With the recent announcement of Apple switching from the PowerPC CPU to Intel, there has been a lot of excitement in the world of tech. But one of the most overlooked facts is the consequences it will have on other companies. This article will discuss what, I think, will happen to Microsoft.

Why now?

The biggest reason why Microsoft has become so popular today is because nothing has really competed with it on the PC platform. Sure, there is Linux – a free open source OS. But being free, they have no where near the capabilities Microsoft has.

This is the first time that Microsoft has been scared. Sure it is big, but there is an end to everything, and today could be it. Linux has been the biggest threat to Microsoft, but it is overly difficult for the home user to set up and use. Now that the Macintosh is changing, there are a lot more problems. The MAC OS is one of the first OS that have a chance against Windows now that it is going to be on a Intel chip.

Some may make the argument that Linux is just as good as the Mac OS (Mac being based upon the FreeBSD distribution). But to them I say this. Linux is most effective when it is used by an intermediate to advanced user. Linux often has complex set ups, it has problems with drivers for devices, and the endless amount of distributions. This scares the average home user away from a linux solution. On the other hand, the Mac OS doesn’t have these problems.It is simple, visual brilliant and effective for the home user in all aspects.

Sure Apple say that they will not sell their OS separately. But in my mind it will not take long before Apple figure out what they have on their hands. MAC has better features (spotlight), is more secure and a lot more stable then Windows. The demand will be high for and Intel based Mac system,. Dell has already indicated that it wants to put the Mactel on it’s systems. It will only be a matter of time before other computers companies request to have it on their systems Once the need for it is high enough and Apple release the Mac OS to be sold on more open configurations – rather then apple hardware, and hardware manufactures start to build components for the Mac OS, Window users will start the transition to a better overall OS, that is more user friendly, better looking and more stable.

In my mind it will only be a matter of time before Apple will start selling their OS to other computer manufactures and computer stores. At this point, Apple won’t be a company living off their hardware sales, but they will grow living off the huge amounts of money they will gain from their software sales.

This will kill Microsoft, because more of their users will be Mac users. Thus sales will go down on all aspects of their software. We all know Microsoft is a software company, so that is a large amount of money gone to Apple.

If my predictions are right, Microsoft will no longer be as powerful as they are today, or even worse, there may be no Microsoft.