Apple the Start of an Empire?!

[iwantanewcomputer]

blah blah, this won't change anything much

 

[Neurorelay]

Originally posted by: loic2003

Originally posted by: Neurorelay
The post is by Robert Cringely, long time silicon valley consultant, he was around when apple and microsoft first began, so he does have some idea what he is talking about, do your research.

So why's he talking sh!t then? One example: he's totally not thought about why they chose intel over AMD. An interesting article by someone who isn't a magical consultant gives the matter more than a moment's thought: link.

Looking at just today's performances of chips and evaluating the entire situation in 2 sentences to me is pretty lame and stinks of a lack of research.

You tell me to do my research? I'm reading what this joker has posted. You can tell it's crap without knowing what the guy's background is. Stop being overwhelmed my someone's 'credentials' and actually read what the guy's posted. It's an act of sensationalist speculation, very loosely based on 'fact', at best.

And you are speculating too, even with research..you choose your references coinciding with what ever your mindset on the subject is, in the end, it really doesn't matter, does your computer work, yes, nothing more to talk about.

It seems you have your panties in a bunch over something that has yet to materialize anyways. And while Ars Technica does have good articles, one could question the validity of their reports and "credentials" just as you do this person. At this point, it is all speculation, some sensationalist and some under the guise of "academic."

 

[loic2003]

Question 1: What happened to the PowerPC's supposed performance advantage over Intel

It was there, and they demonstrated it. The reason they are switching is because IBM have let them down and not come up with the goods. They were supposed to be at 3GHz ages ago and they aren't. The top of the line powermacs need watercooling. This is why they are switching. It wasn't BS before, but it was a long time ago - in terms of CPU life cycles.

Question 2: What happened to Apple's 64-bit operating system?

Sure, intel don't have a consumer-level 64bit CPU right now, but as stated the transition is over a year in the OS department, longer on the hardware. Naturally with AMD currently dominating this market, intel are going to be working on a chip to fill this sector. The major problem apple currently have are with the notebooks. Namely, the G5's consume too much power and they are currently stuck with the stagnant G4's with their weedy sub-200MHz bus speeds. This is where the intel chips are going to appear first. Current speculations state that the powermac won't be fitted with a intel chip until Q4 '06 or even Q1 '07. The current 64-bit G5's are ample to last the power users the next year or so.

Question 3: Where the heck is AMD?

With the issues with motorola and IBM - both pretty big companies - that apple have had trying to get competitive chips from the companies, it's highly doubtful that they would risk the same again with AMD (a MUCH smaller company than intel) so save a few quid. Intel will be able to provide a much more reliable road map than AMD having far greater resources. If you're going to make such a huge move, you're going to want to be damned sure that it's as safe as possible.

Question 4: Why announce this chip swap a year before it will even begin for customers?

Of course they will lose sales, but not 'billions'. New models incorperating intel hardware will be out within a year. Until then, the current models using G5s will be more than ample. I think there will be more work than was stated by Steve when it comes to moving over software from the PPC model, to be honest, and it's always good to give more time than less to iron out bugs since this is a massive change.

Question 5: Is this all really about Digital Rights Management?

No, of course not. I agree with the guy here.

Here is my analysis based on not much more than pondering the five questions, above, and speaking with a few old friends in the business. I won't say there is no insider information involved, but darned little.

...

 

[skace]

Between him and you, loic. I'd go with him. At least his answers are fun to read.

 

[Alex]

cliff notes?

 

[loic2003]

Originally posted by: Neurorelay
It seems you have your panties in a bunch over something that has yet to materialize anyways. And while Ars Technica does have good articles, one could question the validity of their reports and "credentials" just as you do this person. At this point, it is all speculation, some sensationalist and some under the guise of "academic."

Agreed.

...apart from the panties bit... I'm going commando today: too hot.