How come Apple doesn't want Mac OS X to run on anything but Apple hardware?

Question

I just wanted to know. I think they could make more money if it were PC compatible. Why isn't it though?

Answer 1

Probably so they can sell more Apple hardware.  People might not buy their comps if they could get in on a Dell, Gateway, HP, etc.

Answer 2

They wouldn't.  People would start to pirate it at the same rate they pirate Windows these days.

Apple only wants OS X to run on Apple hardware so that Apple can sell more Apple hardware.  

Answer 3

Cuz Apple is a greedy, selfish, Microsoft PC hating company.

Answer 4

Apple has been most successful when they concentrated on making consumer products rather than licensing their technology to other companies. The darkest days for Apple were during the period that Steve Jobs was pushed out and Apple licensed their operating system to other companies, thus asking them to compete with Apple for selling consumer goods. Also, some competitors did not adapt their hardware very well to the Mac OS, thus showing the Mac OS as less desirable than Windows. Today it would be much more difficult for other companies to adapt hardware to OS X as it is much more demanding on high performance hardware. It would show the Mac OS in a bad light if it failed to work correctly on cheaper computers. I once owned two different brands of Mac-clones and they both had performance issues that related to hardware that didn't mix well with the OS. Well, one was much worse than the other, but the Apple Macs of that day were truly better.

Imagine a Ferrari engine in a Ford Taurus and the resulting image hit for Ferrari. Study history for the whole story:

* September 17, 1985: Steve Jobs resigns from Apple (pushed to it by the board of directors).

* November 22, 1985: Apple CEO John Sculley signs an agreement to allow Microsoft to use Macintosh user interface technology in the development of  Windows if Microsoft will continue to make office applications for Mac.

* Oct. 12, 1988: Steve Jobs' new company NeXT releases a computer that out-performs any Mac for less money.

Sept. 1989: NeXT OS is released, a UNIX-based operating system that became the basis for OS X.

* June 18, 1993: Michael Spindler replaces Sculley as Apple CEO.

* Oct. 15, 1993: Sculley resigns from Apple.

* Nov. 1993: Apple licenses its ROM technology to DayStar to build processor upgrade daughter cards. Later, DayStar would become one of the more successful Mac-clone makers.

* Sept. 1994: Apple licenses the Mac OS to Radius and Power Computing.

* Nov 1994: IBM and Motorola team to design a processor capable of running both Windows and Mac OS.

* May 1995: Power Computing releases first of many successful Mac-clone computers.

* Feb. 1996: Apple licenses Mac OS to Motorola.

* May 1996: Apple licenses Mac OS to IBM.

* Dec. 1996: Apple buys NeXT, Inc. for $430 million.

* Dec. 1996: IBM and Motorola cease development of PPC processor for Windows-Mac.

* Jan. 1997: Apple hires Steve Jobs as adviser.

[The main reason was that they were desperate, loosing money and computer market share. At this time, industry estimates were that Apple had about two weeks of operating cash available.]

* July 1997: Apple CEO Gil Amelio and VP Ellen Hancock forced to resign.

* Aug. 6, 1997: Steve Jobs begins serving as de facto head of Apple, announces alliance to share technology with Microsoft, paving the way for Windows XP, in exchange for agreement to build Office for Mac for 5 years.

[In the background of all this, as the U.S. Justice Department is leaning on MS about anti-competitive practices, Gates worries how MS will look if Apple goes bankrupt, leaving MS alone as the home computer OS maker. MS pays estimated $800 million cash to Apple, MS buys $150 million in Apple stock, gets Apple to agree to make Internet Explorer the default Web browser and to phase out Netscape. The cash is needed for what happens next.]

Sept  1997 (a busy month): Steve Jobs named interim CEO of Apple; Apple buys Power Computing, the fast-rising company and most successful clone maker, for $150 million; Apple immediately halts licensing of ROM for advanced PPC processors to all other companies (around six companies); Motorola stops building Mac-clones; IBM stops building Mac-clones.

Apple profits, operating system market share (now around 9 percent), and stock value have been on the rise ever since.