[softpedia]Apple To give PC users the green light (Big time rumour) - Overclock.net

Miki · 06-24-08

Recent changes occurring with Apple's Dot Mac collection of online services (the recent discovery of the Me.com dubbing), the nature of Mac OS X 10.6 (rumored to skip PPC) and some WWDC '08 spy shots that show OS X without the ‘Mac’ have given birth to quite a rumor – Apple is making OS X a platform-neutral OS.

MacRumors notes that Apple might just have "generic PCs" in mind this time around, pointing out not to one, but to five recent rumors that could potentially indicate Mac OS X is going to work with standard PC parts, under guidance from Apple:

- Changing .Mac to Me.com (hinting at a neutral platform)

- OS X Leopard (not 'Mac' OS X Leopard)

- 10.6 to be Intel only (implies dropping PowerPC)

- "No new features" in 10.6 could be due to resources devoted to just making 10.6 "PC compatible."

theAppleBlog mentions John Gruber of Daring Fireball who thinks Apple is simply bringing the iPhone OS and Mac OS closer to each other – that includes dubbing –, making this the simplest and most logical explanation to everything mentioned above.

As you may have noticed, only four of the rumors are posted above. The fifth clue both sources invoke as a potential indication to Apple's expanding the usability of the Mac OS is Psystar. That's right, the Mac clone maker that Apple hasn't done anything about is the last (but very probable) indication that the Cupertino-based computer and software manufacturer is planning to let folks run OS X on non-proprietary machines.

Softpedia take: It is also known that Steve Jobs once took a decade-long break to stop and think: How the heck am I going to convince this God-forsaken civilization of ours that Mac is the way to go? When he came back from his 'vacation', he told Apple they needed to make some changes. But, in order to make people accept those changes, Steve told them they also needed to trick users into thinking they were merely upgrading to a better OS that sported all the features they already knew and loved to use. And what do you know, Mac OS X suddenly became more attractive and has been so ever since. It's a long-shot, but removing Mac from the OS' dubbing could indeed indicate that Steve is trying to 'dupe' the world again (in a good way, of course).

source: Softpedia

Jay1ty0 · 06-24-08

Intel Only?
So AMD and PPC Users will be left out?
Well, seems that its going to be a good OS...

Edit: Rep+ for you.

rabidgnome229 · 06-24-08

I very seriously doubt this. Apple attracts more rumors and faked pics than the rest of the industry combined. Every product from the MBA to iPhone to iPods has dozens (sometimes hundreds) of fake "leaked" pics leading up to the releases.

Apple makes more money by far from hardware than from selling OSX. Part of the reason that it enjoys more stability than windows does is from the tight control of the platform. I could probably name eight other reasons why this is untrue if pressed.

Quote:

- "No new features" in 10.6 could be due to resources devoted to just making 10.6 "PC compatible."

As for this, there are many under-the-hood changes that have been revealed for snow leopard. OpenCL, multicore optimizations and dev tools, zfs, etc. Snow leopard looks like it will be pushing modernization rather than UI enhancement.

Tufelhunden · 06-24-08

While I would love to see this I doubt it. Making the OS compatible with the numerous combination of parts available would cause serious bloat in the OS. That is one of the reasons Macs run so fast, small part list supported, with no extraneous drivers.

Also Psystar is still alive as the law is on their side. Old FedCircuiy case law, states a EULA cannot limit to particular machine.

Would be interesting though.

*VulcanDragon* · 06-24-08

This will never, never happen. Stupid rumor.

JeremyFr · 06-24-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tufelhunden

While I would love to see this I doubt it. Making the OS compatible with the numerous combination of parts available would cause serious bloat in the OS. That is one of the reasons Macs run so fast, small part list supported, with no extraneous drivers.

Also Psystar is still alive as the law is on their side. Old FedCircuiy case law, states a EULA cannot limit to particular machine.

Would be interesting though.

Not really, many drivers have already been made by people in the "hackintosh" community, and ton's of hardware is supported much like with linux these day's. In all reality it wouldn't have to bloat at all as long as the driver support was available out there online all they would need is basic drivers to get the OS loaded and then you could download what you needed once installed, in all reality its what Window's should have stuck with.