‘Chips and operating systems are becoming irrelevant’
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Apr 17, 2006 at 9:10pm
With all the hubbub and discussion over Boot Camp, Apple’s beta software that lets you dual boot into Mac OS X or Windows XP, I received a letter that I wanted to share with Macsimum readers as interesting food for thought. It’s from John Hill—an IT consultant for 25 years, a Mac user since 1985 and an Apple shareholder—and I present it without comment:
“Boot Camp arrived earlier than I expected, but it certainly is a natural evolution in the direction of Apple. Boot Camp/Leopard/Vista will be the last generation of operating systems that consumers will ever talk about. When Apple switched to Intel chips it was supposedly for their laptop chips. I believe the switch to Intel was a sign that the chip no longer matters—it is a cheap commodity.
“I am sure that OS X can run on AMD or a cell processor. Ultimately, the chip is irrelevant. For the short term the operating system will be important, but long term no one will care. Leopard [Mac OS X 10.5] will help to make that happen.
“Where will this lead? Look at the iPod. What is the chip in the iPod? No one cares. What is the operating system for the iPod? No one cares. Apple’s direction is to make the coolest, most functional devices. Techies will still enjoy dissecting the devices, but the consumers will only care whether or not it works. And yes—this means that Apple will license Mac OS X to Dell; they will just restrict the design of the devices that can be sold.
“Apple’s long term jewels are high level software (iLife, QuickTime, Safari) and its hardware design. Chips and operating systems are becoming irrelevant.”
Thoughts? Write me at daseller@earthlink.net
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 10,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
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