Yep, Apple continues to be the headlines winner all over the media outlets, and this time Dell is sharing the spotlight with the Macintosh maker. Yesterday, Dell’s Founder and Chairman Michael Dell e-mailed Fortune magazine (after being requested to comment on the situation) stating, "If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to offer it to our customers." That’s a fairly bold statement coming from Dell considering that this declaration could possibly have a negative impact on the company’s relationship with Microsoft. Then again, Dell has a history of openly (though not heavily promoting) retailing PCs and servers with operating systems other than Microsoft’s end-user and enterprise offerings, so maybe it’s not that appalling after all. While the news is certainly interesting, it’s doubtful that Apple would ever license its Mac OS X to Dell or any other PC manufacturer for that matter.

One of the main reasons for this is Apple is a hardware company, and despite the successful operating system it may have, Apple can’t afford to enter the software market and decimate its hardware venture. If Apple were to license its OS to Dell, it would more than likely license its OS to other PC manufacturers as well, which means that Macintosh systems would all of a sudden be in direct competition against inexpensive counterparts from large OEMs. When you have a $500.00 PC compared to a $1500.00 Macintosh, the public will generally opt for the economical solution. Why pay more than you have to? Additionally, for Apple to lose out on its hardware venture and enter a new competitive arena with Microsoft, it’s far from pragmatic.

Continuing with Apple and Microsoft’s competition, Microsoft has the capacity (just like Intel) to strike better licensing deals due to its dominating control over the OS market. Apple don’t necessarily have to worry about that, since PC manufacturers are showing their interest in Mac OS X, so Apple has the upper hand in this situation. If Apple wants, it could very well charge a premium and PC manufacturers would still be delighted to offer an alternative. Of course, this doesn’t apply to all OEMs, as some are not willing to offer anything other than Windows. Assuming that Apple does enter the OS realm and publicly declares a competitive war against Microsoft, imagine the support Apple would’ve to offer in order to make its OS run smoothly on uncertified hardware. It’s not so much so that Apple isn’t interested in releasing an independent Mac OS X, but the company is in such a position that it can’t enter this particular market regardless the tempting offers it might get.

In addition, Microsoft can cope with high piracy rates in Asian market with its applications, but would Apple be able to sustain profit from this problem? It’s doubtful. Apple would never get the chance to offer a stripped down version of Mac OS X. The support aspect of the issue strikes, yet again. Apple is known to move forward with every OS release unlike Microsoft where it has to support previous versions of Windows in order to satisfy those that are not upgrading their systems every few years. Such support would also not be beneficial to Apple. The company would have to allocate more resources to keep up with regular hardware and be dependent on other companies to make their moves unlike in the case of exclusivity. By remaining exclusive on the software as well as the hardware side, Apple can strategize in a manner that better fits its plans.

Though the thought of having inexpensive PCs with working Mac OS X sounds delighting, in reality, it’s not a realistic venture for Apple. There are far too many obstacles and risks that Apple should never take. The company should focus on whatever it does best, and that’s to make sure its software and hardware are such interlinked that the end-user experience is far more satisfying that what Windows could ever offer. As a note to Dell and others who are anticipating a change in Jobs’ decision, thanks but no thanks.