Apple licensed OSX to clone makers in the past, but that was one of the first things Jobs put a stop to if I recall correctly. There's a strong thread in Apple's strategy to prevent computing from becoming a low margin commodity. This helps Apple with its image of high-end or well-crafted devices, increases profit etc. Which is a smart move if you don't own the entire market (but can differentiate yourself from your competitors)
Apple was profitable before the iOS devices hit and much of that was due to this kind of smart thinking. It reminds me of Nintendo, who, despite not dominating the market, still manages to be quite profitable (especially compared to their competitors) with a very similar strategy.
Letting anybody build any ol' system willy nilly would cannibalize Apple's profits, plus give them quite a bit more work since ensuring drive compatibility with random hardware would become a major priority.
As a user I think it sucks, but I have to respect that as a business strategy.
> As a user I think it sucks, but I have to respect that as a business strategy.
No, I do not think respect is quite what it deserves. It does not flow from their capability, but from particular exploitation of given laws that allow market restriction. Respect them for making good products, not for avoiding competition. Respect them for persuading you to buy their products, not for preventing you from having more choice.
I've ran a hackintosh since 10.4 and I've never seen Apple do anything to actively prevent users from doing it or pursue anyone for a non-commercial EULA violation. They stop resellers like Psystar, and they've broken a few things which appeared to be ancillary to moving their own products forward (Atom CPUs), but they could be far more annoying about it every point release if they really felt like it. Early on, they also needlessly released a few fat binary hardware drivers for ethernet, sound, and wifi devices that have never been bundled in a real Intel Mac.
Apple certainly has the means to stop it, but I don't think they mind the fringe hackers running OSX. I've seen a few people converted by it, and I own a few real Macs plus the hackintosh as well, and I suspect most people who hackintosh are Apple customers of some degree. Getting stuffy about it could be pretty damaging to their perceived good will.
It seems strange to describe 'we'll give you something, if you agree not to use it for certain purposes' as depending on 'particular exploitation of given laws that allow market restriction.' To me that's more just about 'common courtesy' between consenting parties.
> Respect them for making good products, not for avoiding competition. Respect them for persuading you to buy their products, not for preventing you from having more choice.
Exactly.
It's interesting how there are also plenty of people that would respect them exactly for their smart use of what the law allows. That's a sad thing, really and it would be nice if apple would find less restrictive ways of dealing with the consequences of more user freedom. For instance, I can see that they seem to be sensitive to a possibly reduced user experience on non-certified hardware, but I can't believe that a tech savvy company like apple wouldn't be able to set up a certification program to mitigate such concerns.
Apple never licensed OS X to clone makers. The clone era was very short (at most 1993-1997), and ended while the Classic MacOS was current. OS X didn't ship until 2001.
Apple licensed variants of OS 7 to the clone makers. When Steve returned, someone decided that the clone license agreements did not cover OS 8 ... so boom. New OS, but no new license. IIRC, Apple did buy one of the clone makers (possibly Power Computing).
Apple was profitable before the iOS devices hit and much of that was due to this kind of smart thinking. It reminds me of Nintendo, who, despite not dominating the market, still manages to be quite profitable (especially compared to their competitors) with a very similar strategy.
Letting anybody build any ol' system willy nilly would cannibalize Apple's profits, plus give them quite a bit more work since ensuring drive compatibility with random hardware would become a major priority.
As a user I think it sucks, but I have to respect that as a business strategy.