Got a hold of some interesting info today...

[robains]

Don't ask for sources because you aren't going to get them -- but this rumor seems very interesting and closer to "reality" than I initially thought (as I have heard it before).

OSX on any hardware

As I understand it:
iOS 6 (still locked down)
OSX Mountain Lion Mac (still locked down)
OSX Mountain Lion OP (open platform)

At first I was thinking "why?" ... but then the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense from a timing perspective. There is no real "Technical" barrier, we've known for some time this can be done rather easily and work:

1. Ties in to Apple not really wanting to be in the "Desktop" business and iPad will be the eventual replacement of laptops
2. Spread Apple across more hardware
3. Nothing to lose and everything to gain

Rob

 

[old-wiz]

Not going to happen. Apple nearly went bankrupt when it tried to sell the OS separately. I think your sources have been eating funny mushrooms.

Apple makes money selling hardware. They are not going to offer IOS or OSX on any hardware except Apple's hardware. Why should they? They make a much higher profit margin on selling hardware than on software.

 

[elmo151]

Not going to happen. Apple nearly went bankrupt when it tried to sell the OS separately. I think your sources have been eating funny mushrooms.

Apple makes money selling hardware. They are not going to offer IOS or OSX on any hardware except Apple's hardware. Why should they? They make a much higher profit margin on selling hardware than on software.

+1

I'd like some of those mushrooms

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Would explain why the Mac Pro hasn't seen an update in some 600 days.

Plus, their mac hardware is about at the end of it's possible updates. There's nowhere to go. You can't go thinner, PC manufacturers are catching up to Macbook Air thickness... Instead of becoming another "me-too" platform that looks just like every PC manufacturer, why not join them?

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Not going to happen. Apple nearly went bankrupt when it tried to sell the OS separately. I think your sources have been eating funny mushrooms.

Apple makes money selling hardware. They are not going to offer IOS or OSX on any hardware except Apple's hardware. Why should they? They make a much higher profit margin on selling hardware than on software.

That was the past and Apple made a lot of other insane mistakes back then as well. Things are different now.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Don't ask for sources because you aren't going to get them --

Most likely because you don't have them.


I don't see the majority of this being true but weirder things have happened.

 

[robains]

Not going to happen. Apple nearly went bankrupt when it tried to sell the OS separately. I think your sources have been eating funny mushrooms.

Apple makes money selling hardware. They are not going to offer IOS or OSX on any hardware except Apple's hardware. Why should they? They make a much higher profit margin on selling hardware than on software.

Today is a VERY different and new era for Apple, can't really compare to a past from long ago ... completely different environments.

Please re-read what I said, I did NOT say Apple were going to offer iOS on any platform. I said Apple would make a version of OSX Mountain Lion available for open platforms ... this does NOT exclude their existing hardware there will be a Mountain Lion version for those also that works with the proprietary EFI (aka current Apple hardware).

Like I said, nothing to lose and much to gain.

----------

Most likely because you don't have them.


I don't see the majority of this being true but weirder things have happened.

Apple leaks:
1. False leaks to find the source
2. Real leaks (this one)
3. False leaks to gauge potential consumer reaction
4. Real leaks to gauge potential consumer reaction

Like any ship, the bigger the ship, the more leaks it'll have and the ship is getting HUGE.

 

[Peace]

Today is a VERY different and new era for Apple, can't really compare to a past from long ago ... completely different environments.

Please re-read what I said, I did NOT say the were going to offer iOS on any platform. I said Apple would make a version of OSX Mountain Lion available for open platforms ... this does NOT exclude their existing hardware there will be a Mountain Lion version for those also that works with the proprietary EFI (aka current Apple hardware).

Like I said, nothing to lose and much to gain.

EFI is not proprietary.

It's on almost all new motherboards.

And Tim will never make the mistake Scully did.


[edit] Excuse me. I meant Michael Spindler. Not Scully.

[/edit]

 

[rdowns]

Don't ask for sources because you aren't going to get them -- but this rumor seems very interesting and closer to "reality" than I initially thought (as I have heard it before).

OSX on any hardware

As I understand it:
iOS 6 (still locked down)
OSX Mountain Lion Mac (still locked down)
OSX Mountain Lion OP (open platform)

At first I was thinking "why?" ... but then the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense from a timing perspective. There is no real "Technical" barrier, we've known for some time this can be done rather easily and work:

1. Ties in to Apple not really wanting to be in the "Desktop" business and iPad will be the eventual replacement of laptops
2. Spread Apple across more hardware
3. Nothing to lose and everything to gain

Rob

This has got to be one of the stupidest rumors I've ever seen. Where do you get the idea that Apple doesn't want to be in the "desktop" business? Macs on their own are a Fortune 100 company.

Apple doesn't want to spread their OS to more hardware, they want people to buy more hardware as they are a hardware company.

 

[Tinyluph]

It's like people just completely ignore the fact that Apple put OS X on the same yearly release schedule as iOS.

 

[GoCubsGo]

This has got to be one of the stupidest rumors I've ever seen. Where do you get the idea that Apple doesn't want to be in the "desktop" business? Macs on their own are a Fortune 100 company.

Apple doesn't want to spread their OS to more hardware, they want people to buy more hardware as they are a hardware company.

Stop trying to bring logic into posts here. You just sound silly.

<3 me some rdowns!

 

[Peace]

Ok. Now since rdowns stuck his nose in here I'll play the devils advocate. HA !

70% of Apple revenue now comes from IOS devices.

Parle' !!

 

[snberk103]

...
OSX on any hardware

As I understand it:
iOS 6 (still locked down)
OSX Mountain Lion Mac (still locked down)
OSX Mountain Lion OP (open platform)
....

Interesting.... Not saying I buy it.... but just for fun....

Part of the Mac experience is that the HW is very predictable for the OS - so you don't get weird OS/HW issues. Or if you do they appear quickly and are easily dealt with. OS X as an Open Platform eliminates that advantage. Is there a way for Apple to get more benefit than it does already?

An important question is what does "Open Platform" mean? And by that I'm talking about the licensing and the pricing. Does Apple sell a reduced price license to OEMs and the OEMs make the HW with OS X installed? OR.... does Apple continue to sell OS X at the full price, and OEMs and individuals are free to install it at the full retail price. By charging full price, Apple can afford to support more HW.

I don't see Apple letting OEMs have a discounted price on OS X. Too much lost revenue on HW and the OS, and they get all the expense of support.

Really, the only reason to go Open Platform - that I can see - is that the revenue from Mac App Store would out-weigh any of the lost revenues and expenses... and I'm not in a position to judge that.

 

[ravenvii]

I'm not joining the "believe it" camp, but just saying...

If they do this Open Platform thing, maybe they'll do it like how Microsoft does it with Windows Phone - set definite boundaries for what you can use as components?

 

[robains]

Ok. Now since rdowns stuck his nose in here I'll play the devils advocate. HA !

70% of Apple revenue now comes from IOS devices.

Parle' !!

Bingo ... and that number is moving UP every quarter ... projected is close to 90% by 2013. Sure Apple is in the hardware business ... the MOBILE hardware business ... I would have thought that to be REALLY obvious by now.

----------

Interesting.... Not saying I buy it.... but just for fun....

Part of the Mac experience is that the HW is very predictable for the OS - so you don't get weird OS/HW issues. Or if you do they appear quickly and are easily dealt with. OS X as an Open Platform eliminates that advantage. Is there a way for Apple to get more benefit than it does already?

An important question is what does "Open Platform" mean? And by that I'm talking about the licensing and the pricing. Does Apple sell a reduced price license to OEMs and the OEMs make the HW with OS X installed? OR.... does Apple continue to sell OS X at the full price, and OEMs and individuals are free to install it at the full retail price. By charging full price, Apple can afford to support more HW.

I don't see Apple letting OEMs have a discounted price on OS X. Too much lost revenue on HW and the OS, and they get all the expense of support.

Really, the only reason to go Open Platform - that I can see - is that the revenue from Mac App Store would out-weigh any of the lost revenues and expenses... and I'm not in a position to judge that.

Hardware and device drivers have matured A LOT on the "open" side of things and they really aren't much different than the drivers we currently get for any "3rd party" devices we add to our Mac hardware ... at least on the MacPro side of things and this is the primary target of OSX OP --> Desktop computing.

Seems like a VERY logical next step to me ... win win in all cases.

Support will be easy -- covers the OS only for OP (just like Microsoft) ... no bringing your non-Apple hardware to a Apple Retail Store and getting support (unless you pay for it).

I think some of you folks have been beaten up too much by "the way things were" and holding on to old concepts that are no longer relevant.