Cringely: Intel to Buy Apple, Dethrone Microsoft

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050609.html' target='_blank'>http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050609.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Apple's Decision to Use Intel Processors Is Nothing Less Than an Attempt to Dethrone Microsoft. Really. So Intel buys Apple and works with their OEMs to get products out in the market. The OEMs would love to be able to offer a higher margin product with better reliability than Microsoft. Intel/Apple enters the market just as Microsoft announces yet another delay in their next generation OS. By the way, the new Apple OS for the Intel Architecture has a compatibility mode with Windows (I'm just guessing on this one)."</i><br /><br />Cringely is among my favorite pundits, and whether I agree with his views he is always chock full of insight. This time however I can't quite agree with his predictions. Why would a chip maker want to buy a box maker? Apple doesn't seem to fit Intel's product framework, and allowing other hardware vendors to clone Mac hardware will have no benefit to Apple. Anyway, go read Bob's article for yourself and savor the possibilities.

[James Fee]

Wow, how out of touch with reality is Cringely? That could be the worst article I've ever read of his.

[Jason Dunn]

Yeah, this was a fun article to read, but I don't agree with his conclusion. Sometimes his hatred of Microsoft is so strong he's willing to believe ANYTHING in order to convince himself that someone will take them down...

[pdantic]

Wow, how out of touch with reality is Cringely? That could be the worst article I've ever read of his.

I have to agree totally - it must be nice to be Cringely and get paid the big bucks to babble incoherently.

IMHO as an Apple Consultant and Mac user since late '84, I think the Apple/Intel agreement is a wonderful move. I heard many of the same concerns regarding a hardware switch back in the 90s when Apple moved from Motorola 680X0 processors to PowerPC -- nobody was going to buy the Moto boxes while they knew about the upcoming PowerPC Macs, why didn't Apple go with Sun SPARC processor instead of the PowerPC, etc...

This switch is going to be a relatively minor impact. If someone wants a Mac, they're going to buy it now regardless if an allegedly faster Intel-based Mac is coming down the road. Apps can be converted to univeral binaries (run on both PowerPC and Intel) with very little effort, so most of the apps out there are going to be able to run on both platforms natively by the time the Intel hardware arrives. And Apple has done their homework by including "Rosetta" in Mac OS X 1.4.1 for Intel, which allows apps that haven't been converted to native Intel code to run in a fast emulation.

One thing I'll be interested to see is if Apple can figure out a way to run Windows apps under Mac OS X without using an emulator like Virtual PC. My guess is that they know they can do this. Can you imagine being able to buy a Mac and run ANY app (whether Mac or Windows) at full speed while using Mac OS X? Considering that Apple will be well on their way to converting their Mac hardware to Intel processors by the time Longhorn finally makes it to market, and considering that Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) will arrive about the same time Longhorn does, being able to run Windows apps on a Mac without emulation could make a serious dent in Windows sales.

Steve

[Jason Eaton]

I have no idea where he got the 'buy' part for his article, but I can see the partnership being good for intel at more then just a CPU supplier.

Is Intel happy to have Apple as a partner, probably, and my thought is more along the lines of the thought that Apple pushes new tech into computers a lot faster then the current CPU market. I mean how long has Firewire, USB 2, SATA, SCSI been sitting on the shelfs before being incorporated into PCs? (not in any order but a history of good things sitting around waiting)

In a world of commodity tech Intel needs developement of new tech AND acceptance to keep the churn going. So I can see where maybe the idea started, but I can't see how he got to buying.

Better to apply pressure on industry through Apple rather then being a direct competitor. Besides... who said Apple is selling? :)

[Felix Torres]

Intel won't buy Apple.

Cause if they do MS will do what they have (quietly) threatened to do several times before: buy AMD.

In a war like that, who wins?
(Besides consumers?) :twisted:

[klinux]

Bah - Cringley is on the same level as Dvorak. Fun to read and sometimes thought provoking but I do not think they have any more insights into the industry than any one of us enthusiasts.