Mac OS licensing may be dead for now (though AtAT still strongly suspects it'll be revived at some future date), but if Mac OS Rumors is correct, there's a distinct possibility that Apple is considering licensing Rhapsody, its next-generation server OS, to "several major hardware manufacturers." While licensing the PowerPC version might be a repeat of Apple's last OS licensing error, there's some interesting potential in licensing the Intel flavor.

Remember that Rhapsody runs just fine on Intel hardware, which means that all of those server manufacturers currently under Microsoft's giant NT thumb may leap at the chance to try something new. Whether or not Wintel buyers would be interested in Rhapsody over NT remains to be seen. To say that it can be "tough" to get information services departments to try something new is a gross understatement, but we're willing to guess that there are enough people out there tired of dealing with NT's "issues" (and perhaps even Microsoft's anticompetitive practices) to consider giving it a whirl. (It is, of course, then up to Apple to make sure that Rhapsody is great enough to win converts based on a quick demo.)

It makes sense for Apple; licensing Rhapsody instead of the Mac OS theoretically prevents cloners from cannibalizing Apple's own Mac sales, while extending Apple's OS installed base into the enterprise market. Given the speed of the PowerPC and the cross-platform compatibility of Rhapsody, a cheap Rhapsody PPC server might even be an attractive buy to an all-Wintel shop. Of course, given that Rhapsody will also be a "power user" operating system, there's nothing guaranteeing that Umax Rhapsody servers wouldn't be scarfed up by graphics and video professionals drawn to high speeds, low costs, and a bulletproof OS that still runs their Mac OS software incredibly well. It's that fact alone that makes us a little skeptical of the likelihood of Rhapsody PPC licensing. On the Intel side, however, we say "bring it on;" just make sure the technology is wonderful enough to make the users overlook the struggles of the past few years, and to make the manufacturers overlook that last little licensing debacle.