Intel Inside on next-gen Apple

So, it's true. Apple is ditching the PowerPC and adopting Intel machines. However, combined with things like Rosetta, this isn't completely insane behavior by Apple. They are saying all the right things.

This is a huge gamble, but a necessary one.

My hunch is that IBM has no plans for taking the PowerPC mobile, so if that is truly the case, then Apple really had no choice. The PowerBooks are stuck on the G4 processor which is vastly inferior to the G5s. (I have both, so I know!)

This forced Apple to play their trump card.

I've been fairly sure that Apple has had Mac OS X running on Intel - considering the FreeBSD roots, it's almost imperative that they would have needed that at some point to help the bootstrap process. So, that came as no real shock - it's just that they are switching everything over to it is a bit more of a surprise.

As mentioned at lunch today, can we imagine the uproar if Sculley had actually released Star Trek?

Only Jobs has the capital with the fanatics to pull this off; and he's stretching the limits big time. I had a number of fellow Mac users stop by my office and groan at the announcement. However, Jobs has brought Apple this far (and from the brink!) and to say he doesn't have the best interest of the company in mind is absurd. Yet, this couldn't have been a change that the Pepsi folks could have sold back in the early 90s.

The other common theme that everyone in the office is wondering is who the heck is going to buy a Mac in the next 18 months? I just bought two new Apple boxes in the last six months - so I can probably tide over until the Intel ones actually ship. But, eh: Apple must realize this is going to kill sales in the short-term. I know Steve said, "There will be some great PowerPC hardware coming down the pipeline." Riiiight. No one cares. No one wants obsolete hardware that the vendor has no intention of supporting.

One other technical note that I've seen is that the Apple boxes will not run OpenFirmware. I'm betting Apple is relying upon Intel's DRM to not run Mac OS X on anything but their hardware. This may be a stumbling block (albeit minor) if they want to move to AMD later. However, the cost of moving to the x86 instruction set is far more than switching from Intel to AMD processors - so that'd be a relatively low-key change if Intel can't deliver on their promises too.

Finally, of note, no more Classic - Rosetta will not support any OS 9 apps - which means no more FrameMaker. Drat. Drat. Drat.

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