It wasn't that long ago that choosing between Mac and Windows meant a choice between processing architectures as well as operating systems. Apple's OS X was running on PowerPC, Microsoft's Windows was owning the x86 market, and the two seemed destined never to cross paths. But unbeknownst to the whole world, an Apple engineer was working behind the scenes on what was essentially a pet project, porting OS X to Intel's x86 processors. Over on Quora, Kim Scheinberg recalls the tale of how her husband, John Kullman, managed to get Apple's desktop OS running on multiple Intel-powered PCs and his motivations for starting that project up.

Aside from finding it "interesting and enjoyable," Kullman was also driven by the need for an independent project to work on while making the move away from the Apple campus and back to the US East Coast — this was to let his 1-year-old son spend more time with his grandparents. OS X on Intel was that venture for him, which he maintained solo for 18 months until it came to the attention of his boss, Joe Sokol, who quickly passed the information up along the chain of command. Kullman's software could be up and running on brand new Intel PCs within hours, which prompted the fast-acting Steve Jobs to jump on a plane to Japan the very next day and meet the President of Sony. Clearly those discussions didn't bear any fruit, but it's not like Apple is exactly worse off for it.