ShoppingNo Mac OS X for Atom based netbooks is a big mistake
Rumors are traveling over the net that Apple will kill support on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.2 for Atom processors found on netbooks that have made possible a hackintosh installation, something that will shut down a growing trend of buying cheap Dell Mini 10v netbooks and install Mac OS X on them. Apple should have used this trend to understand what people really want and provide a Mac with similar or better features that fills this need.
Not everybody has $999 to buy a elegant Macbook, but $300 Dell Mini is reachable, so if Apple puts out a netbook with a price ranging from $400 to $600, with better design and features, it can easily take over the netbook market and while the profit margin is small, selling some millions of them could help improve Apple earning while not cannibalizing the high end Macbook segment, Apple can position this new netbook to the Education Market, a segment that has been always dominated by Apple.
Killing support for Atom based netbooks will a loss opportunity for Apple to really understand what We have been trying to tell them, that the economy is not this good for everybody out there, but at the same time is wise to notice that Apple is obligated to kill the support for netbook pcs because of its lawsuit with Psystar, Apple needs to tell the Court that Mac OS X is only for Macs and letting out a version of Mac OS X for PC could give Psystar a foot against Apple.
Here is the dilemma, provide Mac OS X for netbooks or launch an Apple netbook, something that is totally out of Apple’s interest.
English
Chinese
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Japanese
Portuguese
Russian
One Comment, Comment or Ping
Louis Wheeler
I disagree. Apple made no promises to allow Mac OSX to be installed on hardware it does not choose to use. If it forgets to block that hardware and then comes back later to disallow it, then it has violated no one’s rights. The Apple EULA says clearly that Mac OSX is not to be used on non Apple hardware, so what is your gripe?
Even if you were right in this being a lost opportunity for Apple, this is not your’s or a hacker’s choice to make. This is Apple’s intellectual property. If it does not protect it from those who would misuse it, then Apple loses all rights to control it.
Apple has no interest in very inexpensive, e-waste computers. Anyone who would have one is never going to be good Apple customer. And people who declare that they have a right to violate Apple’s EULA will not be good customers either.
Cannot you see? This is your immorality driving this. If you were an honest person you would not seek to violate Apple’s rights. You would not say that Apple has no rights, and then damn Apple when they use technology to thwart your illegality.
Expect much more of this. When the 64 bit kernel is enabled by default, a whole series of security enhancements kick in. One of these is virtual technology which sandboxes the operating system, applications and processes. It will become very difficult for hackers to break into.
The Snow Leopard DVD changed its traditional practices; it now loads the contents of the DVD into a virtual space, before it starts asking who you are. The next step is for Apple to start verifying that you are the owner of the computer, that you have permission to install software on a company owned computer and whether the computer is Apple hardware. If any of those conditions are false, then Apple will direct you to an Apple store.
What this will do is to disallow people from over writing the operating system on a stolen or lost Macintosh. The Mac will, like the iPhone, call the original owner and say where the computer is. A stolen Mac will lock itself and require you to take it to an Apple store to fix it. This seems like a security enhancement to me. Businesses will like this feature; they lose private data all the time on lost or stolen computers.
Companies have the right to control if an employee has permission to install software on a company computer. And Apple has the right to verify that the hardware is genuine Apple. If you disagree, the Apple will tell you to install Windows or the Chrome OS, not Apple’s OS. You have no rights to violate in this matter.
Nov 4th, 2009
Reply to “No Mac OS X for Atom based netbooks is a big mistake”
You must be logged in to post a comment.