Re: Possibility of open-sourcing GS/OS

[Roger Johnstone <rojaws@orcon.net.nz>]

In <hoSdneyACIKz1u3eRVn-qg@comcast.com> Michael J. Mahon wrote:
> Roger Johnstone wrote:
>> 
>> Those they did license from about 1995 to 1997, at which time Steve 
>> Jobs  returned to Apple, took one look at the books ("We're making 
>> $50 in  license fees for each $1000 computer sale they take off us?!?!
>> ") and  axed the clone licenses.
> 
> Thus sealing Apple's fate to be a hardware manufacturer rather than
> a software manufacturer.  Even though Apple has always managed to
> command huge margins within its hardware niche, it doesn't begin to
> compare to the margins that a truly large software company can
> attain on its products.
> 
> What Jobs should have considered is that he was getting $50 for
> every clone sold *without having to design, build, stock, ship,
> and warranty* every one of them!  His bet was that Macs and their
> clones would never be more than a niche player in the computer
> market, and he couldn't have clone manufacturers stealing his
> niche sales.  He won.

Yep. At the time Apple was doing very poorly, and the clones were 
generally cheaper and faster, so instead of expanding the market as 
originally intended they were mostly just taking sales away from Apple.
 
> If Apple had ever conceived of itself as a software company, they
> might today be the company everyone loves to hate.  ;-)

They have a huge problem now: they can't let go of the tiger's tail. If 
they stop selling hardware, or even just lose too many sales to clone 
makers, their income would plummet. Meanwhile Windows' 90% marketshare 
wouldn't leave much room to make it up with software sales.

Although with rising marketshare, the much more portable and respected 
Mac OS X, and the move to Intel x86 CPUs some people have been 
suggesting Apple should have another go at licensing the OS.

-- 
Roger Johnstone, Invercargill, New Zealand
http://roger.geek.nz/
________________________________________________________________________
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