So that’s how they’ll do it

Everyone has been wondering how Apple could possibly guarantee that OS/X for Intel will only run on their Apple-made hardware boxes. Don’t get me wrong — I really don’t mind. Personally the idea of OS/X running on some cheap off-brand Intel system is horrifying.

So the answer is fairly straightforward: Apple has embedded a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip into their Intel-based machines. If the chip isn’t there, OS/X won’t boot up.

There’s a more important question that is still unanswered. What I’m really interested in knowing is whether or not Windows will run on the Apple-made Intel hardware.

I realize that is probably equally horrifying to OS/X purists, but consider the implications: Probably the greatest barrier to entry that Apple experiences in corporate America is resistance to proprietary hardware that cannot be redeployed. In other words, companies don’t want to buy hardware that can’t run Windows or, at least, Linux. On the other hand, if the new Intel Apple hardware can be “redeployed” with Windows, this barrier is removed.

I hope it works. Not because I want to see Windows running on elegant Apple systems, but because I want to see more OS/X in corporate America.