4 ms·

> Or, crazy idea here, they could licence their OS if they don't want to make pro gear anymore. Maybe some are too young to remember 'Power Computing', the com

> Or, crazy idea here, they could licence their OS if they don't want to make pro gear anymore. Maybe some are too young to remember 'Power Computing', the company that licensed MacOS in the 90s. That was juuuuust before Apple ran in to major problems, and had to file bankruptcy. The first thing Jobs did when he came back was borrow 55 million dollars from Bill Gates and buy back all the licenses and shut down production of all mac clones. One of the only true things Apple has is its reputation for quality. You want to bleed that out, you would do it by allowing clones, thus bringing about the destruction of the brand as a whole.

iainmerrick 10y ago
Power Computing clones were great, though. I had one and it was very reliable, excellent value for money. They were built like PCs and at the time, PCs were a lot better-made in many respects than low-end Macs. (High-end Macs were nice but very expensive, and still not as fast as high-end PCs.) A clone program now would have a totally different dynamic, since Apple is incredibly successful rather than close to bankruptcy. I still don't know if it would make business sense for them, but for Mac users like me it would be absolutely terrific.
mhermher 10y ago
Sell the licenses directly to consumers then? Their reputation doesn't take a hit that way. Just sell it on a "use at your own risk" basis and just let people have it who want to use it on their own builds. I figure the support for the bazillion possible hardware configs would make it a nightmare though.
Keyframe 10y ago
Or they could license the OS and review the products from licensees(?) before they ship out. Make a test balloon and license to 5 or 10 hardware manufacturers, offer them a reference design and review and run with it.
dctoedt 10y ago
> Apple ran in to major problems, and had to file bankruptcy. Apple never filed for bankruptcy protection. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/051115/7-bankrupt-companies-came-back.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/051115...
- headShrinker 10y ago
  While they were in bad shape apparently they didn't file bankruptcy... https://www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintech_0806/ https://www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintech_0806/ From this source they borrowed 150 million from MS.

iainmerrick 10y ago

Power Computing clones were great, though. I had one and it was very reliable, excellent value for money. They were built like PCs and at the time, PCs were a lot better-made in many respects than low-end Macs. (High-end Macs were nice but very expensive, and still not as fast as high-end PCs.) A clone program now would have a totally different dynamic, since Apple is incredibly successful rather than close to bankruptcy. I still don't know if it would make business sense for them, but for Mac users like me it would be absolutely terrific.

mhermher 10y ago

Sell the licenses directly to consumers then? Their reputation doesn't take a hit that way. Just sell it on a "use at your own risk" basis and just let people have it who want to use it on their own builds. I figure the support for the bazillion possible hardware configs would make it a nightmare though.

Keyframe 10y ago

Or they could license the OS and review the products from licensees(?) before they ship out. Make a test balloon and license to 5 or 10 hardware manufacturers, offer them a reference design and review and run with it.

dctoedt 10y ago

> Apple ran in to major problems, and had to file bankruptcy. Apple never filed for bankruptcy protection. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/051115/7-bankrupt-companies-came-back.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/051115...

headShrinker 10y ago
While they were in bad shape apparently they didn't file bankruptcy... https://www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintech_0806/ https://www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintech_0806/ From this source they borrowed 150 million from MS.