Apple to sue Motorola?

[Sun Baked]

Originally posted by bousozoku
SIMD is a generic term, Single Instruction Multiple Data. The SIMD part is VMX, the same name given it by Motorola and IBM did license Motorola's design although this doesn't mean that they're about to use it. They just need compatibility with it.

As stated...

They most likely licensed the instruction set and the some of the characteristics of the Altivec Black Box Motorola is using, although internally IBMs implementation may be quite different.

Since Altivec is a mature instuction set used by many different PPC platforms, IBM using the Motorola Altivec instuction set isn't too outrageous.

If Motorola did kill the 7457-RM and beyond processors, there are quite a few VME and blade manufacturers that can jump over to IBMs 970. And a few Linux PPC board makers that'll jump on also (cough, an Amiga furball, cough).

 

[BaghdadBob]

Originally posted by IVIIVI4ck3y27
As far as IBM "licensing" AltiVec for the PPC 970. Not true. IBM uses a vector processor noted as "SIMD" for their PPC 970. It does however "share" the basic architecture to remain compatibility, but it's an IBM design, likely contracted by Apple.

Why do I say "likely contracted by Apple"?

IBM has very little use for SIMD, as they use PowerPC's in server-class hardware where they run most everything on Linux or AIX (Unix). With little->no Linux applications out there relying on SIMD/AltiVec, IBM has been reluctant to invest in the technology. Largely because they knew that Apple was going to go with Motorola chipsets too. With IBM now seeing a disgruntled Apple, wanting an "easy out" for at least the near term 'til they can transition to Cocoa or make Carbon a subset of the portable Cocoa API, IBM likely received a great deal of funding to advance their next generation processors to take up the slack, knowing full-well Apple will gladly purchase from them to get away from Motorola.

It's a shame, I always liked Motorola, but after they got spurned in the cloning deal, they've become largely "Anti-Mac" and have a bad resolve for the whole situation. My ex-girlfriend's mom worked at their corporate center out in the Hoffman Estates/Schaumburg area and soon after the CHRP/PPCP-based G3 clone (the first G3 machine) was ixnayed by Jobs and Apple who were behind the 8-ball; Motorola began selling off or giving away "ANYTHING" Mac in their offices, and transitioning over to Windows PC's almost immediately. They were more of a 75/25 %MacC ratio.

My bank... Apple might rely on up-rated G3's for the iBooks, but unless they can get a substantial speed boost out of them, my guess is they will still license a remaining supply of the G4 from Motorola until IBM can bring forth a shrunken die-size PPC 9XX series processor that'll be cool enough to work in a laptop.

Either that, or we'll see a transition away from "G#" naming conventions to a new 2 prong assault with a ::name 1:: processor being an ultra fast G3, while ::name 2:: equals the PPC 970 as Apple classifies it. After all, Apple did a similar deal when they balked on "AltiVec" in favor of "Velocity Engine" for the name of the technology inside. Probably a good move because that's an Apple term, not a Motorola term, and it'll likely transition smoothly over to the "SIMD". I still don't see Apple embracing a G3 for aluminum/titanium PowerBooks though, not even at 2Ghz. It's probably more of a backup plan than anything... as they'll hopefully have a more efficienty 9xx processor out within a year or so I figure, which... I'm sure they could eek out on G4 Powerbooks for another year, assuming Motorola doesn't pull the plug on them. This "lawsuit" deal is probably a protective posturing by Apple more than anything, just in case Motorola gets another dumb idea in their head.

Not that the PPC 970 is entirely out of the question for laptops even, but it'd definitely not be something I'd want to sit down with, wrapped in aluminum/titanium, and have it parked in my lap. LoL Ladies wouldn't even need Nair... just burn the hairs right off. LoL It'd at least be "CLOSE" to what the PC contingent has to suffer through, although I have no idea how hot the Centrino laptops get... I know the Pentium M and Duron-based laptops throw out some heat though, although... even the G4 isn't exactly lukewarm itself, being rather "scalding".

I doubt we'll even see the lawsuit as I think PPC 970 is written in stone for the near term, as I really think Apple's just using this as a lobby to keep the G4 in production 'til a more efficient, less heat-emitting 9xx is ready for primetime. So, I think Big Blue is our saviour... at least for a bit.

What the future holds further down the road though is anyone's guess. Depends on what we see out of IBM. I have more faith in them than Motorola at this point, but I wouldn't even mind a move to SPARC or Alpha if it came to it, down the road. SPARC actually makes a lot of sense (Alpha is wicked fast, but... it's not geared for laptops, which it would have to be... plus... have to see how dedicated Compaq/DEC really is to landing Apple, rather than remain a bit player) as Sun could be a "VERY" strategic ally, and a good fit as both companies are similarly loose and fleeting, and notoriously antagonistic to Microsoft (although Sun's pretty staunch against HP and IBM as well; of which... HP was a company Jobs looked to as a mentor of sorts, and IBM has had decent ties with Apple since Pink/Taligent). I could even see Apple buoying themselves with Sun, re-working OS X to integrate a lot of Solaris into it (also based off of BSD Unix), and merging together... with Apple at the low-middle end and Sun at the middle-high end.

Of course... Jobs and McNeely might clash though, as they're both mercurial and opinionated, although both want to beat Microsoft BAD! Then again, Apple's in a slightly more healthy position than , but Sun "STILL" has a stranglehold on the high-end of Enterprise that no Wintel competition can hack. IBM might get them with PPC/Power# equipped Linux boxes; but I really think Apple down the road is gunning for competing with them there too... what would be best... forge a deal with a giant monolithic corporation that's full of red tape and bureacracy (definitely not a Jobs forte), or deal with a smaller-scale enterprise-only company that fits Apple's philosophies nicely, because it mirrors them? A few years ago, SGI would've been a good fit too... but they've cannibalized themselves so much, that outside of Maya and Pro-Engineer and the like... Apple is almost on a par, and SGI isn't even in the ballgame compared to Sun.

I don't think Apple will be as successful in Enterprise if they go it alone (take too long, might lose out on beating Microsoft by then, if Microsoft "EVER" finds a way in substantially enough; Linux might beat them all in, as they're doing pretty good as "young" as the movement is), and I think it'll take them awhile to get where Sun is now. Merging the two... and I personally think Apple should buy Sun instead of Universal... you have a company that does "EVERYTHING", top to bottom... and trust me... merging two of Microsoft's biggest competition in two differing markets (and Sun is big in education with their servers and workstations; the bookstore at OSU even sells them)... and the advantages of a Vector-graphics add-on processor to SPARC, and that evolving into everything from a low cost iMac/eMac to a high end server farm (or smaller clustering XServes that are bigger than todays model)... Apple could do everything from personal desktop to rendering for Pixar, and have "COMPLETE" control over their processor situation, in-house. Plus Sun has StarOffice, Java, Jini, their server and redundant hardware experience, countless engineers, their own line of hardware products (even make their own RAID disk arrays).... much more robust and valuable than Maya alone. [/1]

Umm...I want Apple to buy Adobe...because it would be cool, I mean REALLY cool...damn, I thought I could ramble

Who is this masked man???