[DM-MUG] a P.O.V. on the move to Intel

[pegleg]

I don't know if Mac users are in shock over the move to Intel or if people see
Steve as being too powerful to fight on this (kinda like the people of Iraq
under Sadam.)

Among the things we lose by going to Intel are of course Classic which will
fall by the wayside and Appletalk which is already gone in Tiger. But more
important for power users we lose Altivec and future upgradeability to PPC
Core chips. By going to Intel we lose the option to move up to PPC Core when
that promise matures. If Steve switches more then once he will be seen as a
joke in the industry and be totally discredited so we will be locked into
Intel for better or worse.

I can see the Intel chips as being a good thing in only the Powerbooks, which
need a lower-heat chip then the G5. The desktops, the iMacs and even the Mac
Mini lose on this deal.

Another side effect of this change is Apple is setting a clear benchmark for
planned obsolescence. At some point Apple will be able to say that we are not
supporting PPC Macs any more. That cut off will force many people to buy new
machines.

This seems to be a pattern or dare I say it, a strategy since Steve Jobs
returned to Apple. The iMac was the first time we saw this approach. No slots
to add future technology, not one. At some point you couldn't upgrade to a
newer technology that you desired so you were forced to buy a new Mac.

The non-support for Beige Macs under OSX was another. Ryan Rumpel with his
XPostfacto utility proved that OSX could run on many non supported Macs albeit
at a slower speed (upgrading the processor was an option here.) But most
people wouldn't be bothered to look into a third party solution so they bought
another Mac.

The discontinuation of straight Appletalk in Tiger is yet another
obsolescence. If you had a home network with older Macs (say for the kids or
that served a lesser purpose in your home) then when you upgraded to Tiger
suddenly those Macs could not be seen on the network. You would have to
abandoned them, buy a newer replacement or use sneaker net to move files
around because Apple won't support it's own protocol for networking.

And here we are again being set up for obsolescence. In a few years it will
be, "Sorry folks we can no longer support those old Altevic/PPC Macs. Quit
your grumbling, you knew this day would come." And we will be expected to go
out and buy a new Mac. I can see it coming.

Bob Titus