Monday, June 06, 2005
Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips | CNET News.com
Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips | CNET News.com
There are some heavy heavy rumors out there about this right now.
Lots of other people are out there writing about the reasons why this would or wouldn't be good for Apple, IBM, Intel, Motorola, us, and on and on. I don't really want to add to it.
I do however want to be on record, before the keynote this afternoon, stating that I don't think this will happen the way it's being reported - ie: a fullscale switch to using Intel CPUs exclusively come next year.
Anything's possible, but I personally don't think it will happen.
I suppose, to cover my butt a little bit, I should say that a single machine entry, using an Intel CPU might have some strange justification that only barely eludes me. But as far as offering only Intel based machines in the next year? I think that's totally ridiculous.
On the off chance this Apple-Intel interweb clairvoyance does indeed come to fruition, prepare for me to be slightly downtrodden (melancholy even) for the next few weeks.
And on the off chance I do end up in a numb stupor by the end of the day, the lure to pull me back from the dark side will be the revelation that what I really love about Apple is not their CPUs, though I do think they're great. They will still make their own hardware, I'm sure - and I'm sure they would be the only machines able to run Mac OS X, and the iLife stuff, and thus deliver the experience of Apple, which is really what I love anyway.
As long as an Intel announcement didn't mean every dickhead with a PII could download a stolen copy of Mac OS X, gum the install up, run it on his shit-ass 6 year old machine and then write a review on his blog about how terrible Apple computer is, I will be able to lull myself back into the real world. Eventually.
I'm suprised Bob Cringley didn't write about this. He didn't do a column last week.... Maybe Jobs asked him not to so that he wouldn't quash the rumors before they could generate some press around the keynote today?
It's useless to talk about all this anyway, because it's not going to happen. Is Apple talking with Intel about something. Probably. Are they interested in keeping their options open and perhaps looking at using Intel sometime in the future in a controlled, regulated-by-Apple kind of way? Probably. Are they going to announce an all out partnership like everyone's talking about today? Here's one voice in the blogosphere who doesn't think so.
One thing to think about is Intel's RISC plans. They've been trying to find someone to buy their newly developed chips for some time now - the Wintel world doesn't want them because they don't run Windows as fast and they're more expensive. (Shortsighted much?) But it would not surprise me entirely if Intel is making a NEW chip for Apple - possibly Power compatible; possibly they're actually going to fabricate IBM's PowerPC970s for Apple - just selling off some of their fab facilities' time. When I talked about my "No Intel" predictions above I was talking about x86 Intel.
We'll know for sure before I go home from work today. Stay tuned.
There are some heavy heavy rumors out there about this right now.
Lots of other people are out there writing about the reasons why this would or wouldn't be good for Apple, IBM, Intel, Motorola, us, and on and on. I don't really want to add to it.
I do however want to be on record, before the keynote this afternoon, stating that I don't think this will happen the way it's being reported - ie: a fullscale switch to using Intel CPUs exclusively come next year.
Anything's possible, but I personally don't think it will happen.
I suppose, to cover my butt a little bit, I should say that a single machine entry, using an Intel CPU might have some strange justification that only barely eludes me. But as far as offering only Intel based machines in the next year? I think that's totally ridiculous.
On the off chance this Apple-Intel interweb clairvoyance does indeed come to fruition, prepare for me to be slightly downtrodden (melancholy even) for the next few weeks.
And on the off chance I do end up in a numb stupor by the end of the day, the lure to pull me back from the dark side will be the revelation that what I really love about Apple is not their CPUs, though I do think they're great. They will still make their own hardware, I'm sure - and I'm sure they would be the only machines able to run Mac OS X, and the iLife stuff, and thus deliver the experience of Apple, which is really what I love anyway.
As long as an Intel announcement didn't mean every dickhead with a PII could download a stolen copy of Mac OS X, gum the install up, run it on his shit-ass 6 year old machine and then write a review on his blog about how terrible Apple computer is, I will be able to lull myself back into the real world. Eventually.
I'm suprised Bob Cringley didn't write about this. He didn't do a column last week.... Maybe Jobs asked him not to so that he wouldn't quash the rumors before they could generate some press around the keynote today?
It's useless to talk about all this anyway, because it's not going to happen. Is Apple talking with Intel about something. Probably. Are they interested in keeping their options open and perhaps looking at using Intel sometime in the future in a controlled, regulated-by-Apple kind of way? Probably. Are they going to announce an all out partnership like everyone's talking about today? Here's one voice in the blogosphere who doesn't think so.
One thing to think about is Intel's RISC plans. They've been trying to find someone to buy their newly developed chips for some time now - the Wintel world doesn't want them because they don't run Windows as fast and they're more expensive. (Shortsighted much?) But it would not surprise me entirely if Intel is making a NEW chip for Apple - possibly Power compatible; possibly they're actually going to fabricate IBM's PowerPC970s for Apple - just selling off some of their fab facilities' time. When I talked about my "No Intel" predictions above I was talking about x86 Intel.
We'll know for sure before I go home from work today. Stay tuned.
