By Jennifer LeClaire LinuxInsider Part of the ECT News Network
01/26/06 9:44 AM PT
"This could be a new opportunity for Linux to find additional niches above and beyond the home and [small office] markets where Macintosh has historically been strong," Interarbor Solutions Principal Analyst Dana Gardner told LinuxInsider.
eMarketer Whitepaper: Optimizing the E-Commerce Experience
From the Web to the Contact Center, are you prepared to proactively engage and keep your savvy customers? Read how e-commerce leaders are optimizing their sites with ratings, reviews, live help, Web analytics, mobile and more.
Imagine a world where you could run both
Linux and
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) operating systems on the same high-performance Mac laptop. That day may be coming sooner than Mac fans think. Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) has confirmed it is pursuing the development of a Linux distribution for the new Intel-based Macs.
Red Hat is no stranger to
Macintosh -- Fedora and other Linux distributions support the PowerPC architecture once used by Apple -- but there are challenges to bringing Linux to the MacBook Pro. It appears the opportunities outweigh the challenges, though, with potential repercussions for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) if the market clamors for Red Hat Linux-enabled MacBook Pros.
New Niches
"This could be a new opportunity for Linux to find additional niches above and beyond the home and SoHo [Small Office, Home Office] markets where Macintosh has historically been strong," Interarbor Solutions Principal Analyst Dana Gardner told LinuxInsider. "The question is whether Apple sees this as a threat or an opportunity."
Apple did not return calls seeking comment.
A Developer's Dream
A Red Hat Linux-enabled Mac would be a dream come true for Apple-friendly developers and businesses. Given the ease of OS X management, Gardner said, it is likely that we will see not only a Red Hat Linux Mac desktop, but also partitioning -- thanks to the Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) dual-core processor.
The ability to partition would let users run both Mac OS X and Linux on the desktop, and open up a wider world of applications. Running Mac OS X, Linux, and the Rosetta emulation software that comes with MacBook Pros, a user would essentially have access to all Mac Classic applications, all Mac OS X applications and all Linux applications, including developer tools.
"This is a very broad set of applications all running on a single device -- something that you can't do, at least with any ease, on a Windows PC," Gardner said. "That might increasingly involve more Windows applications because of Mono and other open-source projects that are working to bring Windows applications onto Linux."
Conquering Obstacles
One has to wonder what Microsoft's response would be if a Red Hat Linux-based Mac were to do well on the market. Could Microsoft adopt a policy that would be more inclusive of Linux applications?
Anything is possible, but for now, Red Hat still has some significant challenges to overcome.
Specifically, the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), a relatively new BIOS replacement that Intel designed, is not yet commonly used or widely supported.
Linux EFI does exist in a special form called elilo. However, the elilo code, dubbed LILO bootloader, would have to be ported to Intel's x86 architecture before Red Hat could integrate it into Linux distributions that would run on Apple's new hardware.
Therein lies the problem. Bootloaders are not easily ported, because they are typically written with plenty of assembly. Red Hat has not announced whether it would rely on elilo, which is not particularly stable, or move ahead with some other methodology.
Red Hat could not immediately be reached for comment.
Microsoft Releases Windows Server Source Code January 25, 2006
"Today we are putting our most valuable intellectual property on the table so we can put technical compliance issues to rest and move forward with a serious discussion about the substance of this case," said Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel.
Related Stories
SteelEye CTO Sees Positive Trends for Linux in '06 January 17, 2006
"The only real trend working against the platform is the desire of companies to build proprietary extensions," said SteelEye CTO Dr. James Bottomley. "The greatest level of this threat is apparently coming from India. All indications are that it will be neutralized in the long term by active enforcement of the GPL and other defense mechanisms like the patent commons project."
Linux Certs Gaining Popularity Among IT Pros January 10, 2006
The value and popularity of IT certifications are tied to supply and demand, said John Challenger, CEO of IT outsourcing and jobs analysis firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. There is no question that after Microsoft and Cisco certifications, the next most important certs are for Linux, he told LinuxInsider.
Related News Alerts
More by Jennifer LeClaire
The Digital Car: Cool Automotive Accessories, Part 2 January 16, 2007
Not all the latest high-tech automotive electronics are built to entertain. Many give the driver more information and more control. Vehicle tracking devices can tell where the car is at any time, software installed in a smartphone can turn off a vehicle's security system whenever the owner approaches, and diagnostic tools can tell what's wrong with the engine -- and how much it'll be to fix it.
'World of Warcraft' Wows 8 Million Subscribers January 12, 2007
"World of Warcraft," the massively multiplayer online role-playing game, has reached the 8 million subscriber mark. Since debuting in North America in Nov. 2004, "World of Warcraft" has become the most popular MMORPG in the world. The franchise is available in seven different languages and is played on at least four continents.
AT&T Bids Goodbye to Cingular Brand January 12, 2007
Starting Monday, AT&T will launch a multimedia campaign to transition the Cingular Wireless brand name into its advertising and customer communications. The campaign will integrate popular imagery, phrases and icons from Cingular's traditional advertising, including the "raising the bar" tagline, the "Jack" character and the color orange.
Headline Feeds
Talkback: 
