Apple Intel move 'could confuse'

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

The news that Apple is switching from IBM to Intel chips inside its machines could spell a period of confusion for consumers, some analysts are warning.

The rest of the BBC story.

If this story has been mentioned already in the "Macintosh Moving to Intel Processors"-thread I apologize. I'm only about a third of the way throug that...

 

[mac-er]

I don't think it will confuse. The move will be transparent to consumers.

It will be like your auto maker switching from "Brand A" fan belts to "Brand B" fan belts.

 

[Bern]

I don't think it will confuse. The move will be transparent to consumers.

It will be like your auto maker switching from "Brand A" fan belts to "Brand B" fan belts.

Accept for maybe those using professional suites such as MS Office, Adobe CS2, Macromedia etc.

Rosetta may get them running, slower than they would natively, but unless these companies release free point updates to convert the codes so they will run natively on MacTels, there are a lot of people out there who will have to fork out possibly thousands of dollars more just on software. Given these companies are very unlikely to do anything for nothing the switch to Intel may not be as simple as all that.

 

[kgarner]

Accept for maybe those using professional suites such as MS Office, Adobe CS2, Macromedia etc.

Rosetta may get them running, slower than they would natively, but unless these companies release free point updates to convert the codes so they will run natively on MacTels, there are a lot of people out there who will have to fork out possibly thousands of dollars more just on software. Given these companies are very unlikely to do anything for nothing the switch to Intel may not be as simple as all that.

If it is as easy as it was for Mathmatica then they will, if not then we will see. Remember, it will be about a year before we even see any Macintels (according to Steve). By then these companies will be readying their new version which would be a paid upgrade anyway. Also, in a year we will be running faster processors so Rosetta may not run as slowly as it does today. It could even run faster than systems are running today. The point is we don't know enough to say how it will perform just yet.

 

[MontyZ]

The "confusion" is what I think Apple needs to worry about the most in regards to this announcement. Their rivals will surely fan the flames of confusion as much as possible, too. So, Apple needs to start clearing up and misinformation ASAP, it's already spreading like wildfire on a hot, dry summer day.