“I guess Apple will move to Intel, and they’re relying on a fast, seamless emulator to do it. But it’s really about Hollywood: Apple’s looking to transform the movie industry the same way the iPod and iTunes changed the music business,” Leander Kahney writes for The Cult of Mac Blog for Wired News. “As initially reported, there a couple of big problems with Apple moving to Intel. The biggest is shifting all the Mac software to a new platform. Apple apparently mulled moving to Intel a few years ago, when Motorola’s chip development fell woefully behind, but Steve Jobs nixed it because of the massive disruption it would cause developers.”
Kahney writes, “What’s new this time is a fast, transparent, universal emulator from Transitive, a Silicon Valley startup. Transitive’s QuickTransit allows any software to run on any hardware with no performance hit, or so the company claims… But why would Apple do this? Because Apple wants Intel’s new Pentium D chips. Released just few days ago, the dual-core chips include a hardware copy protection scheme that prevents ‘unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted materials from the motherboard,’ according to PC World. Apple — or rather, Hollywood — wants the Pentium D to secure an online movie store (iFlicks if you will), that will allow consumers to buy or rent new movies on demand, over the Internet. According to News.com, the Intel transition will occur first in the summer with the Mac mini, which I’ll bet will become a mini-Tivo-cum-home-server.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If Jobs’ WWDC keynote doesn’t hurry the hell up, we might completely lose our minds! Oh, and if Jobs is planning to subject Mac users to a switch to Intel just so Apple can sell and rent movies online, he’d better have a nice thick protective vest on underneath that mock turtleneck.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
MacDailyNews to present live Steve Jobs’ WWDC Keynote coverage – June 06, 2005
RUMOR: Apple planning Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ release for x86 PCs? – February 25, 2005 (Transitive Technologies)
Startup claims ‘near-universal emulator’ allows any software to run all platforms with almost no performance hit – September 13, 2004 (Transitive Technologies)
iPod success opens door to Mac OS X on Intel – March 04, 2004
Why would Apple switch? PowerPC is smaller, more efficient, cheaper than comparable Intel chips – June 05, 2005
Intel Inside Apple Macs? – June 04, 2005
Intel in Macs?! How’s Apple CEO Steve Jobs going to spin that switch? – June 04, 2005
Apple to switch to Intel chips starting in 2006 – CNET [updated] – June 03, 2005
Apple and Microsoft battle for control of future living rooms – June 01, 2005
Anticipation, rumors build ahead of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ June 6 WWDC keynote – May 27, 2005
Intel CEO Otellini: If you want security now, buy a Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC – May 25, 2005
Analyst: Apple-Intel rumor ‘hogwash’ (today marks 11th month that Jobs’ promised 3GHz G5 is late) – May 23, 2005
Apple bundles videos with select music albums via iTunes Music Store – May 10, 2005
Apple releases iTunes 4.8; now supports QuickTime video along with contact, calendar transfers – May 09, 2005
With Mac mini Apple CEO Jobs attacks the Achilles heel of Windows dominance: the living room – January 14, 2005
Apple Computer will own the living room, not Microsoft – January 10, 2005
Can Apple crack the living-room conundrum before Microsoft? – December 30, 2004
NY Times: Can Steve Jobs put Apple in the center of your living room? – March 23, 2004
Yes, the keynote seems like it is taking FOREVER to get here. This whole Apple-switching-to-Intel-chips rumor is killing me.
I’ve already lost mine. This could be the real deal.
I’ve got 2,500 shares riding on this one. I will either make a bundle or loose a bundle tomorrow morning. Here’s hoping for the former.
Go SJ!
MW = “changes”, no kidding!
If steve jobs lets apple go to intel chips then Apple will lose its market share over night!
I for one will NOT buy all my apps AGAIN just to run them on a intel mac!
If Apple are gonna do this then I might as well move to windows XP – as the difference between macs and windows will be blurred at best.
Might as well go the whole hog and just switch to windows!
– Never thought I would ever say this – being a dedicated mac user for over 1 years!
Amend:
14 years! – opps!
When SJ cancelled the clone program, I was upset and Apple stock went up.
When SJ shook hand with BG, I was sure it was the end of Apple, but Apple stock soared.
When SJ open sourced Darwin, I was happy, but Apple stock did not do well.
Now with Intel switch, I am disappointed. Must be a good sign.
He IS planning to subject…. etc, etc.
Go read the posts by someone named “As Seen on TV” over on Slashdot. Many people believe this poster to be Steve Jobs. ASOT is a very, very strong believer in intellectual property rights, and has a very cold, corporate viewpoint about what Apple should do for the benefit of its shareholders. He clearly gives the idea that Apple does not build its plans around geeks (which can be loosely defined as people who read MDN)
Solar,
Transitive means you don’t have to buy new apps.
i just can’t see them doing something that people are predicting; i think there is more to this, and no one has guessed what is really going to happen. switching to x86 is probably not what is going to happen, but other than that, i don’t have a clue what they might have up their sleeves.
magic word is “question.” you just can’t make this stuff up.
you all are pathetic. the mainstream media reports this every year, expecting apple to move to intel because it is the *logical choice* in their view. when it gets down to it all that happens is that apple’s stock inflates right before every keynote and then shareholders at WSJ and C|NET sell off right before the keynote, making a tidy profit along the way.
they don’t want you to understand that powerpc is just now beginning to show it’s distinct performance advantages, and that apple would be stupid to switch to x86 at this point. it’s the same principle for why changing lanes in traffic will never get you anywhere faster.
It’s not a “mock turtleneck”! It’s a real “turtleneck”.
The “Mock Turtle” is a character from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and nothing to do with an article of clothing.
http://www.snark.de/carroll/alice/alice9.html
Sorry for the rant but that has been bugging me for ages.
Some advice: Sit back from your computer and think about how stupid this whole idea is. If Apple moved to Intel they would be forcing the developer of the many thousand’s of apps that run nativley on OS X to rewrite their apps, all of the mac users would have to rebuy *all* of their software. Intel’s chips are bigger, hotter, more expensive and slower than Apple’s current lineup. This whole “no 3GHz in a year” reason for switching to Intel doesn’t fly. Intel said that they would be past 4GHz by about the same time the G5 was supposed to be at 3GHz. last time I checked intel is only upto 3.8GHz. The G5 has gone from 2GHz to 2.7Ghz in 24months, a 35% increase. The P4 has gone from 3.2GHz to 3.8GHz in the same amount of time, which is only a 18.75% increase.
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MW-stock
You guys are nuts. It’s not about the hardware, it’s about the OS! I for one will be tickled silly to be able to buy a copy of OS X for my home made system and throw Gate’s trash OS in the garbage where it belongs. I personally think Bill Gate’s worst nightmare is an Intel machine running Mac OS X. Lets face it, it’s something he just won’t be able to compete with.
It is a mock turtleneck, Dan.
Definition:
Mock turtleneck: A shorter version of a turtleneck, with upward-protruding neckline that does not fold over.
http://www.mensspecialtyretail.com/glossary.html
My photo:
http://www.apple.com/pr/photos/execs/jobsphotos.html
This is all so funny.
The tech media is in such an unusual dilema they don’t know what to do :
On the one hand they need to write about Apple cause that’s where the news is. On the other hand, they want their readers to find familiar information (buzz words) they can relate to (at least in the headlines).
This is what happens when selling news takes precedence over publishing information.
So, in order to write about Apple the press feels they need to make it an Intel topic and invent conspiration theories in the process of getting there. How they manage to get [respectable] anal-ysts to concur is beyond me.
… pathetic.
Intel chips in Macintosh computers, yes why not (probably already happened). Intel as the main CPU, come on let’s be serious.
Come to think of it, there is one way Apple could incorporate an Intel CPU in a Mac in a way that would please both its existing customers and help sell more Macs :
They could add it as a secondary CPU and build an “emulator” for Windows running natively inside the Mac (something integrated like Classic). It wouldnt realy be an emulator but it would certainly beat the crap out of Virtual Pc.
Probably not going to happen either but hey, we’re in the dream world right now aren’t we.
I heard about this new emulation software months ago and thought it would pan out that we could run windows apps (read games) on PPC. I never thought it would go the other way but if they can do it without taking a performance hit then it might be a possibility. Traditionally being a hardware company, you wouldn’t expect them to let OS X run on home made computers tho and I believe somebody has said something about other elements than the chip which would keep them proprietary.
Man, if this is all true it is gonna throw me in a major quandary. I was all set to buy a PowerMac but the right path might not be so clear after the keynote tomorrow. I am NOT EVER gonna be switching to windows tho so whatever Steve comes up with had better make sense.
Isnt it funny how Sony and MS are moving there game consules to powerpc type chips. The Xbox has always been a pc . my firends have them and hack them about as they know how to muck about with PC hardware/software. so the xbox 360 is seen running on powerpc’s to demo them but evidently NOT OSX OS running it. Evidently they have to emulate the xbox 360 to play current xbox games.
This is all soundling like a “switcharoo” isn’t
Will Apple become Microsot and Microsoft become Apple (hardware that is .
It is a crazy time we live in isnt it
>Apple’s shift to Intel really all about Hollywood>
Is this the same Hollywood that has debased whatever culture remains in the US?
inaminit, you’ve got it backwards. apple is a computer company…it sells such great software so people will buy the hardware. if os x wasn’t amazing, why would I buy apple hardware? how many linux users run their os on apple hardware? computer hardware doesn’t exactly sell itself, and apple has learned that to sell computers, you have to sell everything about them…the hardware, the software, the whole experience. IF (and it’s a big if) apple switches to x86…you will NOT be able to run os x on a home-built computer…that’s just not how apple works (and survives).
If it really is all about the DRM capabilty of Intel’s dual-core Pentium D, then I’m even more convinced that Apple has a home media device up its sleeve, and that x86 won’t be used in Macs any time soon. As many others have noted, developers would have a foaming fit at the thought of having to switch architectures, especially right after the release of Tiger. (Transitive is still vaporware as far as I’m concerned), and such an announcement would cause hardware sales to evaporate. It makes more sense however, if Apple announced a living room box a la Tivo dedicated to managing and downloading movies, with a chip that features hardware DRM. The movie studios and other content providers would find this far more palatable. Remember the hoops Jobs had to jump through to get the record companies on board iTMS; it would be much worse dealing with movie studios.
inaminit:
Its not about hardware. Its not about the OS.
Its about software and the massive disruption that two incompatible machine codes will place upon developers and consumers.
Why do people assume that Gates would be threatened by a chaotic processor switch by Apple? Even long-term, the switch would hardly be a threat to Microsoft. And in the short term, it would be a major threat to Apple.
It ain’t gonna happen.
I’m curious as to why you would be “tickled silly” to run OSX on your homemade box. Aside from Dashboard and MAYBE Safari, what software would you be able to run?
Maybe the Intel chip will only be used in the iHub device?
Even if they do move the whole OS to Intel, they stand to lose their 2% share but might attract a sizeable chunk of the other 98%.
Intel for PC owners.
PPC for Mac users.
I could live with this. I doubt Bill Gates could.
Compared to M$, Apple is a small software company.
I’ve been thinking about the resources that creating a Pentium D-specific version of Xcode would require. Apple has been working for 18+ months on Tiger. I cannot believe that they would have taken people off Tiger and devoted them to the development of an x86 Xcode.
http://developer.apple.com/macosx/xcode2.html
Therefore, I have to assume that there is no feasible way a x86 machine running OSX is about to be introduced. I concur that an application-specific, home media box running some single-purpose (no Finder) OSX derivitive is possible. But I doubt even that, as it is not the “Apple Way” of doing things.
I can’t wait to post “I told ya so” in less than 24 hours.