Sun out. Intel in. Steve Jobs gives Intel Keynote?
<a href="http://www.macminute.com"; target="_blank">http://www.macminute.com</a>;
Er!?
Implications for Marklar?
Motorola G5.
IBM 970.
Intel Itanium.
A three horse race to Apple's next gen'?
Or is Apple going multiplatform?
Intel at Macworld, Apple's reps hanging with AMD and Steve giving a Keynote at the land of the enemy (whose cpus Apple bashes in speed tests with its antiquaited G4)? What's going on?
Sun kicked out of Pixar? Intel sliding in. No 'X-serve' mandate for the forseeable future. Not even with 970s in them. Is this an ominous clue to a rather crazy next 12 months..? Steve Job's 'other' company doesn't seem to mind running Intel. Or is Jobs merely the great pragmatist? ie 'merely business'?
Or are the old politics on their way out for the Mac platform?
Discuss.
Lemon Bon Bon
Further from the c/net article:
[quote] "We've got coverage now with the brand marquee companies," said Tom Gibbs, director of industry marketing at Intel. "This is a complete migration. They are moving off Sun Solaris and onto Intel-based servers running Linux."
While Intel-based servers are generally less expensive than Unix-RISC-based servers, Gibbs asserted that the conversion is taking place because the performance gap between the two types of setups has largely been erased, and even reversed for certain functions.
"They (film studios) will pay what they have to pay to get the image quality," Gibbs said.
As part of the switch to Intel for rendering, Pixar has ported its Renderman software to run on Linux.
<hr></blockquote>
...and 'shuttle' diplomacy from Intel to Apple and back again. That didn't happen 'a long time ago'. It's happening now.
Intel CEO at a Macworld Keynote?!
Cosy, cosy
Intel Linux vs Unix Risc?
Where does that place Apple?
...and the IBM with the 970? They surely want a piece of the Pixar/Lucas 'Linux' action?
[ 02-08-2003: Message edited by: Lemon Bon Bon ]
[ 02-08-2003: Message edited by: Lemon Bon Bon ]</p>
Er!?
Implications for Marklar?
Motorola G5.
IBM 970.
Intel Itanium.
A three horse race to Apple's next gen'?
Or is Apple going multiplatform?
Intel at Macworld, Apple's reps hanging with AMD and Steve giving a Keynote at the land of the enemy (whose cpus Apple bashes in speed tests with its antiquaited G4)? What's going on?
Sun kicked out of Pixar? Intel sliding in. No 'X-serve' mandate for the forseeable future. Not even with 970s in them. Is this an ominous clue to a rather crazy next 12 months..? Steve Job's 'other' company doesn't seem to mind running Intel. Or is Jobs merely the great pragmatist? ie 'merely business'?
Or are the old politics on their way out for the Mac platform?
Discuss.
Lemon Bon Bon
Further from the c/net article:
[quote] "We've got coverage now with the brand marquee companies," said Tom Gibbs, director of industry marketing at Intel. "This is a complete migration. They are moving off Sun Solaris and onto Intel-based servers running Linux."
While Intel-based servers are generally less expensive than Unix-RISC-based servers, Gibbs asserted that the conversion is taking place because the performance gap between the two types of setups has largely been erased, and even reversed for certain functions.
"They (film studios) will pay what they have to pay to get the image quality," Gibbs said.
As part of the switch to Intel for rendering, Pixar has ported its Renderman software to run on Linux.
<hr></blockquote>
...and 'shuttle' diplomacy from Intel to Apple and back again. That didn't happen 'a long time ago'. It's happening now.
Intel CEO at a Macworld Keynote?!
Cosy, cosy
Intel Linux vs Unix Risc?
Where does that place Apple?
...and the IBM with the 970? They surely want a piece of the Pixar/Lucas 'Linux' action?
[ 02-08-2003: Message edited by: Lemon Bon Bon ]
[ 02-08-2003: Message edited by: Lemon Bon Bon ]</p>
Comments
<strong>Sun kicked out of Pixar? Intel sliding in.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I thought that happened a while ago.
And might we be running on Marklar / Intel cpus by then?
Lemon Bon Bon
Years ago when asked about Merced Avi said that it was a possiblity in the future...meaning around this time...ofcourse this was years ago when Merced was supposed to be out much earlier and perform better....but the point is that as long as 5 years ago they were keeping in mind this chip...perhaps just as a server configuration...but perhaps not....
But access to a 'belief system' of 97%.
Big joke.
Hope Apple begins laughing.
It might keep them in business longer.
Lemon Bon Bon
Maybe Moki's 'dual boot' strategy maybe here sooner than we thought not.
[ 02-08-2003: Message edited by: Lemon Bon Bon ]</p>
Wasn't Marklar the planet Starvin' Marvin was trying to move his village to on South Park? Where every proper noun was Marklar?
<strong>Actually. Have anyone hard facts that Steve spoke at the Intel show? I think that'd be front page stuff, but since I haven't seen any front pages with that piece I conclude that it's an unsubstanciated piece of rumour. Surely there are people with cameras at an event like that? Where's the photos? Where can I read what he said?</strong><hr></blockquote>The part about Pixar switching to Linux/Intel render farms is old news. The part about Steve speaking at the Intel show is a hoax.
Have a read of the article and make yer own mind up.
The article is dated Feb, not April the 1st.
1. Intel is obviously chasing Linux business.
2. They're putting together a cheaper Linux/Cpu bid than Sun/AMD.
3. Pixar moved to Intel. 'Old news'? Well, 'old news' can lead to 'future news'. Maybe see Marklar on Intel 'itannic' in the next year or so? Kinda strange. Seeing as Steve is Apple Ceo and Pixar Ceo.
4. AMD are under the table with a 'on Linux' renderfarm at Lucas Films.
5. There is Risc Unix vs Intel Server on Linux battle ongoing.
6. IBM is obviously going to enter the fray with the 970. There's no way they're going to give up their server business or encroachment by Intel without a fight. We may see IBM wake up as a true CPU force. Apple could benefit.
7. Apple do X-serve. Maybe X-serve enters the render farm fray once the 970 is on tap.
8. Cnet report that the Intel honcho is at Macworld. Why?
9. Reputed Apple/Intel high level diplomacy going on.
10. That sounds like strong - arm negotiations between AMD Hammer Marklar/ Fire under Motorola G5/IBM 970 / Intel 'Itannic' Marklar brinkmanship going on.
11. Who said the 'Keynote' by Steve at Intel was a hoax? Again, C/net are reporting it. Are Apple and Intel Ceo's 'old friends'?
12. Intel 'Itannic' Linux vs IBM 'Risc 970' Linux.
Whole load of implications there.
Lemon Bon Bon <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
[ 02-08-2003: Message edited by: TexMac ]</p>
Which proves that Steve Jobs doesn't let politics get in the way of business?
And with a 'portable' OS in 'X', Marklar may well keep the PPC 'alliance' on its toes. If they don't deliver, maybe Steve will take the OS to somebody that can and WILL.
Though I agree, IBM seems to be putting a bit of weight behind the new 970 and on...Power derived CPUs. On paper alone, the 970 looks like a 'storm the gates' cpu. Lightyears ahead of the G3 and the G4.
'Options. We like to have options.'
Who knows. Maybe when a 970 X-serve is under the table at Apple, maybe Pixar might punt the Intel 'Serve' out the window. With Renderman on Linux...surely it's only a matter of time before Apple get Renderman on 'Ten'?
Lemon Bon Bon
<strong><a href="http://www.macminute.com"; target="_blank">http://www.macminute.com</a>;
Implications for Marklar?
</strong><hr></blockquote>
None. I don't think that you can draw any conclusions about Apple's CPU direction from Pixar's choice. For a renderfarm of that magnitude there's nothing that Apple sells that can compete on price/performance with Intel/Linux.
As for the Paul Otellini's presence, I would guess that he was there merely because he could be. If Jobs was your business partner wouldn't you exploit the relationship for a front row seat to one of his performances? Or flip it around: If Otellini was your business partner wouldn't you want to butter him up and give him front row seats to a big show you were doing?
Occam's Razor and all that.
Apple _can_ go to Intel (or any other architecture) whenever they want to. That's a major advantage of Darwin. However, they've said over and over again that they're sticking with PPC for some time. Intel has their (rightful, IMHO) place as a backup plan; if something goes horribly wrong with the PPC (G4's get stuck again, permanently, 970 fails, etc) they can 'just' move over to Intel. Until then don't expect any Intel-based PowerMacs.
Looking at their explanation of some of the Executive clout Apple threw behind their recent LG deal, I'm wondering if Apple are doing a similar thing with IBM for the 970.
ie Apple agree to pay for half or all of the development costs of the 970 or of including the SIMD unit and the continuing 'Power' derivative...and in return, Apple get a cutting edge desktop CPU. A concession is IBM can use it in its battle for Linux server marketshare and Apple get to counter the Wintel performance 'myth' with hard spec' numbers.
If Apple can play shrewd hardball business re: monitors (where Apple, incidentally, ceded exclusivity for a huge price break...) then who is to say they can't do the same with CPUs?
They need a desktop cpu. But they don't have enough in the bank to do the whole cpu bag themselves. Instead. They do the next best thing and have rough idea of what they need to compete and go to some CPU maker with the cloud and proven performance/server track record to deliver CPUs to clients.
It could only be IBM.
But I wonder the exact 'wording' of the deal...
...and the breakers and cessions on both sides.
Lemon Bon Bon <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
I think
<strong>If Apple can play shrewd hardball business re: monitors (where Apple, incidentally, ceded exclusivity for a huge price break...)</strong><hr></blockquote>
More shrewd than it even looks. They "ceded exclusivity" on a product that has already been out for a year, and they "bought" exclusivity for some future products. The deal Apple wrote looks like this: Apple will be getting advanced LCDs BEFORE anyone else, and cheaper than anyone else for a few years. They'll be able to do an "only with a Mac" kind of thing. Nice. I keep saying that Apple is a better run business than many people give them credit for.
[quote]<strong>They need a desktop cpu. But they don't have enough in the bank to do the whole cpu bag themselves. Instead. They do the next best thing and have rough idea of what they need to compete and go to some CPU maker with the cloud and proven performance/server track record to deliver CPUs to clients.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Let's not forget about Intel making a chip just for Apple too. Ultimately, Intel is a chip company and they want to sell LOTS of chips to LOTS of customers.
What happens if they have "spare" capacity that could be put to use creating a chip for Apple?
From the CNET article:
[quote]"Later in January, Jobs delivered the morning keynote address at Intel's annual sales conference in Las Vegas. "Andy (Grove) always tries to bring someone in from the outside," said an Intel representative. "Andy has always thought of Steve as being a quite a creative force in the industry." ... The Intel chairman and Apple's CEO are, in fact, old friends. Still, "I'm sure one of the reasons he did it was for the shock value," the representative said."<hr></blockquote>
Some questions:
1) Why?
2) In this day and age how the heck is it even remotely possible for a tech superstar like Steve Jobs to deliver a keynote address at an Intel conference and nobody but nobody makes anything of it? Even if he was there as the CEO of Pixar, a Steve Jobs keynote is a BIG thing.
2) I presume Intel's annual sales conference is related to the process of selling Intel products, but why would the CEO of Apple Computer participate in that process. It sure as hell wont help Apple, unless...
3) What did he actually say?
[ 02-08-2003: Message edited by: Tyrihans ]</p>
<a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=002110"; target="_blank">http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=002110</a>;
What is going on here? I think a move to the Wintel world would be good for Apple's bottom line and great for the consumer.
<strong>Add this to the rumor that someone reports seeing Xserve boxes at a large chip company (ie. Intel)
<a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=002110"; target="_blank">http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=002110</a>;
What is going on here? I think a move to the Wintel world would be good for Apple's bottom line and great for the consumer.</strong><hr></blockquote>
yea, only problem is that the chips would not work in the hardware designs apple has.
you think Apple's gonna be able to put a P4 in the 1 inch Powerbook? or even iMac?
and what about software.... recompile may work for some but then wat about optimizations.... do developers write for both PPC and Intel?