[X4U] Apple's move to Intel chips

[Stroller]

On Jun 8, 2005, at 2:57 pm, Oskar Lissheim-Boethius wrote:
> On 7 jun 2005, at 00.11, x4u-request at listserver.themacintoshguy.com 
> wrote:
>> "We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple 
>> Mac," 
>
> Yes, but notice the word _allow_. Does this mean that there are no 
> special, secret components that will _prohibit_ you to run OS X on 
> your beige-box, and that Apple simply won't _license_ OS X to 
> PC-manufacturers? Crackers rejoice... :(

My theory is that to prohibit installation of OS X on beige boxen would 
be extremely difficult (especially considering the current developer 
units use a standard PC motherboard & BIOS), but that the process of 
doing so will equally be outside the capabilities of most consumers.

It seems to me that the fundamental difference between a Macintel & 
Darwin running on a machine with a similar processor is the Mac OS X 
Finder, UI & iApps. Since the binaries will be compatible, what's to 
stop one copying those across to your beige box running Darwin?

Since the source for Darwin is open, there will undoubtedly be a few 
dedicated individuals writing drivers for the nastiest of video & 
network cards, thus allowing OS X to be experienced on the cheapest of 
hardware. I undoubtedly make a naive presentation here, and a number of 
assumptions, but I do believe that there are a few determined 
individuals who are capable enough and who will find this interesting 
enough to manage & document it.

Stroller.