Wired on Macs on Intel
Wired has a story out which may explain Apple’s willingness to make the platform jump: Transitive.
Transitive is a new product, introduced last year, which purportedly allows any software to run in emulation mode on any hardware without any perceptible speed cost:
In demonstrations to press and analysts, the company has shown a graphically demanding game — a Linux version of Quake III — running on an Apple PowerBook.“One of the key breakthroughs is performance,” [CEO] Wiederhold said. “You can’t tell the difference between a translated application and a native application.”
Presumably, Apple will use Transitive’s technology to make the Intel switch painless for both themselves and for developers; this has actually been rumored for months now. If possible, it would explain why Apple would be willing to make a switch that normally would cost it more than it could afford.
Not only might it allow Apple to run OS X on an Intel chip more easily, but it might also allow Apple to run practically any Windows application under OS X as well–meaning that switching to the Mac OS could be completely painless–no need to buy new versions of software.
Wired is presently musing that Apple is not just looking at Intel’s fast chips, but more so their DRM technology, as a platform to allow Apple to become a movie peddler in the same way they’ve started selling music so successfully.
Just getting caught up on your blog, and read this post. Excellent catch, you were a couple steps ahead of John Gruber on this one, and that’s quite the accomplishment in my book.
Though I was, admittedly, in the context of technology, speaking from my posterior. It just seemed to me that if I could use Windows apps on Virtual PC so well on a PPC, they should be able to do much better on an Intel. And that’s what Transitive said they could offer.
But thanks.