monkinetic » Blog Archive » Another Reason Why Apple Switched?

Easier? How? Easier as in, don't need to port your app to Mac OS X now?

Dual-boot is a dual-edged sword. The Mac could effectively be dead for gaming. Why would anyone spend the money to port a game to the Mac now when you can just say "install Windows". Anyone who's spent enough money on a Mac good enough to run new games on is probably not going to flinch at spending the money to install Windows to play games.

Ditto for plenty of other Windows apps.

This was the standard answer when OS/2 users asked for a native version... actually it was worse on OS/2 because you could run Win16 apps in OS/2 through Win-OS/2. I'm sure there will be a free VirtualPC/VMWare-like app for Mac OS X/Intel, and unfortunately I think it'll work very well, and be very fast. This could be bad for the Mac. Honestly I think it doesn't help that OS X won't run on other manufacturer's PCs, because it means the potential market for OS X apps will STILL be limited to those who buy Apple PCs, instead of potentially the entire PC market.

There used to be a small but growing market of people who liked to spend money on quality computers and software but couldn't run Windows software, so porting was the only way to reach them. Soon there might be a small but (hopefully) growing market of people who like to spend money on quality computers and software but can run Windows and just need to be convinced to install Windows.

Apple could still have the market of people who like PCs that are stylish and just work and come with Mac OS X pre-installed, but still offer Mac OS X to people with PCs. I'd be happy to accept a much stricter licensing/activation situation in return for this, a la Windows XP.

Selling software has made Microsoft billions. Microsoft had the software people needed in the 80s and 90s... Office software. Apple has the software people need for the present and future... iLife with iTunes, Spotlight, Mail/iCal/iChat/AB, Safari, etc. Unless moving to Intel makes Apple's PCs truly price-competitive with other vendors' products (ie: get Apple value-added without the cost-added) their installed base will still be dwarfed by Windows.

All that said, I really want one of those Mac/Intel boxes. Now. :-) And it has the software I want... NOW!

Thread: 1 replies. reply Last updated: 2:36 PM

Apple Developer Connection: WebObjects 5.3 Release Notes

Several people asked me if I had (or will) quit using WebObjects. The truth is I haven't been using it lately, but I said if Apple didn't announce a new version today I would consider it officially dead. Thankfully, that is not the case at all!

So now you get WebObjects Developer free with Mac OS X Tiger, and WebObjects Deployment free with Mac OS X Tiger Server... interesting, the WebObjects page doesn't list a WebObjects product anymore for $699. Is WebObjects 5.3 deployment supported on other platforms? If so, how do you license it? Hopefully I'll learn tomorrow morning, but if I find out I probably can't say anything because of the NDA (at WWDC).

Installing Xcode 2.1 (with WO 5.3) now...

Thread: 0 replies. reply Last updated: 9:31 PM

Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus: Apple and Intel: A tale of rumors and truths

I was intrigued by this so I tried to figure it out. It's easy!

1. Quit System Preferences (if it's running)
2. Launch System Preferences
3. Hold Down the Option Key
4. Click on the Displays icon

You'll see a popup for rotating the display... Standard, 90, 180 or 270. I've tried 90 and 180 and both worked! I wonder if it'd be bad for my powerbook to run it upside down... then I could build a nice stand for the PowerBook so it could run upside down and I could put a keyboard on the table where the bottom of the PowerBook (ie: its keyboard) would normally be. :-) It would kinda suck to have all the cables hanging down but maybe the stand could have some port repeaters in it. ;-)

Thread: 0 replies. reply Last updated: 7:24 PM