Apple Computer Sending Out an OS?

The news that Apple(AAPL Quote) plans to switch the processor at the heart of its Macintosh to chips made by Intel(INTC Quote) has set the computer world abuzz because it opens up the possibility of Apple's hardware being more compatible with computers running Microsoft's(MSFT Quote) dominant Windows operating system.

The computers that Apple is sending to developers working on programs for the new Intel-based Macintoshes run on an Intel Pentium 4 chip, apparently the same one used in Windows systems offered by Dell (DELL Quote) or Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote). Meanwhile, analysts and computer users have speculated that Apple computers could have both the Macintosh and Windows operating systems installed.

That guesswork was taken to a new level last week when Dell's chairman, Michael Dell, told Fortune that his company would be "happy" to sell computers running the Mac OS.

But don't hold your breath waiting for a Dell-intosh.

Apple representatives have said that the Mac OS will work only on Apple computers, though it hasn't detailed what it will do to prevent the software from being installed on rival computers. And Apple has no plans to sell a version of Mac OS for non-Apple computers, nor does it plan to sell or support Windows on Apple machines, company representatives have said.

The company has good reasons to take such a stance, analysts say. The most notable is its reliance on computer sales. Even with iPod sales booming, sales of Macintosh computers still brought in $3.1 billion in revenue, or 46% of Apple's total sales, in the first six months of its fiscal year. In contrast, during that time period, Apple garnered just $251 million, or less than 4% of its total revenue, from sales of software, including its Mac OS.

"They don't want to be in the OS business competing against Microsoft. They want to be in the platform business," says Van Baker, a consumer technology analyst at research firm Gartner. "Apple's strength in the marketplace comes from the fact that they control both the hardware and the software. They don't want to change that."