PowerPC History and Future Name Change?

[JoeG4]

Motorola's "still doesn't burn a hole in your lap" line, and IBM's "Doesn't dim the lights in your house when you turn it on" line.

I can't believe the hypocrisy flying around. Either you guys are raging hypocrites, or the PPC fans all dropped hanging out on rumor sites and a bunch of new idiots who are going to whine when the machines that come out cost more than similarly equipped Dell crapboxes.

Yes, I said Dell crapbox. Those things are the computer equivalent of a daewoo.

Of course I'm sure my post will be written off as a troll, after all, I mustn't be a Mac fan if I hate Intel processors to this day. No, I didn't eat marketing BS, but I still don't, maybe that's where we differ.

 

[Maxx Power]

Motorola's "still doesn't burn a hole in your lap" line, and IBM's "Doesn't dim the lights in your house when you turn it on" line.

I can't believe the hypocrisy flying around. Either you guys are raging hypocrites, or the PPC fans all dropped hanging out on rumor sites and a bunch of new idiots who are going to whine when the machines that come out cost more than similarly equipped Dell crapboxes.

Yes, I said Dell crapbox. Those things are the computer equivalent of a daewoo.

Of course I'm sure my post will be written off as a troll, after all, I mustn't be a Mac fan if I hate Intel processors to this day. No, I didn't eat marketing BS, but I still don't, maybe that's where we differ.

Actually for interest sake, Daewoo did make computers, one of my friends had one, it died on her shortly. And they made computer monitors, which were also crap.

 

[EricNau]

I wonder if IBM is getting just a little worried, now that they don't have Apple.

HAHAHA!

*wipes away a tear* Thanks.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh man thanks dude. I haven't laughed like that in a long time. That was hilarious.

Well, I'm starting to feel a little stupid...
...but really, Apple was giving a lot of money to IBM, and now not only are they losing that, but it's going straight into Intel's pocket.
And some of the comments that have come from IBM after the Intel-Apple announcement have made it seem that they might be a little worried. Kinda like they are trying to cover up the fact that they are ****ing their pants.
I know that overall Apple was a small percent of IBM's income, but who knows, it could have a snowball effect.
I don't know. (but I know this isn't a good thing for IBM, and they aren't happy about it.)

 

[devman]

Well, I'm starting to feel a little stupid...

no need to. What you said wasn't THAT silly. You're being picked on - just a little bit.

...but really, Apple was giving a lot of money to IBM, and now not only are they losing that, but it's going straight into Intel's pocket.

correct. (of course, there's a lot more involved here - such as the east fishkill plant was losing money).

I don't know. (but I know this isn't a good thing for IBM, and they aren't happy about it.)

they most certainly were not happy about the way it played out.

 

[Bastich]

That's easy... they're going to be called the Macintosh G86.

B)

 

[50548]

Really? This is news to me. What exactly about the PPC in the Xbox 360 is considered bad yield? IBM made a choice to focus on gaming consoles, and can you blame them? They make way more money with Xbox and Playstation then they ever dreamed with Apple.

Well, Steve Monkey Ballmer said it himself...MS wasn't able to meet demand because of some limited yields by IBM...we've heard this story before...check the news around.

(edited to add "monkey")

 

[inkswamp]

I think you addressed a really important point. Apple doesn't own any patent rights to the Power, PowerPC, or other hardware architecture or technological derivative implementation. What it does have co-ownership of is the floating point and integer SIMD instruction set technology, aka AltiVec(tm moto), VMX(tm IBM), and Velocity Engine(tm Apple). Anything that uses AltiVec is subject to licensing and the associated royalties... meaning, as long as RISC chips use AltiVec, Apple get a few $$.

So, assuming what I first speculated on is accurate, that Apple still owns a stake in that part of the PPC, then what are the chances then that the XBox, which uses PPC chips, actually uses Altivec/VMX/Velocity Engine? And if it does, then does that mean Apple is actually making a few pennies in licensing fees off each XBox that MS sells?

 

[MCroft]

Well, Steve Monkey Ballmer said it himself...MS wasn't able to meet demand because of some limited yields by IBM...we've heard this story before...check the news around.

Yep, that sounds much better than saying that the company made fewer than they knew they needed because they thought it would help long-term sales if they created an environment of artificial scarcity. It's probably true that they didn't get all the chips they ordered, but it's not necessarily why they didn't meet demand.

 

[ZorPrime]

So, assuming what I first speculated on is accurate, that Apple still owns a stake in that part of the PPC, then what are the chances then that the XBox, which uses PPC chips, actually uses Altivec/VMX/Velocity Engine? And if it does, then does that mean Apple is actually making a few pennies in licensing fees off each XBox that MS sells?

I was thinking the same thing, so I checked out the tech specs and according to Wikipedia and some other sources the 360 has three VMX SIMD units, one per core. I'm pretty certain Apple's making some money off the box, as to how much... I have no idea but Apple's going to be making money off of all of the new consoles.

 

[ZorPrime]

Yep, that sounds much better than saying that the company made fewer than they knew they needed because they thought it would help long-term sales if they created an environment of artificial scarcity. It's probably true that they didn't get all the chips they ordered, but it's not necessarily why they didn't meet demand.

I think you put the point perfectly. Rush to market and give the appearance of a shortage to cover up the low demand. By doing a Global launch, they automatically created an artificial supply shortage, here in the States. There are tens of thousands of xbox 360s sitting in Japan, that aren't being sold. People are actually cancelling their xbox pre-orders in Japan. Seems to me, knowing the historically poor reception of their box, gates wouldn't have wasted so much of their limited supply of PPC chips on a weak demand market....

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/12/13/japan.xbox360.ap/index.html

 

[Randall]

Well, I'm starting to feel a little stupid...
...but really, Apple was giving a lot of money to IBM, and now not only are they losing that, but it's going straight into Intel's pocket.
And some of the comments that have come from IBM after the Intel-Apple announcement have made it seem that they might be a little worried. Kinda like they are trying to cover up the fact that they are ****ing their pants.
I know that overall Apple was a small percent of IBM's income, but who knows, it could have a snowball effect.
I don't know. (but I know this isn't a good thing for IBM, and they aren't happy about it.)

Honestly I didn't mean to make you feel silly, but I was cracking up when I read that. IBM chose to go the course of gaming console processors, because it's proving far more lucrative for them then the Apple PowerPC sales were. Apple didn't give IBM the R&D money that they required for to make G5 happen in laptops. There is no question that IBM lost money because of Apple switching to x86, but the amount of money lost is insignificant compared to the amount of money IBM gained with PPC focusing on gaming. Sorry to give you the bad news. But on the plus side, Intel x86 is going to be fantastic for Apple. They have a great roadmap, which includes 64-bit multiple core processors by the end of 2006. Exciting times are ahead.

 

[Loke]

http://news.com.com/Is+the+PowerPC+due+for+a+second+wind/2008-1006_3-5983157.html?tag=st.prev

Because there is no innovation left on the PC?
Mayer: It's not that the PC is dead. It's a huge business.

We are most probably going to revitalize our PowerPC. I don't know if it's going to be called PowerPC. A lot of people have questions on the PowerPC architecture and what's going on. I think IBM and us need to make a very strong statement that, "Hey, a lot of applications are using that architecture, it's alive, it's there to last, don't get confused because there are many more PowerPC chips than IBM's Power architecture chips sold in the world."

Because people have that personal link to that PC, they tend to equate processing with PCs, and they don't realize that there are increasingly tens, if not hundreds, of processors that you use every day, and those things are quickly becoming much more powerful.

You're going to be shocked I'm sure, but the PowerPC drives the engine control, the power train application in some automobiles. And by next year, 50 percent of car (models) in the world will have PowerPCs.

That's a lot of processing power for fuel injection in a car. Does it really need a microprocessor like a PowerPC?
Mayer: Yes.

Why?
Mayer: Because you have hundreds of thousands of lines of code running on some car systems already. People don't realize how complex cars have become.

Name a car.
Mayer: The BMW 7 Series v6...it sits on the side of the six cylinders. Today, it is a 16-bit PowerPC chip.

And next year it'll be a 32-bit?
Mayer: 32-bit.

So right now, if I tore apart a BMW and took out all the silicon, how many Freescale chips would I find?
Mayer: 52 Freescale chips in both the 7 Series and the 5 series.

And they control…?
Mayer: Air bag deployment, moving the seats, the power train, Telematics, OnStar, entertainment systems, the transmission...

So instead of sitting in front of your PC, you're actually driving your PC?
Mayer: Right.

 

[50548]

I think you put the point perfectly. Rush to market and give the appearance of a shortage to cover up the low demand. By doing a Global launch, they automatically created an artificial supply shortage, here in the States. There are tens of thousands of xbox 360s sitting in Japan, that aren't being sold. People are actually cancelling their xbox pre-orders in Japan. Seems to me, knowing the historically poor reception of their box, gates wouldn't have wasted so much of their limited supply of PPC chips on a weak demand market....

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/12/13/japan.xbox360.ap/index.html

Yep, it's a flop in Japan, especially if compared to the original XBox launch and smaller consoles...only US MS fanboys are buying that piece of junk...I couldn't care less.

 

[devman]

Apple didn't give IBM the R&D money that they required for to make G5 happen in laptops.

That's a brilliant piece of IBM spin.

 

[50548]

That's a brilliant piece of IBM spin.

Exactly...anyways, the PPC is through. Feel free to check it in flawed XBox consoles around the globe...I don't like Intel, but we didn't really have a choice...screw IBM.

 

[Randall]

That's a brilliant piece of IBM spin.

Sometimes the truth hurts. Welcome to x86

 

[devman]

Sometimes the truth hurts. Welcome to x86

Where did I say it wasn't true? I said it was a brilliant piece of spin.

Thanks for the welcome. I hope to enjoy the stay

 

[dmw007]

That's easy... they're going to be called the Macintosh G86.

B)

Wow, that would make the next generation of Macs seem like such a big improvement (G5 -> G86).

 

[Uragon]

WRAT (we raped apple twice)

I agree....

 

[Scottgfx]

I was thinking the same thing, so I checked out the tech specs and according to Wikipedia and some other sources the 360 has three VMX SIMD units, one per core. I'm pretty certain Apple's making some money off the box...

It would explain why Microsoft was using Mac G5's as the development platform.

 

[Tilmitt]

Rock on PowerPC!!!! Everyone, the margins of this post cannot contain the hate I have for your hypocrisy and heartless summision to the wrongs of the world. You are all as ugly as x86. It's fitting that you take after your new master.

 

[Scottgfx]

Rock on PowerPC!!!! Everyone, the margins of this post cannot contain the hate I have for your hypocrisy and heartless summision to the wrongs of the world. You are all as ugly as x86. It's fitting that you take after your new master.

Where were you when Apple moved from Moto 68040's? Those were deamed to be much more elegant than Intels offerings at the time. Yes we lose some things in the move to x86, but we gain alot more in other areas. Areas that are going to become more important to the future of personal computing. Get over it.

 

[ALvie]

If the G4 is a supercomputer, what does that make my G5?

An over priced peice of junk.

ALvie

 

[Tupring]

Just as with Apple's decision to move to Intel, time goes on and things change.... I wonder what they'll rename the line if this does indeed happen...

Either NotMac, or Macintosh Sell-Out Edition.

 

[~Shard~]

Either NotMac, or Macintosh Sell-Out Edition.

Sweet, I'll take two!