Over at Daring Fireball, the ever-readable John Gruber states the obvious about Apple: it makes more money from selling hardware than it could ever make from selling software. He writes:

For any idea, ask yourself this: Would it help Apple sell more Macs or more iPods? If the answer is “no”, Apple isn’t going to do it, or, if they do, it’d be a genuinely shocking development.

As Gruber points out, what Apple’s up to with Boot Camp isn’t attacking Microsoft: it’s going after the really lucrative end of the PC market, where people with money to burn buy expensive kit from the likes of Alienware (now owned by Dell). Rather than slug it out in the bargain basement end of the market, Boot Camp could help Apple take some of the most lucrative computer buyers. As I said the other day, Macs are Marks & Spencer, not Tesco Value.