A Vista Full of Longhorns and Leopards

Microsoft will give a new Vista to its users, Apple a new processor.

With the development of Microsoft Vista, previously called Longhorn, Windows users will see many of the clues from Mac OS X. Many features are said to be similar to Apple’s operating system and will go beyond it. However, if Microsoft’s new baby will have OS X look-alike features, Mac users might be able to run Windows in its entirety through an OS X interface with Apple’s decision to use Intel processors. And don’t forget that this will mean a new operating system for Apple too: OS X Leopard. You can read more in this article: OS X Leopard to Be Compatible With Windows Applications?

The article sparkles a few questions. If OS X will run on PCs, what will happen with the hardware side of Apple? After all Apple had already stopped Dell and HP’s attempts to create Mac clones before. Apple will have to get more competitive on hardware side of its business (making a good marketing of its new Intel based computers) and will have to get more active with new software too. Maybe this will even mean that Macs will be cheaper. Will there still be a difference between Macs and PCs anyway after the initial period?

Apple will have to market its new computers with Intel processors as the way to run both OS X and Windows, in an attempt not to loose its market share hardware wise and possibly increase it. The pitfall on this is that once Apple will make Leopard compatible with PCs, people will know that they can run the operating system on PCs. The best way to handle this would be to make Apple computers cheaper so people would be compelled to purchase them instead of a PC.

This is a situation that could actually go out of hand, if Apple doesn’t play it the right way. But on the other side I can see how Apple could take all this to their advantage.

Apple shoud use the fact of moving over to Intel processors to create better computers at lower costs. Costs that are competitive with the PC market of today.

They should also create an OS that, in the eye of a Windows user, will be worthed switching to. That said, if OS X requires Windows to run Windows applications, people will have to buy two OS’ now, as PC users will want to switch to Windows Vista. And how will Apple know how to run Vista as part of OS X Leopard interface if they will be released at the same time? So Apple will have to market Leopard so that people instead of switching to Vista, will want to switch to Leopard. “Get all the functionalities of Windows, plus the unique features of OS X” should be the message. OS X will have to have unique features that Vista doesn’t have, of course, and maybe they should stress the fact that Macs are very secure (while making darn sure that the security features of OS X Leopard are improved, because if they start being compatible with PCs, Apple’s new OS will start to have a hard time).

Apple should take advantage of programs upgrades. Let’s say Adobe decides to come up with a CS 3 after the merger with Macromedia, for example. A very smart move would be to code Leopard so that there isn’t a need of developing two versions of the same program for the software developers, i.e. one for VISTA and one for Leopard. The reason is that OS X is cheaper than Windows at the moment. If programs can run both on OS X without the aid of Windows, people will slowly leave Windows alone—providing Windows users are given a good reason to switch to OS X, i.e., high end computers and cheaper and better OS—and because the incompatibility issues will be resolved, it won’t matter if someone comes up with a Windows file, OS X will be able to handle it.

Vista should also retain compatibility with previous versions of Windows. If Vista is not compatible with its predecessors, it will also mean that Mr Smith could start using his Photoshop 7 Windows version on Leopard, while he might not be able to do that with Vista. “Ops, there is a saving”, says Mr Smith, “I have got a better computer, I bought a new OS for less money and I don’t have to upgrade all of my applications at once.”

While doing all this, Apple better not forget about its existing Mac users and make sure that compatibility with previous versions of the OS and third party applications is retained. It wouldn’t make sense to make all that effort to be compatible with Windows, thus jumping in a void for customers that Apple doesn’t yet have, and neglect the existing Mac users. If Apple doesn’t think with this, not only will they risk not to gain new users, but they will risk to loose what they have already.

Of course Apple might just decide to leave alone this whole Windows compatibility matter, as it can become a double edged sword, and just strive to make better Macs, while using the iPod as one of the methods to introduce people to the world of Macs.