Stan Beer
Tuesday, 15 April 2008 05:19
Opinion and Analysis
Page 3 of 3
Would Apple selling Mac OS X to PC users cannibalise Mac
sales? Probably - but not as much as some may think. Part of the
attraction of owning a Mac is the experience and the elegance of the
hardware – software combination. Everything works together seamlessly
and users love their Macs in a way that PC users could never appreciate.
Would a Mac clone provide as seamless an
experience as a Mac? Probably not; but why should Apple care if it gets
users on to its system and turns them into genuine Mac customers down
the track? Microsoft has made converting pirate Windows and Office
users into genuine paying users a admittedly imperfect but effective
art form.
In the final analysis, the options for Apple are fairly clear.
Apple can fight tooth and nail to keep its exclusive franchise on Mac
OS X and watch as more Psystars spring up throughout the world and Mac
clones start appearing in little stores and market stalls of Asia,
Eastern Europe, South America and elsewhere. Or Apple can accept the
fact that it has the best personal computing operating system in the
world which has outgrown its limited range of premium priced hardware.
Apple may still feel that it doesn’t have to choose to offer Mac OS X
to the world. However, it may find that a worse option is letting
software pirates make the choice instead.