gavinshearer.com

Skywriting is considered subtle here in Seattle, where it's a white-on-grey format.

Schiller's January remarks should be read more narrowly. He said nothing then that's any different today. First, Boot Camp's an unsupported and bring-your-own Windows XP deal, as explictly stated : "... though you will need to bring your own copy to the table, as Apple Computer does not sell or support Microsoft Windows." And the second part of his comment, "someone ... probably will"; he didn't say it wouldn't be Apple.
Otherwise, good post and good call. But I wonder if your prediction about Apple licensing Windows is correct. In the first place, you are correct in thinking that Steve Jobs would spot Microsoft a few extra billion if there was no other way to impliment his grand switching design. Remember, Schiller said "Apple has no desire *or plan to sell* or support Windows" Secondly, there's still the Red Box to be considered. When IBM attempted to have Windows functionality without Windows on OS/2, Microsoft was still the nominative underdog to Big Blue, so antitrust was not a big concern for MS at the time. That is certainly not the case today. If Microsoft uses the same tactics of rewriting code to keep a Red Box solution in OS X from working, the DoJ would have to take notice. My thought is that if the Red Box solution is implimented, it would be more likely taken at 10.6. It would be a full-fledged declaration of war, and I think Apple needs to have a working Office replacement in place before that big step is taken. IWork isn't a threat yet, but maybe in the next year that could be -one more thing.
Or I could be completely fos.

re: Apple vs. Sony

Funny that you should mention that; just yesterday I was at the local shopping mall and saw a brand new "Sony Style" store across the hall from the Apple Store. I got to toy around with the new carbon fiber Vaios, and my impression is that they're hugely superior to Powerbooks -- er, MacBook Pros. They must weigh a third of what the MacBooks do, and the frame is much stronger (every MacBook owner I know has inevitably dented or bent his chassis at some point).

of course, I'd rather return to hunting-gathering for dinner than switch back to Windows, but I'd hardly call the MacBook Pros the "tastiest" portables anymore. Aluminum has to go.

What really struck me about the two Schiller quotes was how similar they were. In the earlier one, he says "no plans to sell or support Windows," and in the later one he says "no desire or plan to sell or support Windows." They're essentially the same words. The first time around, everybody took "support" to mean "enable." But if you assume he's a marketing weasel (and he is), one interpretation of what he meant BOTH times is: "We're not so stupid as to commit resources to provide assistance to people running Windows." So this may not be as much of a reversal as some in the press have been crowing.

Ya I thought that the Schiller quotes where pretty much the same as well. I do not see this as a shot across Microsofts bow however. Why would Microsoft pull Mac Office when Apples market-share is growing, wouldn't this just sell more copies of Mac Office. OSX is not a threat to Windows, it's more of a muse.
This new virtualization layer will be something different than classic. Classic was a measure taken for compatibility, so that their user base could transition. "Go ahead give OSX a shot... see classic is there if you need him... it's safe." I guess for windows users it will still be like this, but for Apples installed base this is an all out feature... a killer feature. " Look what Leopard can do!" It's more than a band-aid to get us past the hard times, it offers new possibilities. It will almost certainly speed the move to intel, sell a lot of copies of OS X, and help the market-share situation. Gee's! DUH how could Apple not be doing this...? So ya Mr. Gavin your my new favorite blogger :)

"Creating snazzy diagrams in Visio" ? I know you're biased, but Mac-only OmniGraffle wipes the floor with Visio's sorry arse and is 1/4th the price, to boot.

No, I don't work for them; just a fanatical customer.

Check out another scenario at my blog too.
http://codenexus.wordpress.com/
These Apple people are either insanely smart or just thought of one move that actually targets a whole lot of other areas.

Just a quick correction: the Intel-core Macs were announced in June last year, not January of this year. (check your News. com link above). Thus, not three months, but 10 months. My how time flies!

Thank you for calling attention to the real issue with Sony/Toshiba/HP. Microsoft is sitting fairly pretty at the moment because now there is another hardware maker that can run their OS.

Since Apple is still not selling Windows or providing technical support for it, Phil Schiller's statements could still be taken as consistent.

I posted about how Apple would gain hardware market penetration by doing this, way back in March when the machines were first announced.

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?p=1820101#post1820101

Hey Gavin, great article, I liked it so much I have linked to it from my lense:

http://www.squidoo.com/Boot-Camp/

Hope you don't mind!

Boot Camp actually removes the power of the threat of MS dropping Office, as Mac users could switch to the Windows version - especially if it was in a "Classic-like" or Virtual box. Mac users wouldn't like it, but they'd blame MS for dropping it, not Apple. And I do expect, all the more now, a full fledged iWork for $99 or less by MWSF.

And kudos for predicting this step all the way back in January.

Just a note on Carbon Fibre laptops (as mentioned above) - I hope they've improved the stability of it over the years as the carbon fibre on my Ducati has not aged well at all ... I'd be annoyed if my laptop had the same look in twelve months as my bike did.

Curb your enthusiasm. A $2,000 Mac that runs both OS X and Windows will cost $2,000 PLUS the cost of a shrink-wrapped copy of Windows XP. People who are portraying Boot Camp as enabling you to buy a Mac and sonehow get Windows for free are misleading their readers. So, in purely economic terms the Mac will not be "the better value" because no one is ever going to give you a copy of Windows for free--even if Apple started bundling it and selling it themselves.

The smallest Vaio I can find is $3000 and almost exactly half the weight of the MacBook Pro -- it's a 1.3 GHz subnotebook, not really a direct competitor to the MacBook Pro. The others are all as heavy or heavier.

I hope Apple produces an ultralight, but it's a different product category.

Don't delink. Wayback.

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