Apple Computer will benefit from its move to the Intel processor while the Linux operating system will take a direct hit, industry columnist John Dvorak wrote Tuesday in his online column for MarketWatch.

"Iim on the side of benefit as Apple can now champion its design and aesthetic strategies in the world of Intel and allow people who prefer the Windows OS to actually buy a Macintosh for its design and run Windows on it," Mr. Dvorak wrote. "Itis quite possible that this new Apple strategy while obviously harmful to the computer makers in general and to Microsoft somewhat could actually be most dangerous to the emerging Linux OS environment. In fact it could kill Linux and in some ways actually benefit Microsoft in the long term."

Mr. Dvorak said he believes Linux will suffers from "a lack of modern intuitive menus and commands" and that because "Apple is using the same processor as everyone else, targeting the Macs will now be an easy decision to make. This will be at the expense of Linux."

The columnist, known by for his often negative comments regarding Apple, said "Intel will benefit from the Apple decision," but isnit sure loses in the new battle.

"IBM, Motorola and the PowerPC community will take a hit," he believes, and "Microsoft will be affected because of this new competitor and the possibility that people will more readily switch to the Mac.

"But it seems that Linux has the most to lose," he wrote. "Linux was the only X86 alternative to Microsoft and now it has both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to contend with -- two ilast man standingi types. I think Red Hat and all the other Linux distributors have a problem."