As has been long reported, Microsoft's Xbox development system are PowerMac G5s. (photo)
Indeed, Xbox 360 demos being shown by Microsoft are running on PowerMac G5s.
Both the PowerMac and Xbox sport PowerPC-based processors from IBM.
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Xbox 360 demos on Macs
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As has been long reported, Microsoft's Xbox development system are PowerMac G5s. (photo)
Indeed, Xbox 360 demos being shown by Microsoft are running on PowerMac G5s.
Both the PowerMac and Xbox sport PowerPC-based processors from IBM.
ha bill gates crossed over to the "dark side"
well i guess all those pics of G5's with microsoft stickers were not fake
well i guess all those pics of G5's with microsoft stickers were not fake
and now we see a flood of new games heading to the mac, taking away another reason why people think the pc is better.
OR ....
IBM might introduce a new PowerPC workstation based on Power5, Which supports virtualization? So is MSFT planning to make their OS for IBM Power (30% of the market share in Big iron) based servers (b'cos XP and server 2003 largely share the same code base)?
I doubt that these games will move to mac any more than what they do now. Most of the code will be based on MSFT - XNA (own api/Framework for gamedevelopment) + DirectX - so porting the code will to next to impossible!
Last but not the least Windows XP/Longhorn for Macs!
IBM might introduce a new PowerPC workstation based on Power5, Which supports virtualization? So is MSFT planning to make their OS for IBM Power (30% of the market share in Big iron) based servers (b'cos XP and server 2003 largely share the same code base)?
I doubt that these games will move to mac any more than what they do now. Most of the code will be based on MSFT - XNA (own api/Framework for gamedevelopment) + DirectX - so porting the code will to next to impossible!
Last but not the least Windows XP/Longhorn for Macs!
micvog said:What's with the "Xenon Technology" mentioned both on the link and also on the Ars article? I thought Xenon was Intel, not IBM.
Xeon - Intel (IA32 /x64)
Xenon - Some vague code word for "Technology" behind XBox 360
*Y* said:Windows XP on a Mac. Best of both worlds.
Gah, nasty! That leaves a rancid taste in my mouth...
So, I guess for the operating system they have 2 choices:
1. Use OS X
2. Use a Windows port for PPC
Choice 1 would be awesome. The more likely choice 2 is kind of a downer. I purchase PPC hardware to block any chance of installing those archaic windows operating systems. Getting one step closer to polluting my mac makes me sad.
1. Use OS X
2. Use a Windows port for PPC
Choice 1 would be awesome. The more likely choice 2 is kind of a downer. I purchase PPC hardware to block any chance of installing those archaic windows operating systems. Getting one step closer to polluting my mac makes me sad.
The g5's are considered and "interim development tool" -- you know, Apple develops new stuff using a Cray supercomputer... I wonder if Billy-boy is finally going to take the plunge and liberate some of his cold cash for one of 'em.
VicMacs said:
Seems it opens the door to good Mac-based Xbox 360 emulators in the future. If people can reverse engineer the final Xbox.
arn
Macrumors said:![]()
As has been long reported, Microsoft's Xbox development system are PowerMac G5s. (photo)
Indeed, Xbox 360 demos being shown by Microsoft are running on PowerMac G5s.
Both the PowerMac and Xbox sport PowerPC-based processors from IBM.
So much for Powermac sales, why did they bother with that update when things so much better are obviously 6 months away
Interim development tool?
"This is an interim development tool that will be replaced with a more powerful and comprehensive solution later."
So, in other words, they're waiting for the dual 3.0GHz G5 too?
"This is an interim development tool that will be replaced with a more powerful and comprehensive solution later."
So, in other words, they're waiting for the dual 3.0GHz G5 too?
Windows NT for PPC already exists
Microsoft sold and shipped Windows NT 3 and NT 4 for PowerPC computers. Windows NT runs (or has been supported on) x86, PPC, Alpha, MIPS, Itanium and x64.
Support for PPC was dropped at the time Service Pack 2 for NT 4 was released. There were very few applications for PPC NT systems, so little interest.
I would imagine that Microsoft kept a few people busy keeping the PPC code running for Win2k and XP. It would be worth it, just to make sure that the code base stayed more portable.
The idea that XP has always run on PPC also makes the decision to go to PPC for xb360 much more reasonable. They already had the portable OS, so switching ISAs wouldn't be a huge problem.
CyberB0b said:
Microsoft sold and shipped Windows NT 3 and NT 4 for PowerPC computers. Windows NT runs (or has been supported on) x86, PPC, Alpha, MIPS, Itanium and x64.
Support for PPC was dropped at the time Service Pack 2 for NT 4 was released. There were very few applications for PPC NT systems, so little interest.
I would imagine that Microsoft kept a few people busy keeping the PPC code running for Win2k and XP. It would be worth it, just to make sure that the code base stayed more portable.
The idea that XP has always run on PPC also makes the decision to go to PPC for xb360 much more reasonable. They already had the portable OS, so switching ISAs wouldn't be a huge problem.
Or maybe...
Or maybe it just shows that Microsoft is a mature corporation, not one that makes decisions based on "religious" issues or the ego of the CEO.
darkmatter05 said:
Or maybe it just shows that Microsoft is a mature corporation, not one that makes decisions based on "religious" issues or the ego of the CEO.