XBox 360, and switch to making games for the Nintendo Revolution.




    Dell just made $800 million on sales of 12.5 billion. Not bad if you ask me. The point is, Apple is a business. If everything goes south and they don't continue to INCREASE revenue and profits, they will change to do so. That decission won't be made by Steve Jobs but by the shareholders of the company. I would bet that if not for the iPod, Apple would be selling Wintel machines right now.
  • Reply 20 of 41
    Quote:

    Originally posted by anand

    Dell just made $800 million on sales of 12.5 billion. Not bad if you ask me. The point is, Apple is a business. If everything goes south and they don't continue to INCREASE revenue and profits, they will change to do so. That decission won't be made by Steve Jobs but by the shareholders of the company. I would bet that if not for the iPod, Apple would be selling Wintel machines right now.



    Dell is a business, too, and has not been growing at analysts expectations. Their stock is in trouble. Look here:



    Dell Six Months



    They have a lot of business related problems. All PC Hardware makers do. Apple would and should go out of business before they became a PC vendor. It's not an Apple Fan thing, it's just that launching a PC business now would be suicidal. Margins are tight, differentiation is difficult, and the market is very mature and slowing.



    Business wise it would make far, far more sense to sell OSX to run on standard PC machines, and get out of the hardware business all together. If anything, that's what the move to Intel chips is setting them up for.
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