So the hearsay are true . After 11 years , Apple will soon chuck the PowerPC computer architecture and set out building Macs based on Intel central processing unit . And the first matter we have to do is disentangle emotional reactions from the cold , voiceless technical facts .
Axis of Evil?
Over the geezerhood , Apple and its onetime splintering partner , Motorola and IBM , have seat considerable time and money in pick at both Intel ’s processors and its aggressive marketing efforts . ( think of the ads with the guy in the burning laboratory suit ? ) For a longsighted sentence , Intel has been lump together with Microsoft as the Mac community ’s axis of rotation of evil : Wintel . To the Mac faithful , that very word stood for everything that was haywire with microcomputer and right with Macs .
I was one of those faithful . Back in 1993 , I went down to Intel for a job interview ( one of my journalism teacher had taken a business there ) . But the whole sentence I was there , I felt like a sleeper factor . I kept look for the Intel CPU Detector to actuate , site the PowerBook 160 hidden in my backpack , and alert the guards who would toad frog - butt me out of the building .
Showing singular wisdom for a 23 - year - honest-to-god , I turned down the job at Intel and instead went to work atMacUsermagazine . The first big story to amount along after I started working there was Apple ’s transition to PowerPC central processor . The Pentium and the PowerPC , CISC and RISC , central processor - emulation engineering and the fear of buying soon - to - be - disused equipment : that was 1994 in a nutshell .
So to have Intel and Apple workingtogetherto drive us through another processor transition is undoubtedly a bit creepy to many of us — though perhaps not as creepy as it would have seemed 11 years ago . Since then , with AMD firmly on its heels , Intel has come out to calculate a bit less unvanquishable . Windows , too , has taken its gawk — thanks to some serious security measures problems and Microsoft ’s on-going unfitness to transport Longhorn , the next - generation rendering of the OS . Meanwhile , Apple has kiss and made up with former foe IBM , adopted a new operating system free-base on Unix , and even started releasing ironware and software that work with Windows .
Swapping Chips
Take aside the emotional luggage , and Apple has simply chosen a new chip vendor . In announcing the deal , Steve Jobs pointed out two key fact that anyone who has conform to the Mac ’s past class or two already knows all too well : the 3GHz Power Mac G5 Jobs prognosticate two days ago still does n’t exist , and we still do n’t have G5 - based PowerBooks .
job further excuse that Intel ’s product roadmap — the chips it ’s going to be developing over the next few years — is far better for Apple than IBM ’s . Is that a compliment to Intel ’s chip - design prowess , or is it a shot at IBM ’s unfitness to improve the G5 and make it more appropriate for laptop computer use ? Yes on both tally , I ’d say .
I do n’t cogitate this transition will be about as turbulent as travel from the 680X0 processor family to the PowerPC , or from OS 9 to OS X. Via Rosetta , most apps made for the PowerPC will work on Intel - based systems . And create Intel - native version of Mac apps will be much easy than making 680X0 apps work on PowerPC car or ca-ca atomic number 8 9 apps run in OS X. The very structure of OS X , which force developers to compose code at a very in high spirits level ( and which , it should be noted , was designed — as NextStep and OpenStep — to work on multiple processor architectures ) , should make recompiling program for Intel - based Macs comparatively square .
Clearing Up the Confusion
In my mind , this transition ’s gravid drawback is n’t proficient or even political . It ’s the confusion and misinformation that are pass to companion the variety . We ’ve tried to place out everything we know about the position in a especial report that fill up this month’sMac Beatsection ( Thomas Nelson Page 14 ) . And we ’ll continue to stick around on top of this transition , both here inMacworld ’s photographic print edition and online at Macworld.com .
In the meantime , spread the parole : Using Intel chip shot does n’t imply that Apple will become a microcomputer cloner . It does n’t stand for that all fresh Macs will be running Windows instead of OS X. It does n’t intend that current Macs will be obsolete next year . The sky is not falling .
But , I ’ll admit , it does seem to be a slightly different shade of blue .
