Apple Leopard hack pointless fun for Windows

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But as any tech fan will tell you to the question 'why?', the answer is 'because we can'. There are many things possible in the world of computers that leave the average person scratching their head and failing to see the point. But that is the point. There doesn't have to be a point when it comes to technology.

If you still fail to see the point, then let's put it another way.

Why do men (because women would rarely bother doing such a pointless thing) put spoilers on crappy cars? Does it have a benefit? No. Does it improve your sex appeal, with women suddenly falling at your feet begging to be the ones 'lucky' enough to get a ride? No.

Does it make the car go faster? No. Does it make the car look good? No. Does it make you the object of ridicule by sane people, who point and laugh? Yes, but the proud spoiler owner is immune so it has no effect.

And so it is with hacking Apple's latest operating system and running it on a PC. True Mac users will point and laugh and maybe even show some sympathy that you couldn't afford a real computer. Others will snipe under their breath that finally the PC has a decent operating system (in-between pointing out that Vista is an Apple OS rip off and Leopard pushes the Mac brand ahead technically again).

The idea of running different operating systems on a computer is not new. Boot Camp, introduced last year, put the Windows operating system onto Intel-based Macs, but here Apple aficionados will point to the sound sense this made - after all, some software doesn't run on these Macs, so this just makes life easier.

At the time, Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said: 'Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple's superior hardware now that we use Intel processors. We think Boot Camp makes the Mac even more appealing to Windows users considering making the switch.'

And that is one of Apple's long term aims - to entice PC users away from their Microsoft Windows. In companies, Apple has its niche, but there is little chance that it will make huge inroads into mass business. Just ask the Linux camp, which has also long been trying to achieve the same thing, and its software is free.

But as many in the Linux business have come to accept, running the operating system at the back end is an easy sell. At the client end though, few business will take the plunge, because of end user resistance. Changing operating systems would involve inordinate training and many lost man hours as people struggled to cope with unfamiliar software.

The hack released to run Leopard on a PC is of course unofficial and a bit of fun. It is not supported by Apple and there is little chance that it will ever be supported by major PC vendors.

But even if an official version were released by a company (if it could get it past Apple's corporate lawyers), there's little chance of companies using such software, partly for fear of upsetting Microsoft and because of the huge upheaval it would involve.

Which leaves such a hack in the world of what it was meant to be. A bit of pointless fun, just because you can.

See also:
Install Leopard on your PC in 3 easy steps