Well, if they don't change their minds, Apple is doing it again. They're ditching their chip architecture for the second time. First they went from the Motorola to the PowerPC, and now they seem to have decided to switch :) to the x86 arch. One thing is certain, they will have platforms much more mature and less locked in (bigger competition), but if they are smart about it and avoid dirty tricks people might decide to install OSX on their ordinary PCs. That means opening a potential new market with millions of users (and thousands of untested drivers by Apple but tested by the BSD and Linux guys). Will Apple be able to scale? Will they let go of their legendary closedness? Will the x86 deliver superior value? What about 64bit? Only time will tell. Of course OSX is still far from perfect, did you read the anandtech review where it demonstrated it's performance hit on threading compared to other systems?
You remember the scene with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in the end of the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley? I wonder what would Jobs tell to Bill today :)
I however don't have any intention of throwing my good old key ornament that I got during the 90-ties when the PPC arch was introduced :)
PS. This is all speculation, however if true I wonder how will it affect Apple's stock?




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