OK, so there’s been a little bit of a buzz being stirred over the last day or so that HP is developing their own operating system as they’re sick and tired of having to create patches and updates to keep their machines working with Vista.

Although I question as to whether or not this will actually happen, it does bring up some good questions that tech companies are going to have to deal with in the near future.

Will computer manufacturers want or need to make operating systems that are customized for their hardware and specific apps? We’ve seen this for years with Apple as they pretty much completely control the software that can be used on the Mac (excluding any open source projects).

Whether you agree with this policy or not, you have to acknowledge that Apple has been very successful with this model. And so have the developers that create software for the Mac. Yes, there are a few necessary cross-platform programs such as Office, but for the vast majority of Mac software, it’s made only for the Mac.

Are we going to see this trend picked up by PC manufacturer’s as well? While I agree that there should be some more viable options out there for people (Sorry all you hardcore Linux guys. Until someone decides to write some comprehensive manuals or continuing education classes to teach people how to run Linux, you’re not viable.), I don’t know if every manufacturer having their own system is the right answer.

Maybe we should be looking to more internet-based apps to solve this issue.

No matter the case this will be interesting to see what happens with HP and this issue.