Mac + Intel

[Zoolok]

Ok, prvo malo classified informacija

This evening, I went to a seminar about Apples move to Intels CPUs. (Mactel is what they are calling it for the time being).

Even the Mac guys have more questions than answers. Jobs is keeping a pretty tight lid on the inner workings of things. However some intersting times are ahead. Not us as enthusiasts should be worried, but big name manufacturers should gear up for a tough battle.

Little things that I never put any thought into, but were very interesting this evening. OSX since its inception (as just about every other Mac OS before it since '96) has had an x86 variant written along side the Mac version in anticipation of such a move. Already the OS is ready for Intel and x86.

Steve Jobs, when he dropped this bombshell at a conference, watched as Dev's needed to run off to change their trousers. PPC emulation is written into OSX. Its going to run nearly all PPC (consumer level) without a hitch. Intel already has Dev tools aside to assist with a recompile of apps. Apple made a move in '93 and '94 from x86 style CPUs to PPC. Now, they are switching back.

I was right as well. Sony wasn't trying to sell the Cell to Apple for their benefit. They were trying to keep Apple as a customer for IBM (IBM does make the Cell after all) IBM wasnt able to deliever enough G5 CPUs when Apple needed them during the "college" buying season (one of Apples biggest). IBM also had promised 3 GHZ PPCs by the end of last year. To date, the fastest they have deliever was 2.7 and even then, it all but required water cooling. Jobs was upset, and dropped IBM like a bad habit.

Intestingly enough, before Jobs walked off stage at the conference, he added that the machine he was using to show the Keynote (sp) presentation (as well as other well known Mac apps) was already running on a "Mactel". Dev boxes can today be had for 1k (If you are already a Dev for Apple) and of course, you are not supposed to take them apart physically, and they need to be returned under a contract (as well as an NDA).

Another note of interest, dont be surprised if Mac users start showing up in PC shops asking about OUR hardware. As we all know, most Mac users care mostly about software, and not so much hardware. They are hung up on clockspeed (  ) and know about nothing of the x86 arcitechture. They are losing one version of the specialized instruction sets, however, they are gaining SSE, etc. (The professional level guys are worried about the instruction sets, as it is not yet concrete if their "Rosetta" emulation will be able to emulate the PPC specialized instructions)

Much more, I am not able to share @ this point. However, main points..

-Apple is going to do NOTHING to stop users from loading Windows or what have you on your MAC. (its 90 percent concrete that OSX will not run on a PC, due to some limitations perhaps in a BIOS, but it may not be impossible)

-Apple users are going to be able to seemlessly and invisible to the user run a Windows or x86 based app. (such as the famed "Classic Mode") However, the app not having to use complete emulation, due to it being run on a NATIVE cpu.

-Bigger names such as Dell, Gateway, etc, should worry some. If a Mac is going to be so capable of running THEIR stuff, along with OUR stuff without a hitch, why buy a PC? It is rumored that the move to IA32 (They are entering with Intels 32bit stuff for reasons not yet known except to the higher up) is going to bring the cost of their hardware down, and release some of the mighty control Apple keeps on their system configurations.

Good evening to you all. I am invited back to share my knowledge at the next seminar that is held here in Salem, because these guys are filled with questions about the stuff that we know about the x86 platform. I will share more when I am able.

I jedan link, koji ima "no comment" status.

[Guest]

može windows da se namesti da izgleda potpuno kao to na slici, mada ne sumnjam da su uspeli da instaliraju tiger na x86.. pojavila se x86 verzija na torentima.

[Stator]

Veoma pazljivo sam pogledao poslenje 2 slike i prilicno sam siguran da su autenticno to jest da je bas to MacOS X....

sto je dosta lepa vest.. Samo 'el ce moci na AMD-ovima da radi???

[ZerBah]

Pa u principu ne bi trebalo da moze da radi na non-mac PC-ima. Mada kapiram da ce ga krekovati i da ce onda raditi na svim x86 makinama. Ako bude krekovan i radio samo na intelu bice dakbe...

[Zoolok]

Jel' neko procitao ovaj deo :)

"Apple is going to do NOTHING to stop users from loading Windows or what have you on your MAC. (its 90 percent concrete that OSX will not run on a PC, due to some limitations perhaps in a BIOS, but it may not be impossible)"

[ZerBah]

Da, pa? To shto ce Windows da radi na mac-u je jasno. Mozda ce to privuci neke ljude da kupe mac poshto ce moci na jednoj makini da teraju Win i MacOS. Ako Apple dozvoli da se MacOS instalira na bilo koji x86 komp mac-ovi se nece prodavati i tachka...

[Zoolok]

Mmkey, ali Stator je pitao za AMD-a. Problem nije u CPU-u, vec u BIOS-u. Ako rese taj problem (ako budu mogli i/ili hteli), ne vidim zasto MacOS ne bi radio na "obicnom" PC-ju.

Napokon, Macovci sada tvrde da prednost Maca nikad nije ni bila hardver, vec softver.

Takodje, Microsoft ima poveci deo deonica Applea... Hmm... :)