[rescue] Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips

[Patrick Giagnocavo]

On Sat, Jun 04, 2005 at 02:37:57AM -0700, Skeezics Boondoggle wrote:
> But alas, if the switching of architectures is in fact the plan, this time
> there's an ugly precedent:  NeXT built some very cool hardware.  Then it
> became a software company.  Then it became a development tools company.  
> Then it went brok... er, acquired Apple.  Which makes some very cool
> hardware...

Actually NeXT never made money making the hardware, so the situation
doesn't exactly map to the current profitable-Apple scenario.

NeXT was also in the process of doing an IPO based on the strengths of
their WebObjects and YellowBox (NeXT developer tools and runtime
running on top of NT) software, then Gil Amelio and Steve sat down and
the reverse takeover of Apple by NeXT occurred.

> should switch to x86!") they seem to forget the simplest question:  Okay,
> so why would you then buy Apple- (or Sun-) branded hardware, when for $6
> and a puddle of spit you can cobble some whizzy super "fast" system from a
> mail-order outfit or Joe's Commodity Crap Emporium down at the strip mall?

Well, for a counter-point, Sun is actually selling their V20z and V40z
Opteron boxes pretty well.

My guess is that Apple would have some way of locking down the OS to
only work on x86 hardware they made, or they would use the Palladium
stuff, some of which is already shipping into the market, to tie a
copy of the OS to the hardware.

--Patrick