2005-06-06 · 13:54

Apple switches sides

This week I had to choose between going to TechEd and attending Apple’s WWDC. The big WWDC news: Apple will start shipping x86 Macintoshes next year. Wow.
Update: Edited to change the shipping date; Apple is shipping x86 machines starting next year. Also, I’ve seen several questions in various places asking whether Apple will allow running Mac OS X on other vendors’ hardware. Phil Schiller says “heck no” in this interview.

2 Comments

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2 responses to “Apple switches sides”

  1. Phil Fraering's avatar Phil Fraering
    2005-06-12 at 12:56

    I guess this means the PowerPC architecture is dead, or relegated to fringe players like that video game company up in Redmond… what was their name? Microlimp? Minisoft? Something like that.
    Seriously, about a week before this happened, I told someone that if PowerPC chips ever showed signs of really getting ahead Apple would switch to something else.
    Why they didn’t switch to x86-64 is beyond me.

  2. Unknown's avatar paulr
    2005-06-14 at 05:53

    My guess is that, when they finally ship machines, they’ll be x64. At least on the server side, x64 is taking off; I’ve seen some estimates that say more than 2/3 of all new x86-based servers currently being sold (including popular units like the DL380G4) are x64-capable. We’ll have to wait and see which specific processor family the fine folks in Cupertino actually pick.