Not a question for the normal Apple crowd

This question came from my friend Stephen who was writing an economics paper for one of his MBA courses.  We had a brief online chat this morning about Apple hardware prices.

He then told me that he had switched back to Windows XP from Vista on his desktop.  He also carries a MacBook and worked at Apple with me.

His question was, "How much would I pay to run OS X on non-Apple hardware?"

I immediately said I would pay $229, but after some more thought, I think that I would be willing to pay $299.

I would even be willing to have a serial number tied to my name so it could be tracked if my copy got out into the wild.

I might even be happy to live with the previous release.  In other words, I would be fine running 10.4 as the Apple hardware crew moves to Leopard.

This is a pretty good measure of the weakness of operating system competition.

I am curious if others would pay more than the going rate for OS X if you could have it on non-Apple hardware.

This isn't a question for those who believe running OS X on non-Apple hardware would destroy Apple.

I have heard all those arguments, and I still maintain if Apple's hardware is competitive, it will do fine.

I also know Apple's operating system would win a lot of converts.

Comments

[Robert]

Selling OS X to individual customers only sacrifices hardware sales. Corporations, however, might be a different story. Of course Apple might need a partner(s) to service that market. Should Apple decide to go after that segment I'm sure there would be quite a few offering to sell and service them. Would it be easier for, say, HP to sell and service hardware and OS X to them? Security measures to keep OS X from the wild would be easier in that situation too.

[TRS-80]

It would probably have to be even more, given the higher support costs Apple would have supporting OS X on non-Apple hardware.

[Hammer of Truth]

Umm, who is going to support all of those non-Apple hardware installs of OS X? Apple? The hardware vendors themselves? Who's going to make the drivers for all the different flavors of components? You would just be making Apple into another MS. The weakness of Apple making their own hardware is also their strength. Just ask the linux guys who break down and buy a Mac.

[Hugh]

Some people think it's silly or even a sign of moral weakness, but there are people for whom it really freaking matters that the corners of a MacBook are rounded a certain way, or that the latch to close a Mac laptop isn't visible, or that the trackpad is flush with the surface. These things really do matter because, hey, you use and touch this thing all day long, for years.

Some people don't give a crap, or don't even notice how awful the details on a Dell laptop are, how sloppy and disproportionate the seams between surfaces are, or how the whole thing tips backward a bit when you adjust the screen. I don't really understand why people put up with that kind of crappiness but still want OS X running on the machine.

[Lewis]

I think there would be a lot of complaining if Apple imposed a "Non-Apple Hardware Tax".

Why not just remove any restrictions that keep it from running on PCs? Then just say that the OS is designed to run on Apple hardware. If you don't use it on Apple hardware then we won't support it. PC manufacturers could step in and fill that need if they want to ship the Mac OS on their machines.

And I seriously doubt Apple is looking to move into the enterprise market anytime soon. This missing piece has been discussed plenty of times on ApplePeels, and I believe he has it spot on. They just don't care. Which is too bad, because that's where it could be most helpful.

[Louis Wheeler]

If you would be willing to pay $299 for Mac OSX 10.4 for a wintel box, what quality and price would that box be? If MacBooks are at $1100, then the Wintel box must be below $800. What quality can you buy at that price? Would the price difference make up for the cheapening of Apple's name? And for the extra cost to Apple to make it compatible with a wider range of hardware?

At best, what this would do is give the buyer more flexibility. Whether that flexibility is needed is debatable. I'd say that this debate is "penny wise and pound foolish." It betrays a mentality that has long since become nonproductive. Apple, long ago, adopted an equal or lower price to a comparable name brand. You must accept lower quality to get a lower price than Apple's.

Think choice not price savings.

Also I just don't buy the argument that every piece of hardware made by a company other than Apple is junk.

If I am not asking Apple for support.

I just don't want something deliberately disabled.

Let's assume Bill Gates decides that he doesn't like Apple hardware running Vista, is it okay for him to put something in his software to prevent Intel Macs from running Windows?

[y]

No more than $58, the current cost of a set of OpenBSD CDs.

[slebetman]

I'm willing to pay full retail price to run OSX on non Apple hardware but only on Apple compatible third party hardware. Regular PC hardware simply doesn't support the features I like about the Mac: Power-on and Shutdown alarms allowing me to use my Mac as a giant alarm clock, target disk mode, being able to have more than 4 physical partitions per disk (think multi-booting lots of different OS images). Granted that not everybody needs these features and granted that such a PC would not be able to boot Windows but I've gotten used to having them.

[PGE]

I'd pay not more than 150 Euro for the on-any-pc version for OSX.

[Tom B]

It's almost a pointless question; any computer running Windows and NOT OSX is only slightly more useful than a door stop. And way more annoying and fussy than a door stop.

[Massif]

First, look up the definition of "self-selecting sample" ;)

In actual answer.

No more than £60, as I can get vista for that much, and don't think that OSX is actually any better.

In fact, as I'd be missing out on some of my favourite features (the natty crumb-trail in explorer, pen flicks, the performance and reliability monitor and a few other bits and bobs) let's say £40.

In fact, as I'd also be missing out on being able to play all my games, and using my PC to watch and record TV natively let's make that £30.

Oh wait, you can't get OneNote for OSX at the moment.

I wouldn't use it at all then. Sigh...

Besides which, it's not even slightly going to happen; and should it happen you know that the first thing you'll discover is just how much effort goes into supporting the huge variety of devices which run on windows.