A Bunker Year for Apple - Hello, Intel

Apple recently announced it was switching from using its PowerPC processors to Intel’s.  Again, this shows Apple attempting to appeal to the mainstream, by using a mainstream chip, designed to runIBMcompatible programs. 

For example the Trusted Computer Group, an computing standards organization that Microsoft started, was created to define industry-wide protocols.  The first version of the “Trusted Network Connect Protocol” has just been released, designed to help stop viruses, worms, and other various problems that exists within computer networks.

The TNC specification is the first to enforce network access on a “per-client / network” basis.  One of the way s to authenticate a computer trying to join a network is the hardware that computer is using.  And take a wild guess what type of processor you need to join a TNC network.

If you said “x86” or “Intel,” you win the cupie doll. 

Obviously Apple doesn’t want to keep getting shut out of the mainstream, and having smartened up with their prior experiences with having a “unique” processor. They wisely jumped ship fromIBMto Intel.

Of course, there are other reasons for this shift, more notablyIBM’s refusals to deal with some of Apples well documented “Drama Queen” antics.  Rumors range from letting overstock sit in warehouse shelves till given a “price break,” to being too conservative with custom chip orders, due to cash shortages which leads to major product shortages that can’t keep up with demand.

Not to mention the fact that in initial tests of porting OS X from the Power PC architecture to x86, the new Intel chips are stomping the performance of the old ones by very notable amounts. That’s enough reason to switch right there.

Next: The Outlook for Apple >>
 

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