Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: Intel Rumor (Again), Software Update, Mouse

The Wall Street Journal has the Mac world in a tizzy.

The venerable Wall Street Journal has created a buzz by citing an unnamed source who claims Apple and Intel are having some kind of negotiations. The reason people are so excited is because they think (a) that Apple might use Intel microprocessors in future computers, and (b) that such an action would actually be a good thing for Apple.

Neither is likely to be true. Apple is more likely interested in using Intel chips for some kind of embedded device, perhaps the rumored video iPod, or some sort of home entertainment unit. If Apple were to even consider using Intel CPUs for computers, it might only be for servers... and they wouldn't let Mac OS X run on generic PC hardware, and they would be more interested in cutting costs than improving performance. Because, you see, PowerPC chips do outperform Intel chips, and you only have to look as far as the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and the Nintendo Revolution to see that. It's not just marketing hype.

I think The Register's analysis is a good one, and I'm glad to see articles like that. It's nice to see that people are finally starting to get over this "Apple Needs to Switch to x86" misconception. (But then again, I don't mind the fact that Apple's stock went up a couple bucks based on this rumor.)

One intriguing possibility, something that no one has mentioned (I don't think)... what if Apple were trying to get Intel to design and manufacture a PowerPC-compatible CPU? I don't know how the licensing would work. I'm sure IBM and FreeScale own a lot of patents here, so you might not see Altivec in an Intel design. But if Intel could come up with some sort of "big-endian" RISC architecture that mimics a lot of PowerPC opcodes, that would probably be good enough for Apple.

Just a thought.

On the Mac OS X 10.4 front, if any of you are using it, you should probably install the 10.4.1 update that came out recently. It fixes a lot of bugs. Me, I'm still waiting for a few applications to get their incompatibilities fixed, before I stop using the very-stable Mac OS X 10.3.9. Go figure that Microsoft applications would be among the most problematic. Grrr.

Finally, there's still talk about how Apple needs to design a multi-button mouse. I do agree with people to some extent, but I don't believe the standard two-button mouse design is what Apple wants to produce. Grandma would easily get confused about which button to use. Left-handed people will tell you that "right-clicking" can a misnomer, since they frequently swap the left and right button assignments. Look, I'm right-handed and I've been using mice almost since they were first invented, and I still don't always know (in Windows) when to left-click and when to right-click. Oh, and the standard scroll wheel is an ergonomic nightmare. I'll tell you, I'm sure Apple has got some ideas, but they probably want to make sure they do it correctly.

That's the way Apple is, and that's why I love their products. They really want to do things the right way, even at the expense of market share. Steve Jobs considers Apple to be a more successful company than Microsoft, because he doesn't use dollars as the measure of success. You just gotta love that.

Permalink 2 Comment

Posted by Ken in: techwatch

Comments

Comment #1 from olafandyjon (Guest)
2005 May 24 - 8:54 am : #

I had to snicker when I heard the Apple-Intel thing again. Wall Street generally hates Apple because Jobs uses such horrible measures for his company, like quality of their product, ease of use and customer loyalty.

I'm actually not upgrading until I get a mini-Mac. I figure why spring for Tiger on it's own when I can spend a few more bucks and get a new Mac that cleans up my area a little bit.

Comment #2 from Speaker (Guest)
2005 May 25 - 3:59 pm : #

i'm a pc guy but only cuz apple is TOO simple for me....if there's one thing i hate about windoes(and there's a lot i hate about windows) it's that it's trying to be like mac....*sigh*

but, yeah, a power-pc compatable PCU would rule!

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