Fluff from the naval of my mind

In this article Mitch Wagner suggests, in the article’s title no less, “Apple Snow Leopard Faces Windows 7 Fight”. This suggestion puzzled me.

The article is unclear as to precisely how Snow Leopard competes in any realistic sense with Windows 7. Firstly, Apple’s OS X license prohibits the running of OS X on any platform other than Apple’s own hardware (an insistence that has contributed greatly to OS X’s reputation for stability). Secondly, very few organisations will be buying Mac hardware in preference to upgrading to Windows 7. And finally, it is unlikely that organisations would have existing Apple hardware running Windows.

The OS X license limitation may be ignored by individuals with little risk that Apple will pursue them, but commercial organisations doing so would be vigorously pursued. So, replacing existing Windows operating systems with Snow Leopard is out of the question.

Replacing existing hardware with Apple equipment is a possible scenario for some organisations, and there is some evidence of organisations already purchasing Mac laptops for business use. It is, however, unlikely to be a strategy employed by many.

One feasible scenario where Snow Leopard may be in direct competition with Windows 7 is in the procurement of new hardware. When looking to procure new hardware, laptops in particular, organisations might choose Apple equipment (and consequently Snow Leopard) over other suppliers (and almost inevitably Windows 7). The weakness of this scenario as an argument for competition between Snow Leopard and Windows 7 is that such purchasing decisions are more likely to be assessed on the basis of the hardware than the software. The release of Snow Leopard with better Exchange support has simply removed one of the key barriers to adoption of Apple equipment in organisations whose systems are based on Exchange services.

Conversely there seems no reason to assume people currently running Apple hardware with OS X might choose to ‘upgrade’ to Windows 7.

The article does conclude with some speculations about users who have switched to Apple out of frustration over Vista switching back with the advent of Windows 7, presumably in an attempt to justify the eye-catching title. All-in-all I do not see how Mitch reaches the conclusion “Apple Snow Leopard Faces Windows 7 Fight”.