On Saturday, September 21, 2002, at 02:20 PM, Sherm Pendley wrote:
> On Saturday, September 21, 2002, at 01:15 PM, Rich & Michaela wrote:
>
>> when the stuff they write requires their proprietary HW to run. (If
>> the
>> rumors of an Intel version are true that may change.
>
> To begin with, I highly doubt that the rumors are true - a switch to
> IBM as their preferred PPC vendor is far more likely. They're already
> buying huge numbers of G3 chips from IBM, and IBM has recently
> announced a POWER4 derivative with SIMD instructions that smell quite
> a bit like Altivec, meaning that the possibility of an IBM G4 or G5 is
> quite good.
>
> However, even if the rumors were true, it wouldn't mean that Apple
> would switch to making generic PC clones, nor would it mean that OS X
> would run on clones. Apple will keep making proprietary hardware, and
> OS X would still require that proprietary hardware to run, regardless
> of the type of chip inside.
The Power4 chip that Apple and IBM are rumored working on is a 64 bit
chip. At present it's "server only" -- that is to say it A) requires
lots of power and B) therefore runs hot... ie needs fans. That may
change over time, but currently it means "no laptop."
Depending upon your source, OSX has long run on both real, shipping 64
bit platforms -- the Alpha and Power4 chips... Darwin supposedly still
does.
Despite Apple's attempts to "spin" the contrary, megahertz DOES matter
-- in the consumer arena. And Motorola, "just ain't got it."
In terms of performance, both the CURRENTLY SHIPPING Alpha and Power4
chips run rings around the Intel chips scheduled to ship "next year"
(2003). It still remains to be seen if the 2004 Intel chips will be
"Alpha inside" or not.
There are several good "rumor" articles floating around -- the most
informative, and "believable" one I found was:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,543317,00.asp
Guess we'll have to wait for the Microprocessor Forum to see what the
real rumors are.
T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
