Dell Willing To Sell Mac OS X - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Dell Willing To Sell Mac OS X

In a Fortune.com article, David Kirkpatrick talks about a recent interview with Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computers.

So I emailed Michael Dell, now the company's chairman, and asked if he'd be interested in the Mac OS, assuming that Apple CEO Steve Jobs ever decides to license it to PC companies. (For now, Jobs says he won't.)

"If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to offer it to our customers," Dell wrote in an email. It's the first time any PC industry executive has openly shown enthusiasm for selling machines with Apple's software. Though that's all Dell would say for the record, I suspect his interest is not unknown to Jobs. So, as I said in this column last week, the ball is in Jobs' court.

Steve Jobs has made it clear that Apple is a hardware company, not a software company, and doesn't want to market the Mac OS as a standalone product for fears it would lose the "total package" integration provided by a closed-loop system.

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system that is essentially a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a report this week, he said the operating system will feature a grid of icons, widgets, and apps, along with customizable clock faces. The new software platform is intended for Apple's long-rumored smart home hub. With built-in facial recognition,...
imac video apple feature

Apple Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever This Year

Wednesday July 29, 2026 12:03 pm PDT by
Apple this year acquired Israeli startup Q.ai for close to $2 billion, according to the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone maker Beats in 2014. This is also the largest known Apple acquisition since the company purchased Intel's smartphone modem business and patents for $1 billion in 2019. Q.ai...
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra: Pre-Orders and Release Date

Thursday July 30, 2026 6:12 am PDT by
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern. Labor Day is September 7 this year. The last time the holiday fell on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the last time Labor Day was on September 7 in a normal year was in ...

Top Rated Comments

SilvorX Avatar
276 months ago
i would rather shoot myself than see dells with OS X
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MBHockey Avatar
276 months ago
This will never happen under Jobs. Whoever becomes CEO after him, well, that's another story.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SpaceMagic Avatar
276 months ago
Quite an interesting read. Although, from Apple's point of view.. mass selling Mac OS X like Windows would be very profitable and in a way good for us all as more software would come to the mac.

However, I often feel that we'd be jealous of this. Mac users like to keep to themselves in a way. We like to think ourselves apart.. I think we all like being in a niche market, where we can brag about our systems. I think this is why we all got a bit huffed at WWDC because part of our arguements to why Macs are better was taken away from us.

I'm the same though... but I don't know, perhaps an OS X world would be a safer and better one.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jared_kipe Avatar
276 months ago
Of course he would. Why would it be a bad thing for any PC company to offer a different OS? But it won't happen, at least not yet.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
amac4me Avatar
276 months ago
Michael Dell, the founder and Chairman of Dell computer stated that Dell would be open to selling systems with Mac OS. Check out the article.

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/fastforward/0,15704,1072719,00.html
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

🔗 Related Apple News & Rumors

Stay updated with the latest Apple ecosystem news and verified rumors