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But
not everyone thinks this issue -- which vendor Apple
should have gone with -- really matters that much. "The
hardware will only keep getting faster," said Grant
Brumpton. "It's
the software, especially running in emulation, that is
my primary concern." Indeed, with professionals
continuing to buy PowerPC based Macs going forward,
because other
firm factors dictate it, what may be of larger concern
is how
developers react to optimizing their PowerPC code base
going forward and how well "key applications" will work
on Intel
machines running in an emulated environment.
For
those not fully versed on what is going to happen, Apple
plans to include an emulator for PowerPC-based applications
on their new Intel Macs. That emulator software will
run at about 80 percent native speed minimum and will
help users migrate software more slowly and potentially
more gracefully,
while
enabling them to pick up new Intel hardware as soon as
such hardware is available. It is imagined that this
will be a 'mixed bag'. Some developers will work hard
to make
sure their PowerPC based apps work well under the emulated
environment, while they work on transitioning new code
to Intel. While others may work more quickly on the
Intel port side of coding and let the PowerPC code-base
take a back seat. (Editor's note: We talk with developers
in part 2) Such a move could complicate and hinder matters
but
users
we have talked to don't appear too concerned.
Part
of the reason why the professional Mac market isn't that
concerned is because they have weathered a chip transition
before in the early 90's when Apple moved to the PowerPC
line from the aging Motorola 68000 series chips. During
that time they came to possess both kinds of technologies
during a multi-year transition phase. Another reason
is because Apple has committed to supporting both
chip
lines in a multi-year overlap.
In
the end many pro users realize and remember the way in
which Apple continually optimized the Mac OS (System
8.6 was a particularly performance boost) in the final
PowerPC transition years enabling end users to benefit
further with aging hardware. It is assumed that so long
as Apple is resource capable they will continue to invest
programming talent into their PowerPC code base during
the 'transition years', enabling end users to benefit
fully on their PowerPC investments.
The
Long View
Longer
term, users like architect Stephane Laroye hope Macs
make speed improvements. "I would hope that Macs
will get faster. My concern is that Macs will no longer have
the cachet they once had by using unique, high end chips.
I would presume that as soon as a new Intel chip is released,
it would be available to both Macs and PCs." While this
most likely will be the case, Apple and Intel have not spelled
out the fullness of their relationship, publicly, in
sufficient enough detail to speculate about possible
performance advantages that the Mac OS X platform may possess
under Intel.
Moreover,
despite the possible hardware synergies that may come
to future Apple machines, co-designed
with Intel, the software side of the performance equation
may hold back true speed gains obtained in hardware.
Indeed, many users in the Architosh
Forums expressed
concern about whether Mactels
could keep up with Windows machines based on the same
chips due to software tuning resources historically being
spent more liberally on the Windows platform.
Continued >
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