In case you’ve forgotten, each month I’m changing the header to something which has some meaning to me. This month’s header has a multiple meanings. As you can see this is an image of my OS X desktop. This past Christmas I received parts to build myself an x86 Mac, and I’m loving it. The features of OS X are amazing, from the cool visual effects to the powerful Unix core; everything about OS X is neat and exciting.

Since this is the start of a new year, this month’s header also reflects that. I think this year is going to be the year of the Mac, but only if Apple wants it to be. The reason I say that is if Apple doesn’t change a thing on how they sell their computers, nothing will change for them. However, if Apple takes advantage of their opportunities they can achieve a greater desktop market share.

Basically Apple has two ways to get a greater market share. With the upcoming Intel Macs (possibly this month at Macworld), Apple has an opportunity to lower the price on their computers. Apple will now be using “regular” computer parts, so they will have more options to cut costs in a similar fashion to companies such as Gateway and Dell. Price has always been one of the factors that has kept me away from Macs, so a lower priced computer would definitely be a stronger reason for people (including myself) to make the switch.

Apple’s second opportunity is a stretch, but I have a feeling it is going to happen. I have a feeling that sometime this year we will see a boxed version of OS X for any desktop computer. This solution would easily propel Apple to the top of the desktop market share. Right now the majority of Windows users are constantly suffering from virus, spyware, etc. If they could switch to a better OS while keeping their existing computer parts, I’m sure they would. My own parents have expressed their interest in a Mac if they could just keep the existing machine they have already invested money into. This seems to be a common trend among Windows users. If Apple would sell a reasonably cheap version of OS X (under $200) I think Apple would find a lot of people switching to their OS. I know this is going to be a hard adjustment for Apple since they have always been a hardware company, but admit it Apple; at this point in time your OS is better than your hardware.

Regardless of what happens, this is going to be a very interesting year for Apple. With the iPod effect, the upcoming Intel transition, Leopard (10.5) later in the year, and Microsoft’s upcoming failed Vista launch, tides may be changing in the desktop arena soon. I look forward to seeing what 2006 will bring to the year of the Mac.