Month: November 2002

A little prediction. In the 1 – 2 year time frame Dell will start selling OS X, probably of the X86 variety.
Now for the the big answer, why?
Well the most recent trigger for the prediction was Dell selling iPods. If this venture is successful, and it should be the iPod is the best of bread MP3 players out there, it will provide encouragement for Apple and Dell to continue and expand their partership. Dell is also good for Apple in the volume and buisness world exposure sense.
Dell and Apple have very similar problems. Apple really needs to be able to expand into the Windows world. The tea leaves say switchers are more likely to be from the Unix/Linux crowd than the Windows crowd which makes sense until Apple is able to distribut via a Windows channel like Dell. From Dell’s angle Microsoft is getting to be a big PITA, both in price and in strong armatude. Dell really needs some alternatives like their FreeDOS adventures. Apple could definately kill Microsoft on the OS liscense margins.
The big killers in the prediction is if Apple just refuses to have a second architecture due complexities of managing or fear of killing the main buisness, selling boxes. Microsoft could also kill the prediction by going vicious with liscensing, which will probably happen given the useless punishment from the anti-trust trial.
Regardless my prediction still stands. In a 1 – 2 year time frame, probably in 2004, Dell will start selling boxes with OS X on X86 hardware.

A little prediction. In the 1 – 2 year time frame Dell will start selling OS X, probably of the X86 variety.
Now for the the big answer, why?
Well the most recent trigger for the prediction was Dell selling iPods. If this venture is successful, and it should be the iPod is the best of bread MP3 players out there, it will provide encouragement for Apple and Dell to continue and expand their partership. Dell is also good for Apple in the volume and buisness world exposure sense.
Dell and Apple have very similar problems. Apple really needs to be able to expand into the Windows world. The tea leaves say switchers are more likely to be from the Unix/Linux crowd than the Windows crowd which makes sense until Apple is able to distribut via a Windows channel like Dell. From Dell’s angle Microsoft is getting to be a big PITA, both in price and in strong armatude. Dell really needs some alternatives like their FreeDOS adventures. Apple could definately kill Microsoft on the OS liscense margins.
The big killers in the prediction is if Apple just refuses to have a second architecture due complexities of managing or fear of killing the main buisness, selling boxes. Microsoft could also kill the prediction by going vicious with liscensing, which will probably happen given the useless punishment from the anti-trust trial.
Regardless my prediction still stands. In a 1 – 2 year time frame, probably in 2004, Dell will start selling boxes with OS X on X86 hardware.