[Ti] Re: IBM introduces new PowerPC processors

[~flipper]

T.L. Miller wrote:

>Apple has never been in the commodity computer business


ever heard of the Mac Mini?

>- that premium
>we pay finances OS development etc. The Mac OS will be designed to only
>run on Mactels and only a few people will go to the trouble to defeat
>this set-up.

I beg to differ. I run a ton of apps that are either Alti-vec 
oriented or G4/G5 taegeted (as in specifically optimized for...)

If Lenovo (that IBM still has a controlling interest in) pops up a 
dual-core PowerPC-equipped laptop (the ThinkPad, in other words, 
which is a great laptop), and anyone comes up with a way to run Mac 
software (the apps, not necessarily the OS) on it, I'm 'in'. My 
'roadmap' is a new laptop in another two years... plenty of time for 
IBM to get it right (er, 'righter' than the rest).

I'm trying, woithout luck, to get my hands on a somewhat 
comprehensive list of the Mac applications that are, indeed, geared 
towards the G4/G5 processor, and/or are containing major code that is 
Alti-Vec optimized. Anybody seen such a list or have an idea where to 
begin a search?

Apple does charge a premium for their hardware, and the old 
justification is that it affords them the ability to spend bucks on 
OS development.

Well, for starters, they could have gotten OS X out the door three 
years earlier if they'd simply ported NeXTSTEP to the platform, 
without the crazy HFS+ filing system (which creates ridiculous wear 
and tear on hardware), with all the recursive node 'hops' (back and 
forth as many as 19 times, compared the Unix file systems 1) to do 
simple searches for a file. Silly.

The Finder is a bloated 'loser'. The resource forks (not to mention 
an unlimited number of 'additional, invisible, and isolating, forks 
that developers are encouraged to create) aren't even 'visible' to 
the bloody Finder, itself.

They include a "Windows compatible" file transmission 'feature' in 
Mail.app that is a misnomer. The problem isn't 'about' Windows, it's 
about the fact that the Mac' screwy, proprietary file system is 
totally isolated (from all other operating systems including its own 
unix-like one) in the whole world. But they try to put a 'spin' ion 
it, as if they're 'stooping' to allow poor old windows users to keep 
up. yeah, sure.

Apple is a handheld appliance and 'content provider' (going forward) 
that 'also makes computers' in China. Period.

The whole spin on the Mac/Intel deal had people looking at IBM's 
'roadmap' vs. Intel's 'roadmap'. When, in fact, the issue should be: 
Just what the hell is Apple's 'roadmap'? Going back to 32-bit, 
ditching Alti-vec, and 'allowing' folks to run "Mac native" apps in a 
'simulator' (Rosetta) with a 20% hit in speed??? Doees that sound 
like a 'roadmap'? Whatever, it's a U-Turn, regardless of the 'spin'.

The bought NeXT, NeXT owns Objective-C, and they turn around and 
dilute it with the legacy crap, and it ends up being an almost 
criminal waste of technology. And this from the 'think Different' 
guys and their 'cross-platform pretensions? Give me a break.

You can see the fear in Microsoft.. funny how the more IBM pushed 
their own superior tech, with Linux onboard, coincided with MS's 
continual pushing-back of the more-and-more 'pruned' Longhorn 
release. If Big Blue  can do that with an 600-lb gorilla like MS 
('payback, anyone?), dealing with Apple's arrogant short-sigtedness 
(on a tech vs. tech basis) will be hilarious.

I feel sorry for the NeXT engineers that followed Jobs back to Apple. 
Seeing what the 'higher ups' (you know the micro-managing Cult of 
Personality) has done to NeXTSTEP must be devastating to any 
principled engineer. Sad stuff.

~flipper