Some momentous news program came out of Apple ’s Worldwide Developers Conference today , when Steve Jobs occupy the phase to address a long - abide rumor that ’s been on the mind of many a Mac user as of late . With one announcement , Jobs shook the Mac universe to its foundations , outlining a visual sensation that will mould Mac software development for long time to come up .
Yes , the next major update to Mac OS X will be computer code - named “ Leopard . ”
Oh , and I get wind that there was some other news about processors or something .
We ’ll set aside talk of the town of Apple ’s cat codification - name regression for now — I had “ Felis pardalis ” in the office pool , so you could imagine how disappointed I am today — and instead , focus our attention on the somewhat more significant news that Macs run on Intel - built processors will begin hitting the market by this time next year . After all , this is an announcement that affects every segment of the Mac food market , from users to developers to the kids drive home sandwich to Apple ’s technology team . It ’s only natural for every one of these interested company to have motion about this substitution - over : Which Macs will be the first to get Intel chips ? What are those chip break to mean for overall carrying out ? And perhaps the most common question to come along in thought bubbles over the heads of WWDC attendees Monday : How is this go to affect me in person ?
Jobs ’ relatively brief stem - winder—62 minutes by my vigil , which , by the standard of Jobs lecture , is an answering - machine message — didn’t volunteer up a fate of answers to those questions , except in the tolerant possible strokes . Here ’s what we jazz , found on the keynote :
And here ’s what we do n’t bang : just about everything else . If you ’re the kind of soul who lust for tech glasses , Apple did n’t have much to show you Monday , other than the Power Mac power by a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 chip that it ’s making usable to Mac developer for $ 999 so that they can create program for the brave new humans of Pentium - establish Macs . ( The developers have to give these machines back to Apple in 2006 , so you could proscribe those plans to pick one up on Ebay . )
Then again , delineate every last particular of this PowerPC - to - Pentium transition was n’t the point of Monday ’s tonic . or else , this was Jobs ’ chance to give the principle behind the move—“Though we have great products right now , we can envision great product we want to build for you , and we ca n’t see how we can work up them with the PowerPC roadmap , ” the Apple CEO say — and erase any fears that we ’re in for another elaborate Broadway production number on the order of the OS 9 - to - OS ten migration .
Which is why the braggart success out of Monday ’s tonic may well have been the folk who get a line the initial hearsay about a possible switch to Intel and had visions of a conversion fraught with hiccups , cephalalgia , and a pile of disused package . While we wo n’t experience for certain until the first Pentium - free-base Mac rolls off the assembly ancestry , Steve Jobs promises a comparatively legato migration . And all signs seem to indicate that he is n’t pulling our collective leg .
While computer software shaper who do their maturation body of work in Metrowerks apparently have their workplace cut out for them , developers using Apple ’s Xcode do n’t seem to face a intimidating task when it total to getting their apps up and run on an Intel splintering . In an oculus - scuttle presentation , Wolfram Research co - founder Theo Gray said that Mathematica — a complex program describe by Gray as “ probably the human beings ’s large collecting of algorithms,”—required about two hours and changes to 20 lines of source code to get it running on a Pentium - powered Mac .
End - users like you and me should front an even more seamless passage . job present off Rosetta , a technology aimed at applications that do n’t immediately add support for Intel chips . Rosetta translates PowerPC - based apps so that they can course on Intel political machine in a elbow room that ’s transparent to the close user ( although Jobs ’ instruction that Rosetta - transformed apps will run “ fast enough ” has me wondering whether the performance hit will be noticeable ) . It forebode to be a dramatic improvement from a few years back when we had to bring up up Classic every time we wanted to run a non o X - compatible program .
As for the other winners and losers from the WWDC keynote …
succeeder : PreparationAs it turns out , every version of OS X ever train has included a body-build designed specifically to run on Intel - based machine . That ’s five years ’ worth of surreptitious OS X - on - Intel adaptation built just in casing Apple ever bring forth it into its head to interchange processor supplier .
I wish had that kind of foresightfulness and planning skills when it came to shift cell phone providers .
also-ran : Existing Mac SalesApple can emphasise how it ’s still design to release PowerPC - based Macs in the class before the Intel machine are ready — Jobs pronounce it twice by my counting on Monday . And it can punctuate that the software you buy is going to move on a Mac , disregardless of the processor within . But I just ca n’t see how Monday ’s news does n’t mean that a intelligent ball of Apple ’s customers just tabled their hardware - buying plans for another 12 to 18 months .
It ’s not of necessity rational , when you suppose about it — Apple ’s been prognosticate a 3GHz Power Mac since 2003 , and that should n’t have deterred anyone who need a new desktop from upgrading to a 2.0GHz - plus model . And while it ’s lawful that Macs with Intel at bottom will begin come along next yr , that does n’t meaneverytype of Mac will appear at once . What if you ’re in the market for a new laptop computer , and Apple does n’t get around to putting Intel chips into its PowerBook and iBook short letter until last ? You ’re lead to wait until the close of 2007 to exchange that aging Titanium PowerBook ?
Still , masses are going to do what they do . And if Apple wants to maintain healthy cut-rate sale , it ’s going to have to convert Mac users that it ’s in their serious interestingness to advance .
Winner : Analysts Who ’ve Been Predicting This Sort of Thing for the Last DecadeThe stopped clock got the time right-hand . The sight - impaired squirrel has obtain his acorn . And the analysts who ’ve been flooding the speech sound production line with this request finally receive their wish . Now , perhaps they can get hold anewdemand to bunk into the ground . By the fashion , gents , “ Release low - toll mac ! ” has already been assume .
Loser : The Megahertz MythFor nearly as long as I ’ve been in the employment ofMacworld , Apple has been tout the Megahertz Myth — the construct that peeled C.P.U. speed is n’t the lone determining factor for how a organization perform . Much of this was based in fact — as we ’ve signal in several characteristic articles , alotof variable quantity affect how quick a computer goes about tasks — but some of it was market twist concoct as Pentium clock fastness speed far beyond what PowerPC chips could pop the question .
Apple ’s point of view is that while PowerPC flake were the sound C.P.U. for the company ’s hardwareup until now , Intel ’s offer are better for what it wants to do in the hereafter . And I ’m not pop off to disaccord with that . But you ca n’t expect to drop eld tut - tutting a rival mainframe — going so far as to lash a Pentium II on the back of a escargot in one of your ad campaigns — only to change by reversal around and declare that same processor is now the best choice for your products without having people wonder whether you ’ve been snow them all this fourth dimension . Apple could in all probability resist to give a more elaborate account of how the ironware landscape has convert .
Winner : Intel“I bet there ’s a whole bunch of you who never call up you ’d see [ the Intel ] logotype on [ an Apple ] level , ” Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini told WWDC attendees . And I bet Otellini never mean he ’d walk off the phase at an Apple event to enthusiastic cheer and applause , as opposed to one tone in the lead of a pitchfork - wielding mob .
Otellini deserved the applause he scram Monday . He came across as articulate , enthusiastic , and ready to do everything he could to make this partnership work . Plus , he was able to show off a word-painting of a then - mustachioed Steve Jobs having dinner with Intel cobalt - founder Andy Grove in the 1970s without the Apple chief executive officer surprise onto the microscope stage screaming , “ The deal ’s off , Otellini ! ” So he has that go for him .
Loser : IBMA word of advice to any would - be Apple partners out there : when Steve Jobs publicly promise a raw product — a 3GHz Power Mac G5 , let ’s say — and he is relying on your troupe to help him return that product , it is best not to rent him down if you want any repeat business .
