x86 Server Standardization Does Not Equate to OS Pluralization

“The range of hardware you can choose from to run your preferred
enterprise OSes is narrowing rapidly. At this rate, it will not be
long before you have no choice at all, and when alternatives
disappear that offer something different — lower cost, higher
performance, better reliability — it’s bound to be bad news.

“If you’re an OS X user, that’s already happened: Apple forbids
the use of its operating systems on anything but its own hardware
(after briefly allowing clones in the mid ’90s). It’s technically
possible to build a “Hackintosh” with OS X running on standard PC
hardware, but despite the substantial cost benefit in doing so, the
company is not interested in anyone else’s bottom line. Apple’s
attitude, in other words, is if the customer wants lower-cost
computer hardware, then the customer is always wrong. This probably
goes a long way toward explaining Apple’s dismal showing in the
enterprise, and its retreat into phones, iPods, iPads and other
consumer gadgetry.”

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