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Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut
I think we might see OS X on Intel soon.
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If Apple "adapted" and licensed Mac OS X to run on the x86 (Intel) platform, though, it would have to be an all-or-none move, it would alienate and leave out in the cold a
lot of the existing user base, and it would create a huge software gap.
Why all-or-none? Software. Software. Software. It wouldn't be so hard in theory getting OS X ported to x86. Darwin is already there. But what good is an OS without any software?
Let's not forget that
all third-party software would have to be recompiled (at best) or scrapped and rewritten (at worst) for these new computers. Unless Apple gave the developers a huge head-start, there would be
nothing available for these new machines at launch.
Even with the head-start, though, developers would have three options: compile for PowerPC, compile for x86, or compile for both. Such a possibility would terribly fragments the user base. Program A may work fine on both Bob's Apple Mac and Susan's HP Mac, but Program B only runs on Bob's Mac and Program C only runs on Susan's Mac. Try explaining the reasoning behind
that to technophobes.
Clones, on the other hand, present an entirely different situation. If the PC manufacturers could use the PPC architecture, none of this would be a problem. Then it would be strictly a game of politics.