OT: More fuel on the rumor of IBM

Well - Like it or not, the rumors of a move by Apple to Intel continue. Monday we may hear an answer.

[news.com.com]

AND

[blogs.pcworld.com]

AND

[www.macrumors.com]

Yikes.

So what does this mean for us?

-Jonson

oh, nothing ... just every app rewrited from the ground

almost every peripherical incompatible

etc

Just what i thought.

The tech analysts are betting that it is a "slap in the face" to IBM about their development of the speeds of the Power PC chips. This could open up MAC OS X to run on any PC as well.

And don't forget, that the Next operating system that OS X came from was X86 based, so it is a distinct possibility that Jobs feels somehow, a move of this magnitude could benefit Apple in the bigger picture.

It occurs to me that this kind of move would throw us Mac Users right into the heart of spyware and other hacker joys because they are primarily written at the hardware, not the software level of a computer.

As far as disk drives and other hardware components, they are all equally usable in either a PC or a MAC. Mac's today use the same memory as PC motherboards and IDE disk drives came from where?

The issue is that it would mean over a year of zero sales of computers for Apple. A year of zero software sales too. Do you think Apple shareholders would agree to that?? The only way Apple could do such a transition and make it seamless is to have all the hardware ready to run and a massive team of programmers giving free support to all developers to port the software over. And that's just not going to happen. If it's true though, I'll be running Vegas on a PC within a week (maybe)....

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

but couldn't intel manufacture a... power Pc based chip ?

Sure, but why would they?

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

I dont know... this is scary stuff for those of us who dont quite understand what it means for the big picture. Some say a emulator is already built for the Mac Minis. What does that mean? We know software emulators exist. Hardware emulator? What's that?

Guess we will see how and if it plays out. In mean time, I continue to pay of my G5



Michael Horton
-------------------

Or it could be a load of rubbish!

Or smokescreen for WWDC new releases, or just to make sure everyone follows the news on monday. Either way it's interesting.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

What emulater for the minis?

What's that about?

S. Jonson wrote:

> What emulater for the minis?
>
> What's that about?

Just a rumor for now, so not much to it



Michael Horton
-------------------

sad news indeed.

[images.scripting.com]

Hi everyone,

If any of you are subscribers to the Wall Street Journal, the online publication, they wrote about this as of 5:04PM today, and said a source familiar with the matter agreed to the now widely published scheduled transitions.

-Alex

On the bright side, our trusty circa 2005 G-5's could be worth lots as the last macs that were virus free. Coveted by many, owned by few.

Chet

I pretty much switched to Pinnacle Liquid Edition 6.1, but of course, the Avid deal will do who knows what to that. I looked at Vegas, and wasn't to happy with it. Edius from Canopus looks good though.

I am using DVDLab-Pro and really liking that.

There are a lot of good applications out there if you really feel a need to switch to something else.

It's going to be an interesting year...

-Alex

Linux anyone... lol

Grab your popcorn folks and sit around for another showing of the sinking of the titantic.


Seriously though...
I feel really bad for all the folks and developers who have either supported or banked on the mac as their sole livelihood.

This would create a "hurry up and wait" attitude for tower sales. It will be interesting how this gets spun on stage monday.

Now The Inquirer confirms the story too, mentioning AMD chips as well.
[www.theinquirer.net]

This is starting to sound like hard fact.
This is completely crazy.
Our current hardware investments could be worth nothing after monday. And, if I buy a new PowerMac before 2007, it will be obsolete in no time. So, what do I do until then? Will Apple provide x86 software upgrades free of charge? Will Adobe bother making Photoshop, Illustrator and AE versions this time? God.



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com

Boy, this is one hot rumour. The rumour I heard has Apple using Intel chips for the new "Tablet" or some wireless equipment. I can't see Apple destroying the recent swing in popularity they are having in all areas. But then again, look at the Ipod, the majority are owned by PC users. It is certainly a good way to promote your keynote address at a Developer's conference. Monday should be fun.

anyway " inquirer" is well know as NOT reliable when it comes to Mac Rumors

ThinkSecret is silent , (speaking of "reliable mac rumor site" / maby too reliable sometimes...)

It seems that all the "news" sites that have published "news" are really re-publishing the same rumour over and over. That they all say it, is not corroberation, but copying. That doesn't make the rumour less or more true, because with the way that the articles are written we don't even know what the rumour really is, and I suspect that if such a rumour would be true that the devil will be in the details anyway.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

It's the OS and the Apps I use Apple for, I don't care what the processors are as long as they are fast and stable. As far as viruses go, they are a windows problem not an Intel problem, as far as investments in kit goes, two years is a long time in computing terms so any kit you have now is likely to be dated anyway

Even if the rumor is true it certainly doesn't mean the death of Macs, it would however make a few people in Redmond a little more nervous!

Judging from the hot responses in this forum -- and my own paranoia! -- it seems so unlikely that Apple would do anything that would make the systems of current Mac users suddenly incompatible with all applications Apple has been making, just when iTunes and Final Cut Pro are becoming the industry standard. They're not dummies -- just as so many of us were so incensed over the possibility of this hardware change that we were ready to boycott Apple systems, it seems like they would be trying to address this to prevent retaliation by loyal customers...wouldn't they? It would be incredibly stupid for them to destroy the momentum they've been gathering in the last couple of years; from a business perspective, it seems like the time to play it safe and slowly grow, not to implement a paradigm shift that can send customers into a tailspin.

Ah, scary, scary. Especially since I'm one of those guys who doesn't exactly know what this change means.

Steve Jobs said something telling at one of his demos (not sure if it was Mac World or in the trade press) ... that he was disappointed in the speed bumps for the Power PC chip (not at dual 3megs yet)....

that may have been the biggest clue that he and Apple were lookign for a chipset that could grow faster more quickly.

The name of the game is selling boxes and software and we won't keep buying new boxes if they aren't a quantum leap faster (I have a a dual 2 gig - is the dual 2.5 or 2.7 fast enough to make me plunk down another 3 or 4 grand to speed up my work flow - probably not - but the next leap may be big enough - and if it works on an Intel designed chip and I don't need to spend thousands replacing software and external equipment - than great -- sounds like IBM just wasn't doing enough to keep the training racing forward. Andy

"as far as investments in kit goes, two years is a long time in computing terms so any kit you have now is likely to be dated anyway"

Yes, but if this rumour is true, this time you won't be able to sell the old one to buy the new one. Many of us depend on that.

I don't know if developers like Adobe, Avid or Discreet will follow Apple this time. This would give them the excuse they need. If there isn't a Photoshop or AE version for it, the Mac would be practically dead.

What would Apple show at next NAB? Applications that run on a computer that will be obsolete in a year, or applications for a machine that won't be available for a year?

Let's hope all this is not true!



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com

Honestly... I don't even know who is buying into Apple and FCP at NAB. My father works with over 40 TV stations nationwide. A dozen of them are in the largest U.S. markets. Not a single station uses FCP... not a single one.

With all the buzz at NAB in 2004 and 2005 ... who is buying FCP and G5's??? It doesn't seem to be the networks from these "in the trenches" stats I'm seeing.

And the surprising news to me was that 10% of these stations recently upgraded. They all opted NOT to upgrade to another Avid, but rather Pinnacle Liquid Edition.

"CNET on Friday reported that Apple would announce the transition plan June 6. It reported that Apple would move lower-end computers such as the Mac Mini to Intel chips in mid-2006 and higher-end models such as the Power Mac in mid-2007. An industry executive familiar with the matter, contacted Saturday, verified that schedule."

In other words, someone known at Apple confirmed this.

You would do this to get this in everyone's head before the conference so they are not shocked, but you don't say who because then they are not the ones announcing it in person. If you read the Journal, you will realize this is simply how it is done.

They are not saying this is a rumor. They expect this to happen meaning if it didn't they would be surprised. It's one thing for a rumor site to say something like this, but for the Wall Street Journal to say it without any rebuttal from Apple at all is quite serious. Apple would absolutely step in that case because they know if it is a big mistake that it could hurt them in the financial markets because of the clout that the Journal holds.

This looks quite real to me. I also expect this to happen, and if it doesn't, I'd be surprised.

-Alex

Alex Alexzander wrote:


> This looks quite real to me. I also expect this to happen, and
> if it doesn't, I'd be surprised.
>
> -Alex

And if it doesnt happen will Apple sue the Wall St Journal?

:-)



Michael Horton
-------------------

No, but there is a little recourse.

Apple is very high-profile, and the journal will look quite stupid for reporting this in the way they did. I am sure they don't want that to happen. The Journal, and teh times are all about reputation. I am sure they go to great lengths to protect that.

I guess we'll know tomorrow, and like you, I'll be a lot happier to see this put to rest one way or the other. We can figure out what it means after. For now, I'd be happy just to hear Apple confirm or deny. Still, sometimes silence speaks loudly.

-Alex