Prediction: OS X Available for PC in 2006

Robert X. Cringely, author of the PBC.com column, "I, Cringely," predicts Apple will succumb to market pressure and make Mac OS X available - though unsupported - on PC hardware. I agree, however I think it will happen within the next two years, not in 2006. Time will tell. Following is the prediction:

"But Apple WILL make some inroads against Microsoft. The new Intel Macs will run Windows XP unofficially, and Apple Support acknowledges that they are only days from running XP officially, too. So Apple finally has a solid argument why Windows-centric companies and homes should consider trying a Mac. The best case, though, says that Apple sells an additional million units, which aren't enough for Steve Jobs, so I see him going into a kind of stealth competition with Microsoft.

"Here's how I believe it will work. Apple won't offer versions of OS X for generic Intel hardware because the drivers and the support obligation would be too huge. But just as you can buy a shrink-wrapped copy of 10.4 for your iMac, they'll gladly sell you a shrink-wrapped Intel version intended for an Intel Mac, but of course YOU CAN PUT IT ON ANY MACHINE YOU LIKE. The key here is to offer no guarantees and only limited support, patterned on the kind you get for most Open Source packages -- a web site, forums, download section. and a wiki. Apple will help users help themselves. With two to three engineers and some outreach to hackers and hardware makers, Apple could put together an unofficial program that could easily attract two to three million Windows users per year to migrate their old machines to the new OS. Imagine the profit margins of three engineers effectively generating $300-plus million per year in sales."

Jobs Returns to Apple (from 1996 article)

As we begin 2006, I found this little tidbit from Reuters while looking through some old files. Steve Jobs returned triumphantly to Apple in December 1996, shocking the tech industry. The rest, as they say, is history. You'll note at the bottom this article was downloaded from CompuServe. Remember that? :-)

Apple Brings Steve Jobs Home
(Dec. 21) Stunning the computer industry, Apple Computer Inc. has agreed to acquire NeXT Software Inc. for $400 million, reuniting Apple with its co-founder, Steve Jobs.

"The acquisition," says Kourosh Karimkhany of the Reuter News Service, "will give Apple the software technology it needs to revamp the Macintosh personal computer, which has lost much of its technological luster to PCs running software from Microsoft Corp."

At Apple's Cupertino, California, headquarters, Jobs told the wire service, "The Mac has provided the innovation that the industry has been feeding off for the last 10 years. It's time for someone to come up with innovation to drive the industry forward. Who better than Apple?"

Jobs, who founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in his garage 20 years ago, led Apple through its early years until he was fired by the company's board in 1985.

Apple now will pay $350 million, mostly in cash and a little stock, for Redwood City, California, NeXT, and will pay off NeXT's $50 million debt.

Jobs will come back to Apple part-time to lead an effort to rewrite the fundamental software of the Macintosh, reporting to Apple Chairman Gilbert Amelio.

Apple will base much of its next-generation operating system on Nextstep, Karimkhany reports, quoting Amelio as saying NeXT's technology will not only provide many of the software bells and whistles that Apple needs to compete with Microsoft's Windows, but will attract outside software companies to write more titles for the Mac.

"Without question, the technology at NeXT was the superior technology, by a significant amount," Amelio said.

As reported, Apple had been for months looking outside for help after having abandoned an unfinished operating system code-named "Copland." The company looked at operating system technology and multimedia software from companies such as Sun Microsystems Inc. and closely held Be Inc.

Jobs also helped co-found Pixar Animation Studios, a production studio that uses powerful computers instead of drawings. The company made last year's hit "Toy Story." He told Reuters he will continue to run Pixar.

Reports from Reuter News Service are a regular feature of CompuServe's Executive News Service (GO ENS).

--Charles Bowen