Reply #30: It didn't serve Apple's long term goals to license their OS. They are a Hardware [View All]

[alfredo]

Company. The OS adds value to the hardware. When Apple tried licensing, they had certain rules to that license that the licensee violated. They had every right to yank their license.

Apple is doing well at the market share they have. The computer is just a part of their overall strategy. It ties together all the other pieces of hardware.

If they had licensed and allowed the Mac to become a commodity, they'd be just another box on the retail shelf. They opted to control their hardware and software to ensure a level of quality and compatibility. Look at MS. They have to cater to a dizzying array of hardware standards. The PC user has to do a "driver search" every time there's a big upgrade to the OS.

Compare the stock of AAPL and MSFT over a ten year period. Also see how they track against the stock market. Which one over performs, which one tracks the market. With the huge market share of MS, it would seem their Market cap would be more than 80 to 90 billion more than Apple, but it isn't. Apple is doing the right thing. Their strategy is working.

I've only had one driver problem with OSX in eight years, and that was the drivers for an old HP printer. Within days the community found workarounds that helped until HP and Apple wrote drivers for the rather large inventory of HP printers.

In 13 years I've never had a virus, had only one instance of needing to send a box in for repair. It turned out to be a permissions problem.

Your complaints about pricing of Apple products is out of date. Sure you can go to Walmart and buy a cheaper computer, but if you want something you know will be useable for many years to come, you spend a bit more for quality. One of my Macs is ten years old. It is running OS9. It was running Linux but I retored OS9 so Jae could play some legacy games. It's never needed any repair.

I decided on Macs when I first shopped for computers back in the 90's. Instead of talking to salesmen, I talked to the guys in the repair shop. I asked them what is the most trouble free, they all said the Mac.