Why Apple Should Embrace Linux -- at least a Bit

sk permission for reproduction.  11-Jan-2005

Why Apple should embrace Linux (at least a bit)
It seems to be an unofficial strategy of Apple to silently ignore the existance of Linux in the OS marketplace. While this may be understandable, I would argue it not to be the best strategy that Apple could take.
Let's see. Wintel dominance is still Apple's main challenge. 3% market share - I don't think that's enough for Mr. Jobs. He'd like to have a similar "we rule" situation as they have on the iPod side. And.. one way (not the only one) for this could benefit from acknowledging and even embracing Linux a bit.
What for?
Because Linux is the #1 OS when it comes to multi-cpu marketplace. Windows currently only runs on x86 (or derivative) processors. OS X only runs on PowerPC branch. Linux runs on both. Therefore, any tendency for users to switch out from x86 towards PowerPC could well be happening via Linux.
Another reason to embrace Linux is that it wouldn't really hurt. Long-time scenarios aside, OS X is now so superbly dominant on ease-of-use Unix that there's hardly any comparison, imho. Also, if Linux people would buy and use more Apple hardware, that'll be sales for Apple anyhow. Plus - come to think of it - these people will also pay for OS X license, even if they didn't really need or use it.
So, why not?
I really don't have the straight answer to that, Mr. Jobs. Do you?
What I'd like to see as practical steps for this "embracing Linux" thingy, would be:

Quicktime codec (powerpc) for Linux (i.e. gstreamer)
Quicktime player for Linux/ppc
iTunes for Linux (like it's available on Windows as well)
iPod support for Linux (I'm ignorant, is there already some?)
Driver support (sleep mode, fast Wifi drivers..)

None of these would be really big issues per se, but together they would give of Apple a 'friendly corporate' feeling to Linux users. I'd bet, within some time, these people to become OS X addicts, too (if that's a goal of any kind, anyhow). So, Apple would turn out getting switchers from both camps, Windows and Linux. Of course, this has been happening for a while. I myself am an OS X / Linux / Win32 triple-personality user, but if I need to pick just one, it'd gotta be OS X.
So, will this happen?
I think not. Most likely, the decision is much more based on 'guts' and personal likes & dislikes of Mr. Jobs. The mention of their meeting in Linus Torvalds' book "Just for fun" tells a lot. They didn't really take Linux seriously then, and they still don't. But they should.
N.B. I should come back within a year or so, to add comments if any of these moves have been visible by Apple. I hope they would..
- Asko Kauppi

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