Today marks
<https://9to5mac.com/web-stories/opinion-steve-jobs-passed-away-10-years-ago
-today-but-his-influence-forever-changed-me-apple-and-the-world/> 10 years
since Steve Jobs passed away, and Apple is honoring the late Apple cofounder
with a tribute on its homepage. Meanwhile, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell
has sat down with
<https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/the-steve-jobs-deal-with-dell-that-coul
d-have-changed-apple-and-tech-history/?utm_source=reddit.com> CNET to
discuss Jobs' legacy - and spill the beans on a deal that Jobs proposed
between Apple and Dell in 1997.
Dell is making the rounds in the press this week as he promotes his new
book, <https://amzn.to/3FjVaX7> Play Nice But Win: A CEO's Journey from
Founder to Leader, which was released today. Speaking to CNET, Dell
reflected on Jobs' legacy:
"Anybody who's going to do something amazing has to have a somewhat
different and unconventional approach," Dell, 56, said in an interview when
asked about Jobs' legacy. "You can't be following the rules and making
amazing things happen. Steve was certainly exceptional in that regard."
In 1993, after Jobs had been ousted from Apple and founded NeXT, he pitched
Dell on using the NeXT operating system instead of Windows, saying it was
better than Microsoft's offerings:
Dell says Jobs came to his house in Texas several times that year, trying to
convince him to use the Next operating system on Dell PCs by arguing that it
was better than Microsoft's Windows software and could undermine the Unix
workstation market being touted by Sun Microsystems. The problem, Dell says
he told Jobs, was that there were no applications for it and zero customer
interest.
Then, in 1997 when Jobs was back at Apple, he pitched Dell on another idea.
Jobs offered the option to license Mac OS to Dell, "telling him he could
give PC buyers a choice of Apple's software or Microsoft's Windows OS
installed on their machine."
There were, however, some issues with what Jobs' proposition, according to
Dell. Jobs didn't want Apple to pay a licensing fee for every PC sold with
Mac OS - he wanted Dell to "load Mac OS alongside Windows on every Dell PC
and let customers decide which software to use," and then pay Apple for
every Dell PC sold."
CNET continues:
Dell smiles when he tells the story, saying the deal was a nice try on Jobs'
part, but it wasn't "an economic proposition that made a lot of sense" since
he'd have to pay Apple hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing fees
even if his PC buyers didn't use the Mac OS. Another problem: Jobs wouldn't
guarantee access to the Mac OS three, four or five years later. That could
leave Dell customers using Mac OS out of luck as the software evolved.
Still, Dell acknowledges that the deal was a moment in history of what could
have been.
"It could have changed the trajectory for Windows and Mac OS on PCs," Dell
says. "But obviously, they went in a different direction."
Meanwhile, in a separate interview with
<https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/05/apple-today-is-not-what-steve-jobs-would-ha
ve-done-michael-dell.html> CNBC, Dell said that Apple has "continued to
innovate" in its post-Jobs era, but in a way that is "certainly different
from what Steve would have done."
9to5mac.
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