A Multiplatform Future For The Mac?

A multiplatform Mac is certainly attractive enough. But I see a better chance of Apple getting into the software business outside of their own proprietary hardware rather than their own platform branching into Linux, etc.

Now that the speculation about Apple switching from IBM PowerPC to Intel chips is over, industry buzz about more platform crossover for the Macintosh is just beginning.

Solution providers and analysts said Apple’s move to Intel opens up some intriguing possibilities: Would Intel-based Macs be able to run Microsoft Windows and Linux? And would the Intel version of Unix-based Mac OS X–code-named Leopard–be able to run on non-Apple computers powered by Intel processors?

The answer to both questions likely will be no, at least in the short term, VARs and analysts said. But they didn’t rule out either eventuality because of the huge market implications for Apple. Both scenarios would open the Windows PC space–especially the lucrative corporate market–to the Mac platform, potentially lifting Apple’s 2 percent to 3 percent computer market share into the double digits, they said. What’s more, if Leopard were permitted to run on PCs, Apple could reverse its historic decision to not license its operating system on other manufacturers’ computers.

“Down the road, I think we’ll see–slowly but surely–lower prices, more compatibility and better peripherals [for the Mac],” said George Swords, marketing manager at PowerMacPac, a Portland, Ore.-based Apple specialist. “Who knows? Maybe with this [transition to Intel] we’ll have a box that can run Unix, OS X and Windows, without a translator. That would be good for the whole industry.” [Read the rest]