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Analysis: Stray cat
It was obvious that as soon as Apple started shipping Power Macs with Intel processors to developers some bright spark with too much time on their hands would find a way of installing and running the version of Mac OS X designed for Intel processors on a non-Apple PC. It was equally obvious that Apple would take a dim view of such activity. So it should have come as no surprise when cease-and-desist notices started dropping through the letterboxes of the website owners who had published videos of PCs running OS X on their sites. At the very least, anyone installing OS X on a non-Apple machine is violating the terms of their licence.
What was more surprising was the seeming ease with which these hackers were able to adapt the Intel OS X pre-installed operating system to install and run on a PC. As Paul Nesbitt says in his comment, you would have thought Apple would have made it a bit more of a challenge. However, it does serve to highlight how close the Mac has become to being just another PC, albeit in a prettier box.
This isn't something that has just happened: Apple seems to have adopted a strategy to attract PC users to the Mac by making the Mac as PC-like as possible. The recent introduction of a multi-button mouse is just the latest in a long line of changes that have brought the Mac closer to the PC.
Long gone are the days when you could rely on a Mac to use proprietary connectors such as ADB, Apple's version of serial, NuBus, and the DB-15 video interface. In those days, even the industry-standard connectors it used, such as Ethernet and SCSI, were rarely seen on a PC. Now, both Macs and PCs use more or less the same connectors - USB, FireWire, DVI, VGA
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Then, of course, there's the iPod. Although the music player was originally conceived as a tool for bringing more people to the Mac, Apple now sells many more iPods to PC users than it does to Mac users. What's more, having originally launched the iPod as a FireWire-connected device, Apple has slowly moved towards USB to the point where if you want to connect a new iPod using FireWire rather than USB 2, you'll have to buy the cable separately, as Apple only supplies a USB 2 cable.
The Mac mini, great machine though it is, is the strongest example of Apple's thinking. Not so long ago, company CEO Steve Jobs and many of his fellow directors wouldn't have countenanced a low-cost Mac. They said they were not concerned about market share and told shareholders the iPod was the low-cost Mac. However, less than a year later, what appeared was a machine so clearly marketed at potential PC switchers (they can even use their old keyboard and mouse with it) that it's a wonder Apple didn't stick it in a beige box just to make them feel at home.
So how concerned should we Mac users be? Are the multi-button mouse and Intel processors an indication that the Mac is becoming a glorified PC? The answer is, of course, we shouldn't be concerned at all: we should welcome the changes. The multi-button mouse, while not as good as products from Microsoft and Logitech, is a step in the right direction. It's also a sign that Apple is at last treating its customers as grown-ups whose brains can handle the idea of using a mouse with more than one button.
Furthermore, the move to Intel will benefit the platform by providing access to fast processors in volumes that IBM was never able to match. PowerBook owners should rejoice. Finally, they will be able to upgrade to a machine that has a processor befitting a professional laptop from the company that set the benchmark in portable computing performance just a few years ago, but has been forced to produce machines that are so under-powered that comparisons with Wintel laptops are becoming embarrassing. You can be sure the first Intel PowerBook will be a huge seller.
