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Palm_Centro

we could go at logger heads for this .

Marty_J

At loggerheads for what?

asininity

That story suggests what I mentioned earlier, it M$ were doing that you can garantee things wouldn't be going M$'s way, it brings to mind the inclusion of IE and WMP in windoze that suddenly bothers the EU.

I was really suggesting that maybe M$ have a hand in apple not releasing their OS separately because of the amount of money M$ pumped into apple to help keep it affloat about a decade ago.

Marty_J

Microsoft no longer own any Apple stock as far as I'm aware, and when they did, it was non-voting stock. They "only" invested $150 million, which sounds like a lot, but it's loose change to companies like Apple and Microsoft. They had sold it all by 2003 (for a nice big fat profit), when coincidently they stopped developing Internet Explorer for Mac, and Apple started shipping Safari instead with OS X.

Microsoft didn't invest to gain some control with Apple anyway, quite the opposite in fact. Microsoft have been dogged by accusations of monopolisation for years, and as Apple is the only other company offering an OS to consumers that could be said to be in competition with Microsoft, they would be under even more pressure if Apple went under; it's kind of hard to argue you don't have a monopoly if you don't have any competitors.

So it was very important to Microsoft that Apple didn't go bust, hence the investment. It was all part of a settlement for various lawsuits Apple had against Microsoft, alleging that they copied the "look and feel" of their GUI and stole code from QuickTime. Apple eventually dropped it after Microsoft agreed to continue making MS Office for Mac, and invest $150 million. As part of the agreement, Apple replaced Netscape with Internet Explorer.

But I'm not so sure they have a hand in stopping Apple releasing OS X for PCs; Apple would sue them into oblivion, and the EU and US governments would give them a fine so big, they'd need to invent a new super-small typeface to get all the zeroes in.

Apple have alleged however, that there are unseen persons and/or companies pulling the strings behind Psystar. Some think that a group of PC manufacturers are behnd the whole thing, testing out the waters to see what would happen if they started bundling Mac OS X with their hardware:

"On information and belief, persons other than Psystar are involved in Psystar’s unlawful and improper activities described in this Amended Complaint. The true names or capacities, whether individual, corporate, or otherwise, of these persons are unknown to Apple. Consequently they are referred to herein as John Does 1 through 10 (collectively the “John Doe Defendants”). On information and belief, the John Doe Defendants are various individuals and/or corporations who have infringed Apple’s intellectual property rights, breached or induced the breach of Apple’s license agreements and violated state and common law unfair competition laws. Apple will seek leave to amend this complaint to show the unknown John Doe Defendants’ true names and capacities when they are ascertained."

There's nothing like a good conspiracy theory!

asininity

I would say from M$'s pov linux is a an OS in competition with them. Thats why XP's still around, Steve Balmer refering to linux as a cancer and the "mysterious" power behind the stupid SCO lawsuits.

Your comment shows what apple can get away with while M$ can't. However I love conspircy theories.

macman

Does he really need a 17 in MacBook Pro for basic uni use? You could get a decent refurb MacBook for a thousand less.
When I were a lad at t'uni, we were lucky if we could afford a secondhand Amstrad PCW...

PROLIANT

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

Marty_J

lol... I remember that one of old.

Do keep in mind though, that this is a thread about Apple Macs.

PROLIANT

Marty_J wrote: »

lol... I remember that one of old.

Do keep in mind though, that this is a thread about Apple Macs.

Sorry Marty, just a bit fun for a Monday night.
Have you seen the about the eye-fone, very funny if you have a sense of humour.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone

Enjoy, peace to the world.

Marty_J

Nothing beats the invincible MacBook Wheel.

"Everything is just a few hundred clicks away."

:rotfl: