My opinion, and this is only an opinion in no way supported by facts, is that Apple will keep two lines of machines. Consumer on x86 and professional on PPC/Power5. Only thing it just cannot say it in public otherwise no one would code for x86.
Apple wants developer to code for both architectures, so much that it has basically put Codewarrior out of businnes to force devs to use Apple in house compiler, which gives you a FAT output x86/PPC. And if it spilled out to Metrowerks that it has a dual architecture strategy they would spill it out, so it has to make a choice. Maybe just a conspiracy theory, but ... Cheers Andrea Quoting [EMAIL PROTECTED]: > At 10:50 AM -0700 01/02/2006, Mike Kauspedas wrote: > >>IMO switching to x86 is the stupidist move Jobs has ever made. > > > >Just curious why? > > hum. Potential to spin out of the control because it's a religious > argument, but here's my POV: > > The Power architecture is fundamentally FAR superior to x86. That > means it can more easily and *more reliably* be scaled bigger better > faster wider. Given quality implementation from the software, it > will blow the doors of x86 processors. > > In Intel's pipeline: Fixing bugs in their current processors. > Announcing that processors will be late to ship. Canceling attempted > updates of the x86 mess. Shipping a few cute revs of existing > processors. > > In IBM's pipeline: Faster Power5 processors and the bigger wafer'd > processors. These are large palm-sized wafers (chips) that contain 4 > (and more) processors and their caches. Each processor is > multithreaded; the single "chip" functions like a 8 or 16 or 32 or > 64-way multiprocessor. > > ...IOW, Apple is moving to a lower-performance architecture. > > Jobs' beef: IMF (IBM/Motorola/FreeScale) weren't cranking out > lower-power PPC chips for Apple's laptops. Nor were they cranking > out faster PPC chips for the G5 line. This is because they were busy > working on the full Power line. So,,, instead of going to full Power > processors, Jobs decided to throw a temper fit and get in bed with > Intel. Not AMD. Intel. > > ...IOW, Apple has chosen the lower-performance provider of that > lower-performance product line. > > Now gander the developer community: Where are the sophisticated > highly -optimized tools necessary to develop good multi-threaded > vector code for OS X? Apple seems to have taken time out from > developing them, in order to come up with ppc/x86 compatibility tools > and RTLs. How can an OS X developer sell product if their code runs > slower than like-code on slower Windows machines? > > Business community: Who buys Macs? Cheaper x86 laptops and iMacs > are cute. But can Apple survive being just a household product? The > only big businesses considering sticking with Apple right now are the > ones that Apple personally schmoozes. The rest are out getting > competitive quotes from Dell... > > > Ok. So what should Apple have done? > > 1. Work with IMF to get those lower-power processors sooner. > > 1.1 Gotta go x86? Ok. Give the market a clear statement that this > is just for the low-end Macs, and at least talk about the faster AMD > products. People need to be reassured that this "move" won't destroy > the professional uses for Macs. > > 2. Fix OS X's lame slow threading and put more effort into better > developer tools. That way the "photoshop benchmarks" and such, that > should blow the doors off the cheaper x86 machines, actually *can*. > > 3. Go big on the high end. Move to full Power processors so they're > ready for that big wafer. > > Note #2. It's the real biggie. No hardware required. 20%+ of our > computer power is wasted because of OS X's poor threading > performance. All they gotta do is fix it... > > FWIW, > *duck* > - Dan. > > -- > G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... > > Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | > -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | > > Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> > > G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> > --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; > Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]> > To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> > > iPod Accessories for Less > at 1-800-iPOD.COM > Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal > www.1800ipod.com > -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 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