If Windows Came to PPC, Would You Switch?

An anonymous reader asks: "This question was posted on Ask Slashdot about a week ago: 'If Mac OS X Came to x86, Would You Switch?' This makes me ask why not have Windows run on PowerPC? Windows/PPC would not necessarily have to run on Apple hardware, or at least not exclusively on it. I'm sure their friends at IBM and Motorola would be happy to provide chips to anyone that wanted to make computers to run this new OS. Microsoft could dust off the code from NT4/PPC, add some code from Virtual PC to get Windows/x86 compatibility, and have it up and running in about the same amount of time it would take Apple to get Mac OS X running on common Intel hardware." An additional question comes to mind, however: If Microsoft made this move, how would Intel react?

Obligatory Quote

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

"You can't polish a turd"

How to put this...

[daveschroeder]

No [elite.net]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[lordkimbot]

Oh, you're serious.

Sorry!

Well of course

[willoc]

Intel would start crying...

Of Course.

[Anonymous Coward]

The quality of Microsoft software combined with the cost-effective PPC hardware! Not to mention the compatibility!

April Fool came early this year, n'est pa?

[ggvaidya]

Strangest. Ask Slashdot. Ever.

For Shame!

[Draconix]

Once more, people are overlooking an oft ignored market base:

Masochists.

Yes!

[Axem]

So I can run Windows, on a Mac, running Virtual Machine, which in turn will emulate OSX! Genius I tell you!

Oh yeah

[cubicledrone]

People are going to switch to Windows from OS X. Oh sure. They'll probably line up around the Best Buy at midnight. Yeah. Uh huh.

Dell makes an iPod. Sony makes an iPod. Windows is trying to be OS X. Microsoft has a music store. HP licenses the iPod. Hmmm.

Yep. Everybody wants to be Apple.

If the Astros put on Yankees uniforms...

[PollGuy]

would you root for them?

Re:This is hilarious!

[Anonymous Coward]

The real question here is: If Martians landed on earth, would they use PPC WIndows, or would they prefer x86?

Slashdot will now officially post anything.

New Poll

[Nova Express]

What do you think of running Windows on the PowerPC Platform?

1. Finally! The stability and ease of use of Windows combined with the Mac's huge library of games!
2. I think you should put down the crack pipe.
3. Hmm, there's something just not right about this ice cream. I know! I'll improve it by adding this dead rat!
4. Don't make me hurt you.
5. You'll install Windows on my PPC over my dead body.
6. The goggles! They do nothing!
7. Seriously, I really, really have to hurt you now.
8. I'm still trying to install Windows 3.0 on my PDP-11. Just 12,500 more dip switch flips and I'm done!
9. With my 5000 node XServe cluster, I can now achieve a Blue Screen of Death in picoseconds!
10. I'll use Windows when it runs on CowboyNeal.

-1 Redundant

[wazzzup]

Why?

Really, why was this story even posted? The barrier for entry to Windows is already lower on Intel than PPC. 99% of people buy PPC to get MacOS and have made a decision to stay away from Windows. Maybe for some obscure server configuration or something - I don't know. Ewww. I think I just felt my PowerBook shudder.

It's like going to church and asking the congregation if, next week, they would like to hold a Satanic mass and worship the devil rather than the usual Sunday drill.

Re:would do

[Performaman]

A wise Finn once wrote:
"The memory maagement on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children."

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:muuuh.

[rlwhite]

I'm still waiting for Windows on x86 to have full efficiency.

Re:Obligatory Quote

[Anonymous Coward]

You didn't forget about the Polish, your president would be so very proud.

This sounds great!

[wargolem]

And after I start running Windows on my Mac, I think I'll outfit my Fiat with chrome wheels, spoiler, and a fart pipe!

Wrong!

[EtherAlchemist]

You can't polish a turd

Oh yes you can! [coprolites.com] See? [artisticjewelry.net]

And I remember on the old Ripley's show (circa 80's) a farmer that made jewelry out of chicken droppings.

Re:Already done. It's called Microsoft Virtual PC.

[damiam]

But it's otherwise as useful and harmless as XP.

I can't say that either of those adjectives would be my first choice for describing XP.

Re:Already done. It's called Microsoft Virtual PC.

[Anml4ixoye]

But it's otherwise as useful and harmless as XP. I can't say that either of those adjectives would be my first choice for describing XP.

That's because the poster mistyped. He meant useless and harmful

Blargh.

[waldoj]

What kind a of a sick sonofabitch roots for the Yankees?

-Waldo Jaquith

The Political Equivelant...

[Cheesewhiz]

Look, from a pragmatic perspective this is like arguing over an invasion of Canada... after Nader wins the elections... and the French officially declare that they were wrong about Iraq, and that they suck.

"Sure, sure... BUT WHAT IF?!"

Re:No

[bob beta]

The processor architecture is of zero concern, except maybe as it pertains to battery life and heat.

Does this really mean the chorus of 'RISC is better' ignorance from Macheads is over??

Come on, let's have a RISC vs. CISC fight for good old times.

I'll champion the Microchip PIC processor (RISC).

You champion the Motorola 68HC11 processor (CISC).

Re:Intel...

[$RANDOMLUSER]

You're thinking of the Ia-432 IIRC. The very definition of "Never build anything simply, when it can be made Complex And Wonderful".

Yes, the 68000 kicked the 8086's ass.
Yup, the Z8000 kicked the 68000's ass. (Yeah, I remember the MMU)
Right, the NS16032 kicked the Z8000's ass. (OK, so they never made any)
And, yeah, the Alpha left them all in the dust.

But none of us could resist that 8-bit, multiplexed-bus, single-accumulator redheaded-stepchild-of-the-4004-instruction-set sex-godess known as the 8088.
Reserve a big chunk of address space for BASIC in ROM, and you've got history in the making.

OK, mod me "troll" - but I'm not wrong .

Re:HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[kundor]

The proper way to handle that situation is
"Oh, wait you're serious. Let me laugh even harder."
(--Bender)

Re:No

[YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT]

Does this really mean the chorus of 'RISC is better' ignorance from Macheads is over??

No, I coded up a stack of PPC assembly on my mac last weekend, and damn, it felt good to have all those extra registers and nice, simple instructions.

YLFI

I'd buy it because I miss...

[bogasity]

downloading nine critical security updates every month! No other OS gives me my money's worth of software like Windows. It's like getting a whole new OS every lunar cycle!

Re:If the Astros put on Yankees uniforms...

[mvdw]

I'm an Aussie. Here in Australia, to root means something completely different to what you USAians would mean. Short answer is that yes, I would root for them. In fact, I'd root for anybody...

Aren't there laws...

[umrgregg]

Aren't there laws in the U.S. against purposfully spreading a virus?

Question is redundant

[ewe2]

They haven't got the x86 port right yet.

Re:Obligatory Quote

[Trejkaz]

Putting Windows on a PowerPC wouldn't be so much like polishing a turd, as it would be like smearing shit on a diamond.

Lets see...

[sirgoran]

Take a buggy insecure OS and replace my stable, fast, easy to use OS? Sure!

And while you're at it why not replace my regular coffee with decafe.

Oh hell, why not kick me in the balls too. Because if I were stupid enough to do such a moronic thing I shouldn't enjoy my morning coffee or ever have kids.

Goran

Re:Wrong!

[Anonymous Coward]

OK, but that's a fossil. Windows is a little too fresh and steamy for that treatment now.

Come back in a couple million years and we'll be ready for it. 8^)

Re:Obligatory Quote

[ActiveSX]

Yeah, how dare somebody suggest sullying Windows like that! >:(

Re:Why? FOR THE JOY.

[crazyphilman]

Follow the following algorithm to experience a moment of intense joy:

1. Acquire Windows for PPC.

2. Put Windows on your beautiful, pristine, PPC machine.

3. Experience the joys of Windows on PPC for one full week. You MUST use ONLY IE and Outlook Express for the full week. Your feeling at the end of the week should be similar to the expereience of waking up after a week-long bender in Tijuana, only to realize you've been having unprotected sex with an 80-year old Tijuana hooker with no teeth and a hygeine problem. NOTE: I have not experienced this... Ahem.

4. Re-install Mac OS/X on your machine, run it through a full update, set your wallpapers and so forth, then go to bed.

5. The next morning, find a sunny, beautiful spot in your apartment, power your PPC machine up, and check your email. Browse the web for a while using Mozilla. See how much better the system is now, how wonderfully it works, and realize your ordeal is over.

Relish the moment... Every now and then, if you need a pick-me-up, you can repeat it... ;)

Re:How to put this...

[FauxReal]

I'd switch... but only if they properly ported the virii and trojan software base, otherwise I'd feel lonely being the only person using my computer.

Re:Obligatory Quote

[arivanov]

There was. For IBM power PC platform. Average uptime a few hours.

Re:Obligatory Quote

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice uptime. For a windows box.

Re:Obligatory Quote

[DarkEdgeX]

(shamelessly translated from http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=125372&cid =10505702 [slashdot.org])

Look, you guys just can't get it through your heads that the reason why Windows XP works so well is because it runs on such a wide array of hardware-- this allows the engineers coding XP to make assumptions THAT CANNOT BE MADE in the PPC world, where a machine could be using one of dozens of motherboards, network cards, graphics cards, sound cards, etc. Mac OS developers have to code for the lowest common denominator. Windows developers code for specific hardware. Even the version of Windows that ran on PPC hardware ran on a tiny subset of the available PPC hardware. If your CD-ROM drive and motherboard weren't on the "supported hardware" list that came with Windows, you were SOL.

That little fantasy you all have of buying "Windows for PPC", running it on some store-bought shitbox you purchased from the Apple store, and having it work as well as an x86 runs Windows XP today will NEVER come to pass. Apple has spent twenty years and untold millions trying to achieve that goal, and they still have quite a way to go.

Do you think Gates could just snap his fingers one day and a few months later have a product on the shelves that would run perfectly on every PPC capable of running OS X today? It's impossible. And even if it were possible, you wouldn't buy it. Why? Because Microsoft uses their software to sell their hardware, so a copy of Windows XP for PPC would have to be priced to ease the pain of a lost hardware sale-- you'd either do without it and bitterly bitch about the price here on /., or you'd pirate it-- either way, Microsoft would lose money on it.

~DarkEdgeX

Re:NT Runs on G5 Mac Hardware Now

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait wait wait... so let me get this straight... There used to be Apples and IBM-compatibles... now, Apples are the IBM-compatibles, and IBM doesn't make IBM-compatibles... I need to sit down.

Re:Obligatory Quote

[Tanktalus]

I think we now have proof ... Darl reads /.

Re:Obligatory Quote

[Kehvarl]

I find your lack of perception of humor disturbing.

Re:How to put this...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a good thing too. If he had stayed around too long, who knows how many misspelled commands the VMS CLI would have understood:-)

I would run Windows on a shiny new G5

[shplorb]

...for the exact same reason that I'd buy a Ferrari and run it on sump oil.

This is like asking...

[Antaeus Feldspar]

"If Richard Nixon were to come back from the grave, would you vote for him?"

...

Well, come to think of it, if it came down to Lich Nixon or Dubya Bush....