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The 10th anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death took place earlier this week, prompting tech leaders to share their stories about the former Apple CEO.
Dell CEO Michael Dell spoke with CNET, remembering when Steve Jobs sought to get Dell to license Mac OS to run on Intel PCs and how that could have changed the PC industry.
As the story goes, Jobs first approached Dell about a partnership after he was ousted from Apple and created NeXT. Jobs wanted Dell to use the NeXT operating system on Dell PCs, and he claimed it was better than Windows.
Dell told Jobs that was not going to happen because there was no app for it and “no customer interest.”
After Jobs joined Apple, he attempted a software license agreement again, trying to get Dell to license Mac OS. At the time, Jobs pushed Dell by telling him that PC buyers could choose between software from Apple or Microsoft Windows.
“He said, look at this – we have this Dell desktop and it’s running Mac OS,” Dell tells me. “Why don’t you license Mac OS? “
Dell thought it was a good idea and wanted to pay Jobs a license fee for each PC sold with Mac OS, but Jobs worried that PC sales would cannibalize Mac sales because PCs were cheaper. Instead, Jobs wanted Dell to load Mac OS with Windows on every PC, which would have cost Dell hundreds of millions in royalties.
Dell smiles when he tells the story. “The royalty he was talking about would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and the math just didn’t work because most of our customers, especially large companies, didn’t really want the operating system. Mac, ”he wrote. “Steve’s proposal would have been interesting if it was just us saying, ‘OK, we’ll pay you every time we use Mac OS’ – but pay it for every time we haven’t used it… well , good try, Steve! “
The cost of the royalties deterred Dell from closing the deal, as did the lack of guarantees that Dell would continue to have access to Mac OS for years to come. Dell customers might be out of luck as the software evolved, with no way for Dell to offer support.
Dell said that if this deal had been made, “It could have changed the trajectory of Windows and Mac OS on PCs.” In a 2005 interview, Dell said that if Apple “made Mac OS open to others,” Dell would be happy to offer it to customers, but that did not happen and Apple kept Mac OS exclusive to Macs. .
Although a software deal was never made, Dell said it has remained friends with Jobs over the years despite various arguments. Dell was once asked what it would do to fix Apple if he was CEO, and he said “I would shut down the business and give money back to the shareholders”, which angered Jobs.
Jobs ultimately used Dell’s quote to motivate his team, which Dell respected. “I probably would have done pretty much the same if I had been in her shoes,” Dell said. CNET. “When the business you have created is fighting for its survival, you do whatever it takes.”
Michael Dell’s Mac OS X story is featured in his recently published memoir, “Play Nice But Win,” which also features stories about how he met Jobs, his Apple II infatuation, and how he got there. developed a friendship with Jobs.
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