Opening up MacOS to non-Apple products...

[KnightWRX]

Actually... I wonder if the iDevices are still a gateway... but not to Macs. Perhaps Apple wants to get as many out there as possible because the real money is in the content they allow Apple to sell? In this scenario, as long as Mac owners account for a good portion of the content sold, then Macs will continue to be available. Just a thought...

Content is the gateway product. The real money is in the iPhone :

If anything, iPad is a gateway product to iPhone. Content is the gateway to all of it. Macs are a side business.

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You mean back when Apple didn't have a "portable" product line, two app stores, and a media store? Even if licensing out the OS did kill off PC sales, Apple would still make a huge amount of money. It won't come close to killing the company like last time.

Sure, but it would kill 13% of its revenue... to gain what exactly ? Support nightmare ? Complexification of OS X ? I really doubt selling a bunch of OS X licenses to Lenovo, Dell, Asus can get them 1-2 billion $ per quarter like the Macs do.

 

[NT1440]

You mean back when Apple didn't have a "portable" product line, two app stores, and a media store? Even if licensing out the OS did kill off PC sales, Apple would still make a huge amount of money. It won't come close to killing the company like last time.

What is there for apple to gain other than the clear mess of managing vendors aiming for nothing but bargain bin pricing?

 

[roadbloc]

OP, it is never going to happen. Ever. We should know by now that Apple would rather stick needles in its eyes rather than sell their software independent of their hardware.

 

[Nermal]

Sure, but it would kill 13% of its revenue... to gain what exactly ? Support nightmare ? Complexification of OS X ? I really doubt selling a bunch of OS X licenses to Lenovo, Dell, Asus can get them 1-2 billion $ per quarter like the Macs do.

You're right; Apple won't gain much (if anything), but that wasn't what I was responding to

 

[KnightWRX]

You're right; Apple won't gain much (if anything), but that wasn't what I was responding to

I said it myself too, Apple today is not Apple of the 90s. It wouldn't kill them to license out OS X like it almost killed them to license out then Mac OS. However, the situation is the same : the money is in the hardware, not the software. Apple licensing out OS X would pretty much kill the Mac business.

We all agree (except the OP apparently) that there is no reason for Apple to do it, and no benefit to them in it.

 

[chrono1081]

Releasing the software will hurt the sales of the hardware.

This.

Apple makes money on hardware, not software. Their software is dirt cheap.

 

[A Hebrew]

If Apple were to ever release their OS, they would boost the price massively. Keeping it at 20 would kill their profits entirely.

 

[VulchR]

Given the near-fatal disaster Apple suffered about the time it licensed Mac clones, I doubt Apple would risk returning to licensing. There'd be too much of 'Apple is going back to old bad habits now that Jobs is gone'. Besides, one of Apple's greatest assets is the brand.

@OP: Nobody is attacking you. It's just that some of are old enough to remember a time when Apple was rather less successful than it is today, and licensing their OS didn't really improve matters.

 

[cgk.emu]

Releasing the software will hurt the sales of the hardware.

So what? No, really. I'm honestly asking YOUR opinion. I know what Apples view on it is of course.

Apple couldn't care less about "Mac" users anymore. Hell, I've been booting into Windows 7 on my Mac Pro for months because of the amazingly stupid "iOS-ification" of OS X. Ugh.

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Given the near-fatal disaster Apple suffered about the time it licensed Mac clones, I doubt Apple would risk returning to licensing. There'd be too much of 'Apple is going back to old bad habits now that Jobs is gone'. Besides, one of Apple's greatest assets is the brand.

@OP: Nobody is attacking you. It's just that some of are old enough to remember a time when Apple was rather less successful than it is today, and licensing their OS didn't really improve matters.

Times have changed. I'm old enough to remember this as well, but not naive enough to believe that the landscape hasn't morphed into something completely different. Obviously I know where you stand...or rather, don't.