Apple Archive

Slow news day today, so here is a new poll. Vote for the architecture that Apple should switch to, if such a switch is necessary. Please note that we did not include options like MIPS, SPARC or Crusoe as they do not make much sense at this point as suitable candidates for different reasons each. But the most popular choices are listed and awaiting your vote!

MacNN reports on some unofficial IBM comments that took place in a briefing of IBM's high performance computing technology meeting. The asked presenter said that the Power4 derivative CPU is not for Apple. Its 160 instructions that will be introduced in the new CPU are not Altivec and that IBM pitched the desktop Power4 to Apple, but Apple was not interested. This new information, if true, again turns the posibility for the future of the Macs to x86 as the Motorola G5 is a dead horse by all accounts, OSNews heard. eWeek recently reported in the existance of an x86-based MacOSX, codenamed Marklar.

eWeek and ThinkSecret claim that Apple (since the begining of OSX) is developing in parallel to the PPC version of MacOSX, an x86 version called 'Marklar' as a fallback option, in case the Motorola CPUs could not deliver. The article also claims that this version is assigned only to a few dozen engineers so far, for maintanance purposes-only, and Apple most probably would switch to the desktop Power4 CPU that IBM is preparing instead. We recently wrote an editorial about the probable switch of Apple to x86.

The August 2002 Mac OS X Developer Tools Update addresses issues with the July 2002 Mac OS X Developer Tools originally released with Mac OS X version 10.2 (Jaguar build 6C115 or later)." The download can be found at Apple Developer Connection (ADC login required). On other news, Apple says it's not just opening up the source code for its Rendezvous networking tool--it's actively courting open-source developers to work with the technology. Also, Apple now sells PowerMacs with MacOSX 10.2-Server pre-installed. Prices start at $3,000 USD for a dual 1 GHz G4 machine.

I just came back from the festivities taking place in the Apple Store at Palo Alto, California, regarding the launch of MacOSX 10.2 Jaguar, and I got some exclusive pictures (well, almost...). There was a huge line of people waiting to get in the store. They were probably there for many-many hours. Just a few minutes before they open the doors to people, Steve Jobs enters the building (passing next to me by just one meter from where I was standing), and people around started getting really excited!

BareFeats has a benchmark, testing the SDRAM-based dual G4 at 1Ghz with the new DDR PC2100 ones. The new PowerMacs are the same or slower than their previous models, the test reveals. The Mac community got a bit dissapointed (judging from the forums). The author says that the slowdown is because the two processors share a 1GB/s pipe to Apple's custom AGP/Memory controller. While the shared bandwidth is a factor, it is not the reason that makes the new Macs slower. Having a better look at the specs, show that the author have forgot a very important detail:

"I've considered--and rejected--this idea in the past. My feeling has been that, unless Apple were ready to cut the cord with Microsoft, it wouldn't attempt this kind of head-to-head platform competition. Well, guess what? With Apple ads encouraging Windows users to switch platforms, and Microsoft whining about supposedly slow sales of Office for OS X, it's clear that the relationship is in trouble. As the two drift apart, Apple has little reason not to make a processor change." AnchorDesk's David Coursey on the Mac/Intel issue.

Apple Computer will likely shift to using Intel chips, while circumstances exist that could well push Dell Computer and Sun Microsystems into a friendly embrace, predicted Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff. More and more analysts, editors and even users are getting smoother to the idea that Apple might have to make the jump to x86, simply because IBM/Motorola are not interested anymore in fullfilling Apple's CPU needs. I wrote an editorial about it two weeks ago (a pretty successful article I might add, judging from the outrageous number of hits received). That article seemed to have re-ignite a number of similar articles on the web since then to several tech news sites.

"Apple CEO Steve Jobs said this week that his company would consider moving to Intel chips, but that he would wait until at least 2003 because the transition to Mac OS X was more important. But with the speed of Power PC hardware increasingly falling behind Intel's chips--The Pentium 4 will hit 3 GHz this year--Apple would be wise to do a bit of research. I recommend AMD's upcoming 64-bit Opteron, which will give Apple a technological leg up on Windows and, perhaps, offer them Windows compatibility through the Opteron's full compatibility with 32-bit x86 code. Come on, Apple: Do the right thing." Read the blurb on WinInformant. Read more for a short commentary. Appendix 21/July/2002: Please read for a small update and more explanations at the end of the article.

"Put all these threads together, and it appears that Apple is shifting strategy towards becoming a software company--admittedly, a software company that depends upon its own hardware. In the future, I expect to see more software from Apple, and for more of it to be sold as an upgrade to what users already own, or delivered as a paid service of some sort." Editorial and MacWorld roundup at ZDNews.

"$100 per year is too much for many Mac users to hold on to their mac.com email addresses, and Apple sysadmins have been furiously busy deleting the complaints that flooded Apple's own technical forums. Users are also unhappy that the upgrade to 10.2 costs a full $129, with no discount for existing Mac OS X users." Read the report at TheRegister. Update: And now Apple masked the thread linked from above and TheRegister's article, and it is no longer available for viewing. This is one of the many such threads Apple censored since yesterday in their discussion board. So much for "feedback from the userbase."

Apple CEO Steve Jobs touts new features for OS X, unveils new lower-cost iPods--including one for Windows, and a 17-inch flat panel iMac. Read more in a ZDNet News Focus. Our Take: So, no G4 speed bumps? And no word for the G5s, still? BTW, that new Sherlock 3 looks like a Watson replica.

"Apple dropped a bombshell on music makers today by acquiring Emagic which, with Steinberg, dominates the market for sequencing software. Apple said it will axe the Windows version of Emagic's Logic sequencer come September." Read the report at TheRegister.

Apple (silently again) purchased the third video-related company in less than two months. This time, is Prismo Graphics and it comes after the purchase of Nothing Real and Silicon Grail. Our Take: Now that SGI is no longer as "big" as it used to be regarding video software, and no important or many commercial packages have been ported to Linux, MacOSX has a real chance to further strengthen in this niche market about professional video editing. Only problem to solve will be Windows and the faster/cheaper Xeon/P4 PCs. With Steve Jobs being also an exec at Pixar, it should be obvious where he tries to head Apple and why Quartz Extreme is being developed for.