I couldn’t care less if chips for Apple computers were made by Peruvian children in a dark cave, but the zealots in the Apple camp are sure coming out with some interesting arguments about what could happen with the impending “switch to Intel”. One of favorite quotes is from Jason Kottke:
but when you look at how Apple protects their hardware business, it’s hard to imagine that they’d let any old cheap x86-based computer run OS X
Oh God no! We can’t have OS X running on *gasp* any old cheap x86-based computer! I mean, then the masses could have the experience of running OS X on a computer *gasp* that they built! Proles with OS X? Not in my lifetime!
Guess I’ll just have to get BSD myself an run it on my cheap ole’ x86 and not pay the Apple tax to run the OS.
If Apple was smart, they’d realize that hardware, while cute and all, is hardly the bulk of a computing experience. And since much of the focus of late has been on OS X (the software), maybe making that software run universally would be a Good Thing. The zealots can still go buy their $3000 G5 to run OS X, but I can dump it on my (calculating) sub-$1500 AMD64 homebrew and get the benefits of a “secure OS”. Either that, or the argument that we should buy Macs for the “secure OS” needs to be retired.