I don't usually blog about news in the computer industry, but I feel I have to express my point of view on today's CNet article about Apple filling a lawsuit against PsyStar (website down as of right now).

There used to be a time in the early 90s when Apple tried to follow the PC-path and open the Apple architecture (PowerPC-based at that time). Apple was already in a not-so-good financial position and this experiment did not have the expected result of expanding the Mac market, but rather have the other vendors cannibalize Apple's market share... that was a hard blow at the time.

However, things have changed since Jobs returned to Apple, and although the Mac market did not grow to a 50% share it's still pretty solid -- especially since OSX who won the hearts of many developers because of its UNIX lineage. Now Apple is making tons of cash with iPods, iPhones, the MusicStore... its hardware and software are ahead of the curve, inspiring both other hardware manufacturers and software developers (proprietary or open-source) around the globe.

To me, Apple is a hardware manufacturer, who also happens to have a passion for software development, and had the guts to carry on with a different vision with a strong will. Thing were harsh in the 90s, but things have changed since them. Our perspective on software (and OSes in particular) has evolved: we are getting away from the proprietary, Microsoft-monopoly-style perspective, and moving to a shared collaborative software where everybody can participate and interact.

Apple has made much progress towards open-sourcing technologies (Darwin, RendezVous, WebKit, Foundation, etc), but is still strongly attached to keeping OSX proprietary. Even more than that, now that Macs are "just" very well designed PCs, they want to have the monopoly on OSX. This is an old-school, conservative behavior that shows if not lack of understanding, elements of fear.

So Apple, let some competitors in, because now they won't eat your market shares but rather let your market grow. You should be more worried about Linux getting more shared in the desktop side -- it's still small now, but look at the progress made since the end of the 90s.

I think Apple's control-freak behavior does not fit anymore in today's context : they're present in too many sectors, and try to control everything end-to-end in every one of them. That's a clear lack of understanding of the profound mental (and social) changes that happened thanks to the Internet and open-source software. So Apple, please focus on making really cool hardware, providing paying services around them, but open source OSX ! Let your OS live its life and help your market share and technological leadership grow.