[anamexis]

There are a lot of misconceptions flying around since the announcement of the switch to Intel CPUs today. Allow me to clear up some things.

EDIT: I would like to preface this post by stressing that Apple is not stupid. They really do know what they are doing, and they wouldn't do this unless they had some very good reasons and were damn sure it would work out fine.

Firstly, this in NO way makes current computers obsolete, nor will they become obsolete any faster than usual.
People will not be porting their programs over to the new architecture and leaving them there. Remember, for projects written in proper code, ALL that is needed is a recompile with possibly a couple of small tweaks. All modern code is written in CPU-inspecific code. Apple is doing all of the hard work. All developers in their right mind will maintain their programs in both PPC and x86 for a long time to come. Remember, it is really easy to keep both going.

Related to this last one is the misconception that people will stop porting programs because it so too hard. Not only is it not hard, major developers like Microsoft and Adobe highly support the switch to Intel. As mentioned in the keynote, it took 2 hours to port Mathematica to Intel.

Here's another thing: Laptops are probably first on the Intel list. One of the great advantages of Intel's stuff is their low power consumption. The PowerBook G5 really is a pretty impossible undertaking with the current PPC technology and Intel will take care of this. But what this means is, it will likely be a bit longer until we see Intel in the PowerMac.

Misconception: once OS X for x86 is released, I can run it on my Dell box. Wrong. Apple will continue to manufacture their own proprietary hardware which will exclusively run OS X.

Misconception: now it will be really easy to port all those PC-only games and programs over. Wrong. Remember, it really is not the CPU architecture that is the source of difficulty when programs. It is all of the different APIs with the operating system, which under Intel, will remain fundamentally the same. However, do expect x86 emulators like VirtualPC to run a lot faster.

Misconception: Altivec is great, SSE2 sucks. Things will be slower. wrong. This was a pretty big marketing stunt on Apple's behalf. In actuality, Altivec and SSE2 are fundamentally the same. Again, this is another thing that can largely be solved with a recompile, since Intel is bringing all of their dev tools over to the mac side.

People are complaining about how Apple has told us for years that PPC is superior to x86. Slashdot user illtron explains:
"I've figured it out. You may be wondering what the hell Apple's reasoning is when IBM has some very promising things in the pipeline. Well I know. The MHz myth is now dead. Even if Macs could be X% faster than PCs by using IBM chips, it's a gamble. If Apple is ahead, eventually they'll be behind, and the cycle will repeat itself. The whole argument is now a moot point. Macs will always be THE SAME SPEED as PCs (give or take a small bit at any given time) from now on. If IBM pulls out ahead in the speed race, it won't matter, because Windows PCs don't use IBM chips, and they never will. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. A guaranteed tie is better than gambling on a possible loss or a very, very minor win at best. There's also a secondary benefit: If the hardware business becomes unprofitable, Apple can always become a software company at a moment's notice. And it looks like Apple's going to make this easy enough for both end users and developers. I see all of this as good news and welcome our new Intel overlords"

I will try to update this as I see more misconceptions come up.

EDIT: I would like to point out that Intel is in no way related to Microsoft, excepting the fact that Microsoft Windows uses the x86 CPU architecture which is a market largely dominated by Intel.

[MacManMikeOSX]

VPC to run faster who needs in now we're gana have WINE.

[anamexis]

Originally Posted by MacManMikeOSX

VPC to run faster who needs in now we're gana have WINE.

To quote Slashdot user mcc:
"...it's going to require a LOT of work to make that work, above and beyond what Wine's already doing. Wine will have to be practically rewritten for cocoa. Otherwise we'll be running the partially-incompatible wine translation layer inside the compatible-but-awkward X11 translation layer. Eww. I don't really expect wine for os x to get to the point your average person can run it for a long time, and I don't expect it to really work ever unless Apple themselves decide to put some work into it."

[MacManMikeOSX]

The project already has started (actually ahile ago) the abandoned aqua, but now there is new incentive as we need no process translation from ppc to 86x now. http://darwine.opendarwin.org

[anamexis]

It looks like at present, all they have is a dev toolkit in pre-alpha, and it's made for X11. As pointed out in my post above, this isn't really anything much yet and it's going to be ridiculously difficult to get it to the point where it is anything substantial.

[anthology123]

This will probably create some initial confusion. Some people may start to buy OSX and start installing it on their Dell PC anyway. People will start to buy Windows software and try to install it on Mac Intel boxes. It's bound to happen until the smokes clears.

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by anthology123

This will probably create some initial confusion. Some people may start to buy OSX and start installing it on their Dell PC anyway. People will start to buy Windows software and try to install it on Mac Intel boxes. It's bound to happen until the smokes clears.

If people try to install Windows on their Mac Intel boxes they'll discover that it works just fine (except for the lack of a Windows key and a right mouse button)...

I wouldn't worry too much about people trying to install OS X on their Dell, I'm sure Apple will do everything they can to make sure that people buy their hardware.

[fritzair]

Originally Posted by anamexis

If IBM pulls out ahead in the speed race, it won't matter, because Windows PCs don't use IBM chips, and they never will..

What a statement.
With Xbox on the IBM side today, how long before Windows or a Windows Server uses IBM chips?
How can you say never.
Jobs said never to IBM and Intel.

Later.

Fritz

[tooki]

This thread is not Power Mac specific, and there are enough threads on this as it is.

tooki