Apple, Be and Bill Gates

If you have been a Macintosh user for long, you know why Apple Computer is such an easy target for criticism. Up until Macintosh clones began appearing, Apple was the sole hardware supplier for the operating system that it invented.

With Mac compatibles now flooding a market that was exclusively Apple's domain, this situation is sure to change. What remains to be seen is if the Mac operating system can stand up to the challenge of multiple vendors building boxes to run it. The PC-compatible market has gone through years of upheaval due to incompatibility issues and the lack of plug-and-play features.

Hopefully, the present Mac architecture is solid enough to answer the challenge until Apple delivers a new operating system.

Though there is still no doubt that Mac is still the easiest to use personal computer, everyone must admit that its lead has been seriously eroded by Windows. The public at large does not see the difference and Apple has essentially acknowledged this in recent months.

As hard as it is to admit, Microsoft has forged ahead on a number of fronts with Windows 95...particularly in the most important arena, public opinion. Getting a modern operating system to market is perhaps Apple's greatest challenge as it competes today's personal computer market.

This situation is ironic as Apple has finally licensed its hardware business. With that out of the way, Apple must keep its technology ahead of the competition. By not delivering on a new (and revolutionary) OS soon, it could seriously hurt the clone market which it so hesitantly started in the first place.

It can be argued at what point Apple should have licensed its OS in the first place. The reality is that licensing the operating system was only part of the problem for Apple. It still takes a special hardware configuration to run the Mac OS. This is where the next generation PowerPC platform holds so much potential. Gone will be Mac's proprietary hardware specs. The new platform is supposed to result in clone manufacturers being able to build cheaper machines. However, it will also usher in an era when the Mac OS will literally be going head-to-head on its own merits with the predominate operating system that the rest of the world uses.

It may be during this time that the realities of Apple not allowing the creation of a healthy clone market years ago will come to haunt it in full form.

Think of it. Had the Apple OS gone head-to-head with Windows 1.0 or even Windows 3.0, there certainly would been a different outcome than competing against Window 95 which is being peddled "as the most Mac-like ever."

Will Apple buy BeOS and merge it into what was to the System 8? Could a second revolution be on the horizon? I only hope Apple gets to Jean-Louis Gassee, Be Inc. founder and former Apple president, before Bill Gates does.