Listen to today’s show here! 
MC20050605.mp3 [18.1mb 39:30 64kbps]
A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. Show 65. Apple to dump IBM for Intel? Apple’s settles iPod battery class action, Apple offers iPod recycling program, HP will now sell iPod Mini’s and iPod Linux matures, offers video support. How to de-authorize iTunes after computer is sold, iBook skinz and eBay clients, help with unreliable Expose after Tiger upgrade, don’t forget to uninstall Office Test drive before installing Office, live from Green Hills, TN Apple Store opening, maximizing video on Mac Mini and a followup on Mac Widget Amnesty. New music, Not the Same by Ronnie Day. Remember, you heard it here last folks. Shownotes: HTML or OPML
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It’s about an hour before the Keynote and I’m waiting to here what the truth is.
I’m very suspicious because all of the “coverage” is a fairly obvious case of “repurposing” by many media outlets. It seems that CNet’s Stephen Shankland made up the story based on some comments he has cobbled together. The Wall Street Journal covered that rumor as news and then the AP and Reuters covered the WSJ’s coverage of the rumor.
One thing that really makes me skeptical is the timetable. Moving to Intel starting one year from now will kill hardware sales until the switch is made. Frankly, I don’t believe it will be a “switch Macintosh computers to Intel x86 chips.”
My theories are that Apple will make some non-computer devices based on Intel chips or that Intel will start to produce variants of PowerPC chips. If it is a switch to x86, there would have to be some emulation built-in to allow OS X apps to run with little or no performance hit.
Or, here’s the wild one: Apple will produce a new line of computers that aren’t Macs based on Intel chips. It’s well known that Darwin runs on x86 so Apple would just have to develop Aqua on x86 to have a OS X for Intel.
We’ll see!
I think Intel is just going to be the new manufacturer for the chips, that’s all. I don’t think Apple is going to Pentium chips or whatever it is called now. In 40 minutes we will all hear it. Macrumors is having a live webcast there as usual.
Two hours ago, I wrote:
>> If it is a switch to x86, there would have to be some emulation built-in to allow OS X apps to run with little or no performance hit.
I got it! It’s called Rosetta. One shock I got is how they kept something as massive as Marklar secret. Sure, there were a few odd rumors about OS X on Intel, but you’d think that one or two more confirmations would have outted the whole project.
One thing I’m not clear about at this moment is whether it will be Intel-based Macs as the only way to use OS X or will you be able to slap OS X on any Dell, HP, IBM (yuck), Sony, etc.? I suspect that Apple has come up with a way to do the former. We’ll see.
There will be many questions to ask in the following week of the Developers Conference. I hope we get answers to help us all understand this transition. But if Steve Jobs says the transition won’t be as bad from previous ones, then we hope he’s right. Marklar just proves to us that it is possible and they have been working on this for a long time. I think people who are commenting poorly, are scared of change and mixing up Intel and Windows. The comments about switching to Linux is stupid. I would use OS X on PC hardware than Linux. I think Linux days are doomed, and will only be viable through the small geek niches. If Apple ships OS X in a box for PC users, Microsoft should be shaking in their boots. Because now, they do have a real competitor. Linux never was. Just my 2 cents guys.
Just reported that Phil Schiller from Apple has confirmed that OS X will not be available in a retail box to sell to PC users. It will only work on Apple hardware.
will they have those intel stickers that pcs have
Todays podcast didn’t download in ipodderx. It just displayed a http://www.libsyn.com in the attachment. When I click it, it says file not found?
i don;t care about being able to install OS X on other manufacterers but i would like to be able to install windows on my Mac w/o slow emulation. It could stop me from having to buy a PC for college
donald…you are definitely not the only person to have this problem. iPodderX 3.0 has been having some issues. You may want to check out this thread… http://www.maccast.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=3696#3696
so are you die hard mac fans upset about the intel switch? i think this is great for apple. even though i will not be able to run OS X on my PC (i have a g4 laptop anyways), this means the pricing of macs should reduce. i don’t see this hurting apple at all. in 2 years, you die hard apple fans will realize this was a good switch. if you guys haven’t watched the keynote yet, watch it – maybe that will help you guys release some stress.
Hi there. Just gotten into your Mac Cast and its great. Well done.
Was listening to your listeners question about extending your desktop over two monitors with an mini mac or an imac.
I asked the same question myself at http://www.whirlpool.net.au and I was referred to http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html for the hack.
Haven’t tried it yet but I am assured it works.
Keep up the work.
Michael
I’ll be lining up to by a new Intel Mac. I’m sure it will be cool – bring on the media server mini mac – my home theatre awaits!
I’ve just started thinking of moving up from my 800 MHz G4 iMac. Now with this news, I’ll star saving and be ready for a new Intel Mac next year. Bring it on!
Actually, there is no way to do monitor spanning on a Mac mini because there is only one video output port. No hack can give you monitor spanning on a Mac mini because the mini doesn’t have two outputs to send to (unlike iMacs and iBooks which have the built-in screen and the video output).
I just found the issue with Libsyn and iPodderX. I think I had an issue in my enclosure URL. It is fixed now. The only problem is I don’t know how to make iPodderX re-download the file. Any ideas?
In response to your listener who is having a problem with his f11 key in Tiger, I’m having a similar problem with my f12 key. Sometimes it brings up Dashboard. And sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes if I hold it down, the widgets appear and then disappear. Now, it’s possible I got something stuck under the key (yes, I know one shouldn’t eat while computing, but…) but it could be some other problem.
I’d recommend those of you having issues with iPodder or iPodderX switch over to NetNewsWire if you’re already using that for your RSS feeds. I’m loving just having one app for all my enclosure downloads and news feeds, and it works great for podcasts.