Whoa.

"In fact, Microsoft could help dramatically in getting Apple platform products to work seamlessly in Windows environments and make a Media Center product jointly developed vastly more attractive and profitable."

Because Apple really needs help getting their products to work in a Windows environment. Take the iPod, for instance.

"Imagine what would result if a new Apple OS was based on the new Windows kernel rather than on Unix. It would be much more acceptable to a broad cross section of companies that wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole today."

Maybe, but it would ALSO SUCK.

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I feel like i have to take a shower after reading that.....

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Apple doesn't need Microsoft for Office. If needed, they could just spin off OpenOffice and develop their own version. With more and more gov't and businesses moving towards OpenDocument instead of MS proprietary formats, it's a moot point really. Apple also has its own Office-like programs with Keynote and Pages.

As for his assinine comments about interoperability, has he used a Mac? How can I connect my Windows PC natively to NFS? Guess what, OS X can play with Active Directory just fine. Server can even support NTFS ACLs. Apple has no interoperability issues. Quite the opposite is true. It's just that MS is the 800lb gorilla and doesn't need to interoperate with anything non-MS.

I also think the author misses the point on why iPods are popular. They aren't popular because they run on Windows. They are popular because they are the best. They had to work on Windows because Windows dominates the desktop market, but that's not what made them popular. There were and are plenty of other mp3 options before and after iPods went Windows.

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My favorite:

"Apple also has problems of its own. The firm has not been able to grasp the importance of owning standards..."

No, they don't need to own them because they believe in open standards that other companies can use and build off too (instead of being strong-arming monopolistic dick-wads). See: H.264 kicking the crap out off Windows Media 10.

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Don't forget - Enderle presides over a group of morons - The Enderle Group - but the group consists of him and his wife - so he is the head moron in his family.

Enderle - Chief Moron (I like to call him the Fudmeister)

Dvorak - Chief Troll

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OS X on a windows kernal? Are you kidding me? I don't care for BSOD and those one app stops responding save yourself the trouble and just hit the powerbutton as the whole system's going down lockups on my mac, thank you very much, that was the reason i switched away from windows...

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"No, they don't need to own them because they believe in open standards that other companies can use and build off too (instead of being strong-arming monopolistic dick-wads). See: H.264 kicking the crap out off Windows Media 10."

Or iTunes Music Store. I can't think of anything more open-source than iTunes Music Store. Imagine the nerve of other companies having their own standards.

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This guy has clearly not looked any further into OS X than it's lickable GUI.

1) Apple running the new windows kernel? Are you f-ing nuts? Apple has a solid, viable, and superior kernel already - why would they switch to one that won't be out til 2007? And a technical point of contention - OS X does not run on a "unix" kernel, per se, any more than linux does - it's simply a fully posix compliant kernel and the os comes with a BSD subsystem (quite separate from the kernel).

2)The iPod is successful because it doesn't interoperate with Microsoft's DRM specifications - i.e. it actually works as expected, every time. I've never heard of a more poorly named product than PlaysForSure.

Yeah, he's a dunce alright. I'd have to say he beats Dvorak as dumbass of the year by leaps and bounds. My biggest problem with the rise of the blog is that people like this guy actually get heard - fortunately, so do the people pointing out the fact that he's an idiot.

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Microsoft should get their own products working in a windows environment before they think about "helping" apple.

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Ah yes, the old "MS saved/bought Apple" canard. A company with (at the time) $2 BILLION in cash reserves, saved from the gaping maw of bankruptcy by an investment of 7.5% of that amount from Microsoft? HA! Again I say unto you: HA! What a maroon!

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Allow me to be the character foil here and remind everyone that Enderle was indeed right about Apple's switch to Intel -- and when he penned that column, we all called him a lunatic too.

That being said...for this column he must've forgotten his meds. Or took too much of them.

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"Think Different"

Rob Enderle is doing just that but most of you are screaming "Hell NO! We won't go!"

Do some creative thinking & break a few rules for a change.

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Oh, BTW, Rob is wrong.

Wal-Mart buys Apple. ;-)

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In response to sarcasm from Arthur Barnhouse:
"Or iTunes Music Store. I can't think of anything more open-source than iTunes Music Store. Imagine the nerve of other companies having their own standards."

I think you're confusing support for open standards with open source software. They're two very different things. iTunes and, by extension, Quicktime are not open source software but they do supports open standards for audio and video. These open standards are controlled by overseeing boards made up of representatives from many different companies and experts with experience and interests in developing the format. iTunes/QuickTime supports many of these formats (such as AAC and H.264 video). This contrasts with the Microsoft approach of developing their own standards and using their monopoly to push them onto end users.

The small exception to this is Apple's DRMed Music Store download which use their own format. However, these DRMed files are simply AAC or H.264 (for audio or video respectively) files that are wrapped with a special DRM layer. They are not a new format. This DRM is put in place to appease the record companies more than to satisfy a desire on Apple's part to push their own format (if the latter was true, wouldn't Apple have licensed it to more than Motorola?).

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he may have been right on the intel switch, but that was actually plausible, as os x had been running on intel since birth, just not in the wild.

But this article was one of the dumbest things I have ever read about Apple...
A windows kernel? is he crazy? there is a reason we don't use it... it sucks in comparison.

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"Imagine what would result if a new Apple OS was based on the new Windows kernel rather than on Unix. It would be much more acceptable to a broad cross section of companies that wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole today."

What an ass, don't even get me started!

"Linux represents a growing threat for both firms as well and Apple..."

What an illiterate ass. The article is about Microsoft and Apple. Now a mysterious third party has entered the fold. Spooky.

"What if Apple worked with Microsoft to make the iPod 'Plays for Sure'"

What an ignorant, illiterate ass. "Plays for sure" doesn't play for sure, the iPod does. The summary for this piece seems to be that Apple should drop all their technologies and switch over to Microsoft technologies, because "we all know Microsoft technologies are so much better." Yeah, Ok

I wonder how many wheelbarrows of cash Bill Gates left on this ass's front lawn.

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Enderle's page views must be way down so he knows that there's a certain group that will read anything he writes no matter how outlandish.

You can picture the possibilities that ran through his head ... how about ...

Maybe GM will buy Apple to get at Apple's $8 bilion in cash.

No, that won't get Apple fans riled up - He was hopng to sav e it for a really rainy day but his Google AdSense dollars are slowing way down so he needed something big. Yes, MS to BUY Apple! That's it! I'm genius!

As a public service, here's what the made-up stuff he's saving for next time his page views dip:

Dell to team with Apple for home iPod.

MS to buy Disney/Pixar.

John Sculley new Chairman of Disney.

Steve Jobs & Bill Gates to do Odd Couple reality show with Bono as man servant on Dr. No island.

MS Orgami is ipod killer.

Now, that should hold you so you do NOT put money in his pocket by reading his head wound spillage.

Let TWAW scan his ramblings and summarize but NEVER NEVER EVER go to his page unless we all agree to sychronize our ONE spoof IP address.

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"Imagine what would result if a new Apple OS was based on the new Windows kernel rather than on Unix. It would be much more acceptable to a broad cross section of companies that wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole today."
by basing os x on a windows kernel you would lose all the greatness of the UNIX kernel that makes os x so neat and secure under the hood

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"If Apple's next generation OS -- Leopard -- was ready now the company could take some market share from Microsoft in the 4th quarter, but Apple probably wouldn't be able to hold onto it. All reports say Leopard won't be ready until 2007, after Vista ships, anyway."

ROFL, Leopard will definitely beat Vista in release date, is this guy kidding or what?

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> he may have been right on the intel switch, but that
> was actually plausible, as os x had been running on
> intel since birth, just not in the wild.

Well, OpenStep used to run on Windows, so it is not out of the question that Apple would still be able to compile to OS X UI under Windows, just as they could compile it for Intel processors. Also, there are better kernels around than OS X's strange Mach-BSD kernel. Still, they would be better off using Solaris (for which there was also a version of OpenStep) than Windows.

Whatever happens, as long as it still feels like OS X, I couldn't care less. Isn't it great that Apple has so many options? :-)

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