Monday, August 15, 2005

Opinion: OS X Hacked to run on any x86 PC

This story has been around for a few days so I thought that I would give my opinions on the matter. To start off, I pose the following two questions:

- Did Apple intentionally release the developer version of OS X so that it could be hacked?
- Was Apple's agenda to get current users of Windows and other OS's to try Mac OS X?

My Comments
============
The fact that OS X has been hacked could be a blessing in disguise for Apple as it has potentially exposed OS X to an untold number of users.
I'm sure that when OS X is offically released for x86, it won't be as easy to hack. What Apple may have done here is get more people excited about OS X and this may draw more users to the platform once the Mactels are released. Either way, more people are going to get their hands dirty by playing with OS X and I'm sure that many will find it appealing. I think that Apple has more to win here than loose as it will bring more "Switchers" to OS X.

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6 Comments:

At 8:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The danger is that in other countries where copyright enforcement is tepid to nonexistent, such as Eastern Europe, Russia, China or the Philippines, unscrupulous PC vendors will install the hacked OS X into their generic PCs and sell it to the public, thereby depriving Apple of those hardware sales and lowering their profits. Remember that foreign sales account for nearly half of their quarterly profits. Once it becomes widespread, you are going to start seeing more red ink on Apple's books even though the Mac platform may gain more markiet share.

 
At 8:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think that you make a good point about exposing OS X to more people. This would be a good thing for Apple.

 
At 9:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Funny that this hack seems to have generated more buzz than that other beta OS soon to be released by that convicted predatory monopolist

 
At 10:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

two things ... ajenda is spelled agenda, and this pirated software is seriously illegal. If I had a PC, I wouldn't touch it within ten feet of a a ten foot pole. It's a fluke. The final will either be better protected, or Apple is considering a bigger move than just changing to intel chips.

 
At 1:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Apple may be counting on a hacked OSX as a benevolent excuse to offer OSx86 on all machines. If Jobs did it, it would be a slap in Gates face, but if its a "dude, we didn't want to, but we now have no choice…" then Microsoft will have less pretense to cut off Office and turn this into a real war.

Maybe also, this version of OSX that runs on developer machines not far different than current Pentiums, is easier to hack than the future "Trusted Computing" version on semi-custom hardware. As with addictive drugs, the best sales policy is "the first ones free".

 
At 9:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

can anyone install or run any software on it?

 

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