Dell Willing To Sell Mac OS X

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In a Fortune.com article, David Kirkpatrick talks about a recent interview with Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computers.

So I emailed Michael Dell, now the company's chairman, and asked if he'd be interested in the Mac OS, assuming that Apple CEO Steve Jobs ever decides to license it to PC companies. (For now, Jobs says he won't.)

"If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to offer it to our customers," Dell wrote in an email. It's the first time any PC industry executive has openly shown enthusiasm for selling machines with Apple's software. Though that's all Dell would say for the record, I suspect his interest is not unknown to Jobs. So, as I said in this column last week, the ball is in Jobs' court.

Steve Jobs has made it clear that Apple is a hardware company, not a software company, and doesn't want to market the Mac OS as a standalone product for fears it would lose the "total package" integration provided by a closed-loop system.

Top Rated Comments

SilvorX Avatar
SilvorX
210 months ago
i would rather shoot myself than see dells with OS X
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MBHockey Avatar
MBHockey
210 months ago
This will never happen under Jobs. Whoever becomes CEO after him, well, that's another story.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SpaceMagic Avatar
SpaceMagic
210 months ago
Quite an interesting read. Although, from Apple's point of view.. mass selling Mac OS X like Windows would be very profitable and in a way good for us all as more software would come to the mac.

However, I often feel that we'd be jealous of this. Mac users like to keep to themselves in a way. We like to think ourselves apart.. I think we all like being in a niche market, where we can brag about our systems. I think this is why we all got a bit huffed at WWDC because part of our arguements to why Macs are better was taken away from us.

I'm the same though... but I don't know, perhaps an OS X world would be a safer and better one.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jared_kipe Avatar
jared_kipe
210 months ago
Of course he would. Why would it be a bad thing for any PC company to offer a different OS? But it won't happen, at least not yet.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
amac4me Avatar
amac4me
210 months ago
Michael Dell, the founder and Chairman of Dell computer stated that Dell would be open to selling systems with Mac OS. Check out the article.

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/fastforward/0,15704,1072719,00.html
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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