That rumor is on again
For the 50th times in the last 10 years the web is a buzz with the theory of apple switching to Intel processors. Well I donīt like to chime in but: if Apple switches platforms again I am seriously thinking switching to something that has not been invented - or maybe even Linux. I have been through two conversions with apple and each one took 5 years to complete. 680xx to PPC OS9 to OSx. If you like me have been through that you just whole heartily feel that this can not be true. Finally Apple has an Operating System that does not suck big time (it still sucks but much less then anything else out there) Apple is finally on a processor platform that has a future - even though the platform has its pitfalls but we have been through worse times (G4 400Mhz anyone?). To make another switch I do not have the time nor the energy.
I am testing OSX for Apple under the Appleseed program and I know that there are programmers out there who are very relieved that their code is finally working the way they expect this to work. To port this OS to a new platform AND make it run as smooth as it is today on the PPC hardware will take Apple at LEAST 3 years if not the same 5 years it has always took them to make a transition - only to be again at the mercy of a different processor supplier that they have no business experience with - top that off that finally Apple will loose a lot of the faithful souls that have stuck with them because they believed that one day Apple would give them a computing experience that is not getting in their way of working or creating. Not only Zealots but also technology and community leaders - people that also paved the way for successes like the iPod in the first place.
I personally would have a total let down - not because I donīt like Apple having the best processor in their machine - because for another 5 years it will be uncertainty, bugs, crashes, looking for all the cool small apps that havenīt been ported, setting up a new production pipeline, getting new software updates in general, loosing compatibility to a lot of loved tools where there are no developers anymore, loosing a lot of small developers in general, having to optimize the OS to get the speed that is expected - I clearly still can not see why Apple would do that EXCEPT:
They get HUGE amount of cash buy in from Intel because Intel needs a new image. They partner with Intel against the Sonys and Microsofts of this world. Still this would be the last sell out of the Apple soul - if it ever existed.
Again I doubt it. I might see Apple bringing out a super hot settop box that uses some lowpower Intel processor that acts like a wireless (WiMax) external harddrive with some brain or some similar consumer shit but I do not believe with the experience of 12 years on Apples platform now that this switch will happen - ever.
I shouldnīt call the night when its not even day yet. Let us see what the mighty Steve has for its faithful developers tomorrow. A switch to Intel would give him a lot of "buhs" in the audience that he faces tomorrow and he likes handclapping more I think. 7 p.m. CET we will start to know more.