Hopefully you all have read the coverage (if not check the front page :)...). Taiwan has been wonderful this time around and we've all had a lot of fun here.

Kris and Wes arrived yesterday and they will be staying through tomorrow to finish up the rest of the show.

I haven't forgotten about the Xbox/PS3 piece, but I've had no time to work on it due to meetings here in Taiwan. Before Monday morning I had already met with around 15 manufacturers, so I didn't get much time on the weekend either. But regardless, with a 10 hour flight ahead of me and a few days before Apple's WWDC, I should have plenty of time to finish up the article.

I've never been to a WWDC, so I'm looking forward to it.
Comments Locked

41 Comments

View All Comments

  • Your father - Monday, June 13, 2005 - link

    OTABEL, stop posting. Ever. Again.
  • Anonymous - Thursday, June 9, 2005 - link

    #38: "I can't really see that MS will be threatened"

    MS has been very worried in the past by the sale of any boxes, that could run it's software, being sold without an OS installed.

    They have tried for years to tie OS/Office to box:

    Licensing schemes that insisted on a manufacturer buying a license for every box they produced.

    Licensing schemes for schools that counted all the computers, even Macs, regardless of whether or not they could even run the software being bought.

    They were taken to court in Germany over insisting that a copy of Windows could not be sold because it must remain with the PC it was sold with - they lost. They still insist that is the case in other countries where the law hasn't been tested.

    There are many examples of Microsoft claiming that producing boxes without an OS was tantamount to piracy.

    They tried a few years back to remove the need for an install CD... using a read only boot partition on the HDD instead. So that PC and OS were inseparably linked.

    If Apple start selling, in any significant numbers, boxes that can have Windows easily installed it is a certainty we will see MS react to prevent piracy.
  • OTABEL - Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - link

    So I'm here again and yet NO ARTICLE ON 360 and PS3, are you ever goin to put it up or not! Just tell us, did you cance it or what?

    That way I don't have to waste my time here.
  • Xboxer - Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - link

    Hasn't Anand already said that Apple Macs with Intel Inside will be able to run Windows as well? I guess this could make the MACs a bit more appealing to Windows users...

    Microsoft's response? I've been trying to figure this out...(part of my job as an Analyst :) ) but I can't really see that MS will be threatened at all by this move...although MS will be mindful of Apple + Intel trying to move into the Home Entertainment business together...that's one area MS is actively trying to get into and has had repeated failures in the past...

    Comments on MS's future strategies???
  • Anonymous - Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - link

    Here's another angle:

    You are in the market for a quality PC. You look at Dell and then you think about Apple. The new range of quality Dells looks OK and runs Windows. The Apple looks great, runs Mac OS X, and you read somewhere that someone's got Windows running natively on them too.

    So do you buy the Windows only Dell?

    Or the Mac and Windows Apple?

    We're not talking emulation but natively running both.

    Of course, what you may really want is the Mac OS to run on the cheapest PC you can find but you can bet that Apple is going to work really hard to make sure you can't.

    This may prove a real temptation for people. Will Microsoft respond to lots of boxes that can run Windows coming onto the market without their OS installed? Look at their history of going after OS free PCs.

    I suspect that MS will have an interest in ensuring that you need a dongle or VPC product to make it work.
  • Anonymous - Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - link

    http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=11...

    That explains it well. No laptop processors from either Freescale or IBM on their road maps. No low power Desktop CPUs to keep Apples Recording Industry customers happy about noise level. Apple really does not want to have to be fitting liquid cooling.

    Just think what lawsuits they could end up with in a few years time when those things start leaking.

    #35 - I agree there may be a DRM issue too.
  • Xboxer - Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - link

    hmmm...you're right #33...cost is the primary issue, though a useful side-effect...

    i mentioned this specifically for the benchmarking results on Apple's website extoling PPC over AMD and Intel's x86...that was one of their primary ingredients for the SWITCH campaign...

    It's been mentioned before, but I think the real reason why the switch happened is two-fold:

    1) Apple wants more variety in terms of processors to expand its user-base.

    2)Main Reason in my Opinion: The hardware-based DRM from Intel will allow it to woo major Hollywood studios...Apple sees the way forward for them in the personal and home entertainment business...(clearly the reason why they went with Intel instead of AMD)...
  • Anonymous - Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - link

    This kind of backs up #33 over the "Apple's a greedy liar" juvenalia:

    "Since the end of last year, relationship between Apple and IBM are bad, very bad... Apple considers IBM as the new Motorola. IBM has been facing huge problems with the PPC975, lately renamed 976 then 980 that has been continuously postponed.
    The 970MP processor project has been launch to avoid a big gap and a abnormal delay between processor update. But it would have been ready only by beginning of 2006 at the earliest, while IBM is still facing problems to manufacture the PPC970FX in large volume.
    Concerning the PowerBookG5, all developments have been stopped. The reason: no way to manufacture PPC970GX necessary to answer both requirements for mobility and battery lifespan. In addition, they could not setup an efficient cooling system as well as a corresponding battery.
    IBM has also decided to drop the PPC750VX which was designed to replace the G4 in entry-level computers."
  • Anonymous - Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - link

    knitecrow: "#20 is right. Its not that apple is using intel chips, its what apple has being saying about intel chips for the past x number of years. "RISC is better... Altvec " etc etc "

    Try to come to terms with the concept of time. This is not a platform war. Apple adopted PPC when it did have an edge over Intel. They had laptops with 4 and 5 hour battery lives because G3s were using 4watt when Pentium IIIs were at 30w.

    "The PPC970FX is an impressive processor that holds up very well to the likes of P4 and Athlon64. "

    It's a hot processor too and Steve Jobs has ALWAYS placed importance on silence - even to the detriment of hardware at times, excluding fans when they really were needed.

    "This decision was based on cutting costs, pure and simple. And here the is catch... i doubt those savings will be passed on to the end user. "

    This is absolutely NOT about cost - have you bothered to look at the cost of Pentium M chips relative to AMD and IBM? This is about LOW POWER. AMD and IBM do not offer a laptop usable chip - and I have heard of no plans from them to do so. Clearly you do not understand the design ethos at Apple - or the degree of criticism they get when a machine comes out sounding anything like a PC wind tunnel - a couple of year back they offered a fan replacement scheme because of noise - ever heard of a PC company recalling perfectly good fans on the basis of noise alone?

    "This about face 360 lie is going to come back to bit apple."

    I think you mean 180 degree.
  • Pinkus777 - Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - link

    How about that X360 vs. PS3 article already?

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now