If this is really true, it'll be interesting to see how this is going to affect existing Mac users (who will have probably invested lots of money in software already)
Interesting.. will Apple support their back-catalogue if there is an architecture change?
I bet the 'classic' fiasco still smarts for Apple users who thought Apple had finally learned from their own history not to alienate their userbase with complete changes.
It's tempting to see x86 migration in the pipeline, but x86 isn't the only technology Intel have.
If they address the issues with the underlying platform, which might be less difficult now than with classic Mac OS, then hey - a lot of apps can be ported or recompiled - and if they're commissioning the design of the chip to their own spec even the altivec/etc stuff can be supported, or at least recompilable on their new hardware platform.
To be honest, though, what killer task is happening in a PPC-specific way that {can't be done/isn't being done/hasn't got source available} on other architectures?
If they want to support instruction set x or have a richer register setup than my plebeian x86 products, or have something better in the pipeline, we'll find out - but if Apple Computer has a req/spec they need, then Intel will probably meet it to win a contract.
There's always the fact that Intel can probably bring the most incredible manufacturing might to the table and produce cheap horsepower, in millions, manufactured, quality guaranteed and delivered on time.
That could be the decisive factor - the Germans had lots of superior military hardware during ww2, but they didn't bank on trying to out-manufacture Detroit :)
Maybe they just need someone who can make enough chips for 'em.
and existing PC users assuming that Apple opens up and allows anybody to run Mac OX for x86 processors.
I'd buy "a" commercial desktop environment for x86 unix designed by Apple Computer (by which I mean an OS X type affair - and crazily, I know plenty who would). Wouldn't want to pay for the underlying OS though.
Apple are pretty old-school as a computer company aren't they - from an era when even the best of computer companies had fairly closed hardware policies.
They were pretty happy to stick with that, even before the law of the jungle galvanised it for them (let's face it, the Microsoft bogeyman's under the PPC bed, just waiting for them to *dare* getting out of it).
Suppose if Apple slashdotters' worst nightmares were realised and the whole thing went x86_64 on them - there may well still be something a little proprietary going on in the hardware to make sure it didn't *exactly* equate to an MS platform.
Having said that - there are vicious rumours about Microsoft moving to PowerPC too - which begs the question - if apple leave PPC, did they jump, or were they pushed?
Curiouser and curiouser..
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