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[OM] "Mactel" (or whatever it'll be called)

Subject: [OM] "Mactel" (or whatever it'll be called)
From: Fernando Gonzalez Gentile <fgnzalez@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 23:55:53 -0300
Circuits From NYTimes.com
Thursday, June 16, 2005
-------------------------------------

1. From the Desk of David Pogue: Considering the Mac-Intel
Alliance

1. From the Desk of David Pogue: Considering the Mac-Intel
Alliance
==========================================================

So, wow: Apple announced last week that starting next year,
new Mac models will have Intel processors inside.

The reaction has been violent and emotional, for many
different reasons. Long-time Mac fans consider "Wintel" (that
is, Windows PC's running on Intel chips) to be the Dark Side,
and can't stomach the idea of Apple willingly sleeping with
the enemy, or even half of the enemy. Business people are
reacting because Apple is dumping I.B.M. and Motorola to make
this switch. And columnists and bloggers worldwide are
reacting because as column topics go, "Mactel" (or whatever
it'll be called) is fresh, raw meat.

Here are a few of the reactions I've read online -- and, for
what it's worth, my reactions to the reactions.

Mac Fan (Depressed Variety): "Why!? For the love of God,
Steve Jobs, WHY?"

Apple's computers can only be as fast as the chips inside
them, and the chips that I.B.M. has in the works just aren't
keeping up with the industry. Steve Jobs, Apple's chief
executive, had hoped to have 3-gigahertz Power Macs on sale
by now, as well as G5-chip laptops -- but because he can't
get chips that fast (and, in the case of the PowerBook, cool
enough for a laptop) from I.B.M., he has to look elsewhere.

In the case of Apple laptops, this is an excellent move.
Intel's Pentium M chips (the ones in so-called Centrino
laptops) are fantastic. They're fast, they're cool and they
drive Windows laptop batteries for five solid hours of real
work, nearly twice as long as Mac laptops. Now imagine that
great chip -- or, rather, its faster, even better successors
-- at the heart of Apple's coolest new laptop designs, and
you've got yourself machines worth drooling over.

Mac Fan (Depressed Variety): "But for years, Apple put the
Mac onstage in a side-by-side speed test against a Pentium
PC, and the Mac always won!"

The operative word here is "won." Past tense. According to
Apple, the PowerPC chips currently planned for the future
won't maintain their speed advantage.

Mac Fan (Thrilled Variety): "Hey, cool -- Macs will be
cheaper now, right?"

Maybe. Remember: Dell PC's are so cheap because the company
buys components (like Intel chips) in quantities that would
sink an oil tanker. Apple won't be buying in quite that
volume, so won't get them as cheaply.

Mac Fan (Thrilled Variety): "It's no big deal. Apple survived
the transition from CISC chips to RISC chips in 1990, and
from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X in 2001."

True. Apple has a pretty good shot at making this transition
go smoothly. Already, it has Mac OS X running on Intel-inside
Macs.

But there's still a lot of risk. Thanks to some built-in,
automatic translation software, you'll be able to run your
existing programs on the new Intel Macs, but slower than they
run now. (How much slower? Too soon to tell, but Steve Jobs's
demo machine last week was plenty poky in opening up new
programs.)

The alternative is to buy new versions of all your programs -
- versions that have been upgraded to run on the Intel Macs.
(The new versions will be so-called "universal binaries" that
also run on older Macs.) That could get expensive -- and some
of your favorite programs might not be upgraded at all. (All
the biggies, like Microsoft Office and Adobe products, will
be.)

Columnist: "Mac OS X on Intel will run even faster than the
gunky globs of Windows code."

I agree. Mac OS X's Unix-based operating system is much less
gunked-up under the hood than Microsoft's operating system,
thanks to Apple's risky decision to start with a clean slate
four years ago.

Columnist: "Now there will be cheap Mac clones! Hooray!"

No, never. Apple will never permit it. Sure, someone may try
to hack Mac OS X so it will run on a generic PC, but Apple
will have put up every technological and legal barrier under
the sun.

What IS likely is that you'll be able to do the opposite: run
Windows on a Mac! Apple has said publicly that it won't try
to stop anyone from attempting such a feat.

Darned right it won't! Running both operating systems on a
single machine will be a distinct advantage for Mac buyers --
a key attraction of new-age Macs that no other company will
be able to offer. You'll have the software libraries of both
platforms available to you: the slick convenience of Apple's
photo, video and music software, plus the vast catalogs of
special-purpose programs for Windows.

Magazine article: "The move might make Macs more vulnerable
to attacks by viruses."

No, it won't. Viruses attack operating systems, not chips,
which are etched in silicon. The Mac side of an Intel-based
Mac will not be any more prone to viruses.

Newspaper: "The big risk for Apple is that customers will
stop buying Macs until the first Intel-based systems arrive
in the middle of next year. The upcoming holiday season could
be particularly bleak."

Absolutely right. People will certainly wait to buy new Macs
until the new models are out.

But even so, these aren't *canceled* purchases, they're just
*delayed* purchases. Apple has the cash on hand to tide it
through a dead spot; when the new models come out, they'll
make it up in a tidal wave of pent-up demand.

Mac Fan (Depressed Variety): "I don't care. Apple is putting
evil into these machines, and I'm moving to the Amish
country."

The move to Intel isn't without its risks. But I believe that
it's not just a good move -- it's the only move. As
Macintouch.com puts it: "Apple's doing a U-turn out of a
dead-end road."

I like the way the Motley Fool columnist puts it best of all:
"[Steve Jobs] gets a screaming fast chip that exudes less
heat, which he can put in a Mac designed to blow the doors
off a comparably-equipped Windows machine in real-world tests
-- all with a fraction of the virus and spyware problems.
What would you do if you were Jobs?"

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