> On Sep 27, 2019, at 1:21 PM, Jens Alfke <j...@mooseyard.com> wrote:
>
> I was typing a lengthy answer, but it occurred to me it's basically the same
> reason why Apple didn't release macOS for generic PCs ('hackintoshes') and in
> fact actively made it difficult for anyone to port macOS. It's because it
> would damage or tank their hardware business. To a lesser degree, if it's
> just apps being ported and not the whole OS, but still significant I think.
>
> Porting your software crown jewels to run on commodity PC hardware is
> something only a failing company does, when it's throwing its own hardware
> business overboard. Consider NeXT and Be. (And I believe Amiga was planning
> something similar before they went under.)
>
> Anyway, these days Windows is only for cash registers, accountants, and
> basement-dwelling hardcore gamers. ;-)
There a lot of business users still on Windows. Adobe, AutoDesk, and other
large organizations have dual track development for Mac and Windows but this is
hard for a small developer.
The computer aided design software that Apple engineers use to design their
stuff is Unigraphics NX which runs on Windows and on the Mac under X11 because
NX has a Unix heritage. So I don't think you will ever see the day that the Mac
drops support for X11. The point is there are still business segments, users
and developers that benefit from cross platform high performance desktop apps.
In 1998 Apple was more than ready to give away the crown jewels with the
Rhapsody Yellow Box but Adobe made them change their mind when they refused to
port Photoshop. Subsequently Apple changed the focus with Mac OS X and removed
the cross platform offer. I think one of the major reasons was the amount of
time they spent writing Core Foundation and Carbon. Perhaps they didn’t want to
stretch their resources thin by also supporting Windows apps.
--Richard Charles
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