Cupertino (CA) - Starting next week, every new Mac sold will come preloaded with a copy of Windows Vista Premium, the result of a new direct licensing agreement between two fierce rivals. OS X Leopard will be still offered, albeit as a paid upgrade.
Some analysts and investors are worried that Apple’s switch to Windows signals the end of Jobs’ era and others suspect the CEO himself, who is on a medical leave, plotted this Windows switch as a way of ensuring the long-term success of the Mac platform once he steps down. Needless to say, the loyal Mac base is enraged. Fumed users are accusing the Mac maker of betrayal, warning that favoring Vista at the expense of the company’s own operating system will take away Mac’s shine and appeal, reducing the system to a pretty, but otherwise dull beige box.
Apple and its arch rival Microsoft have reached a game-changing licensing agreement that will see the Cupertino-based consumer electronics giant preload Windows Vista as the default operating system an all Macs, starting next week. The startling announcement arrives after quiet but intense negotiations between Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, and Apple’s operations chief, Timothy Cook. According to early reports, Apple had desired to preload every Mac with a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, though were negotiated into Vista Premium. “We are super excited to empower Mac users with Windows Vista Premium, nearly the most feature-complete Windows version ever,” Cook said in a statement. “We thank our friends at Microsoft for their continuing commitment to the Mac platform. Preloading Windows on every new Mac sold removes the fear of switching. It’s our insurance policy - whether you need it or not,” he said.
Apple’s switch to Windows will not hike Mac prices up. The company said all new Macs will boot Windows Vista out-of-the-box. OS X Leopard will not be provided unless customers purchase the $129 operating system separately, and then install it on their own. Many analysts are shocked by the news. A high-profile Mac analyst, Gene Munster, is convinced Jobs is losing control over Apple. “The Mac OS X is heart and soul of the Mac user experience,” Munster said, warning that preloading Vista on Macs at the expense of OS X will impact brand loyalty severely. “Apple is handing over control of the most important aspect of the Mac user experience to its rival,” he said. “Mac users will never forget this.”
Some Apple investors are allegedly prepping a lawsuit and will demand that most of Apple’s board of directors step down. Some investors suspect that Timothy Cook, who is currently in charge at Apple while Jobs is on his medical leave, may have ousted Jobs and seized control of the company. They remind us that prior to joining Apple, Cook served as vice president of Corporate Materials at Compaq. Ex-Apple employees now claim Cook has been pushing Jobs to license Mac hardware to OEM vendors ever since he was hired. Cook allegedly thinks this would enable Apple to post double-digit market share gains. According to these sources, the two executives often fought over the matter of Mac clones, but the intense meetings always ended with Jobs threatening to show Cook the door. “There is clearly bad blood between Steve Jobs and Timothy Cook,” Munster warned.
“It’s the saddest day for Mac users in Apple’s entire history,” said Eliza Block, a 31-year old philosophy graduate student at NYU who wrote the popular 2across crosswords iPhone program. “The empire of evil has taken over,” she said. But there is another facet to this story. Some industry watchers closely associated with Apple’s plans point their fingers at Jobs. They claim the CEO himself plotted and personally approved the Windows switch, and then deliberately stepped out of view allowing Cook to take the fall. One source told TG Daily, “Jobs temporarily appointed Cook to shield himself from public criticism.”
At the end of the day, when dust and high tensions cool down, both Microsoft and Apple will profit from the move. Microsoft has its new business with Apple that will boost Vista’s licensed sales. Apple will also profit from forcing new Mac buyers into the $129 OS X Leopard purchase, since the operating system will no longer come preloaded on every new Mac free of charge. End users get piece of mind by having the best of both worlds.
What do you think? Will you run Vista on your new Mac? Or would you rather capitulate and be taxed an additional $129 to get OS X Leopard with your new Mac? Is Apple’s Windows switch spelling doom for the platform, or is this a long overdue first step in the right direction? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
