Jun 11 2005
Apple's switch to Intel
I have had time to digest the announced switch by Apple to the Intel processor and I have to say that I am very excited for Apple. I just purchased my Power Mac back in early May. I have had it one month today in fact. One would think that I would be pretty upset about all of this, but that is not the case. I know that there are many existing customers using the current PowerPC platform that Apple does not want to alienate. Because of this, I feel that they will support the PowerPC platform for a few more years. How many? Only time will tell.
One thing that I do know is that it will be at least a year before the first Intel based Macs are released to consumers. During this time, a lot of work will go forth by developers to port their code to the Intel version of OS X, but there will still be a lost of software that has not been completely carried over. There will probably be some developers who are reluctant to make the switch over to the new platform, and yes, there will probably be those who abandon it altogether.
I have seen a lot of negative posts on the web about how this is going to kill Apple, but I do not think that will happen. I believe that this was a long-time coming and this has not been a decision that Apple has made within the last month when the first rumors of Apple striking a deal with Intel first surfaced on the web. No, I believe this has been going on now for a year or two and all of the Mac geeks (to steal a phrase from Adam at The MacCast) and the other Mac fanatics will start to see the fruit of the union at about this time next year.