Russell Beattie Notebook

WWDC E-Tickets: $1595

Posted on Saturday, June 4th, 2005 1:25 AM

The buzz is out there - unbelievably it looks like Apple is set to announce they're moving to x86 next year. If it's true, it's pretty amazing. I was dead sure after all the announcements at E3 about how IBM's PowerPC is running all the next-gen consoles, that the way ahead was be set in stone for Apple - why go x86 when they'll just have to swap back again in a few years? Also after reading about how OSX is 5-10 times slower than other OSes the other day on Slashdot, I figured Apple had plenty of room to tweak to squeeze power out of the platform as well.

Here's my bet: it'll be OSX Server that runs on x86 only. Everyone's hoping for x86 lappys or just a version of Tiger that'll run on everything, but I don't think it's going to happen. Or, here's another idea: Tiger Express. A version of Tiger which will run on your Wintel box and show you how nice it is on the other side... Maybe even an Ubuntu-style "live CD" that people can pop in and use on their Windows boxes without having to install a thing?

I don't know. It seems like craziness. If they announce new Macs running x86 next year, not an intelligent being on Earth will buy a Mac for the rest of the year until the new hardware ships... Maybe they're saving up all their iPod cash for just this rainy day?

Almost makes me want to drop $1,595 on a WWDC pass so I get to see the historic keynote. :-)

-Russ

Update: Diego has a report about another bold Apple move. ;-)

Update 2: I'm changing my bet. I think Kottke is close to the truth. I was telling this to Diego yesterday (that Apple helped create the PPC platform and might be able to get Intel to create chips with the same interfaces) but he told me I was wrong. I think Jason might be on to something. We'll know in around 24 hours. :-D