With the craptastic release that is Windows Vista, Apple has a real chance to go for the big one - if Jobs actually has the vision for it:

VMware's own upcoming virtualization software for the Mac has been hamstrung by the trouble VMware has gone through trying to get Apple's blessing, and SWsoft's Parallels has been "crippled" in particular ways to make it more difficult to get Mac OS onto a non-Apple machine, but it seems like it's only going to get harder for Apple to have it both ways, and Intel's inclusion of virtualization in its own chips just compounds the "problem." Michael Dell has also reconfirmed his desire to pre-load Mac OS onto his own boring boxes "if customers wanted it and Apple would license it on reasonable terms," but that tantalizing offer doesn't seem to have swayed Apple yet.

If Jobs decides to go for volume rather than margin, the rules of the PC game could get a big shakeup - and Microsoft might get shaken out of their lethargy and release something with less suckage.

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