apple must attack now!

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
apples moment of opportunity has arrived.

intel is having problems with its processor roadmap......BIGTIME.

itanium was suppose to be the endall beall chip of the future.

it was suppose to be intels way out of its x86 quandry.

it wont be.

itanium is a colossal failure for reasons too numerous to enumerate here.

meanwhile intel is hard at work on a x86 64-bit "replacement" for itanium the pentium V i believe.

these next generation of intel pentiums will run so hot they even have motherboard manufacturers freaked out.

read: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13421



this is apple and ibms moment of opportunity.

i believe apples real competitor of the future will be AMD and NOT intel.

although apple needs to be concerned with clockspped they need to be MORE concerned with overall performance.

apple can distinguish itself from the crowd here.



i think the Xserve can be just the ticket apple needs.

apple has had a very hard time capturing the hearts and minds of the conservative business crowd.

i believe they should concentrate on the unix/server geeks.

with Xserve this is very doable.

apple already has the scientific crowd on its side.

how do i know this?

i use to work for a menlo park company that does a lot of work for the defense department.

i use to go to their massive R&D building in my capacity as a technician and was astounded at all the apple computers i saw there.

(by the way they had an electron microscope too....hey im a geek ok!)

8)
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    formatc2formatc2 Posts: 176member
    That server needs a killer app. Apple needs an Exchange killer.



    E-mail, calendar, shared address book, public folders, the whole shooting match.



    At my work, Exchange 2003 won again. Why? There is barely nothing else out there.



    Sun, Oracle, Suse, Samsung have small efforts, but Exchange is the gold standard.



    I am convinced that this is an area where Apple can gain some major ground.
  • Reply 2 of 23
    tinktink Posts: 395member
    Quote:

    i believe apples real competitor of the future will be AMD and NOT intel.



    I would never count Intel out.

    They definitely seem have painted themselves into a bit of a corner though (And a hot one at that)!

    Pour chipzilla
  • Reply 3 of 23
    geekmeetgeekmeet Posts: 107member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tink

    I would never count Intel out.

    They definitely seem have painted themselves into a bit of a corner though (And a hot one at that)!

    Pour chipzilla




    I would!

    LOOK!:http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13396

    LOOK AGAIN!: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13397

    AND YET AGAIN!:http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13383
  • Reply 4 of 23
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Intel's worst enemy right now is Intel. They're so big that they can afford to weather out a serious shift in direction, exactly the way that IBM did when IT turned away from big iron. If they find a way to refocus, as IBM did, then several quarters of losses won't do any lasting damage.



    AMD can make Intel jump occasionally, but it also has the basic problem that it's frozen out of most big OEM contracts. That will have to change - meaning that some OEM will have to brave Intel's wrath - before AMD can really start hurting Intel. Despite that, it's got to hurt that AMD's 64-bit CPU is outselling Intel's 7 to 1.



    What could really hurt Intel? IBM. IBM is big and competitive, it has a 64 bit architecture that's running away with the field, the capability to become its own major OEM, with another major OEM on board (Apple), several more on board in the console space - including MS!, the ability to ship soup-to-nuts enterprise solutions, the ability to write software (which Microsoft won't let Intel do) and thus support Linux actively, legendary R&D and extremely deep pockets. Even if the current offering isn't the fastest CPU, it's competitive and it has the best available bandwidth and a roadmap tied to the POWER series, which dominates the market that Intel is looking to expand into.



    Intel has lots of options, though. They can fall back on a 64-bit extension to x86 and count on the fact that most PC OEMs use their motherboards to spur adoption; they can rebuild IA32 from the Pentium M, which would involve eating lots of crow about MHz but which would also get around the wall that the P4 seems to have run into.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    Quote:

    Originally posted by FormatC2

    That server needs a killer app. Apple needs an Exchange killer.



    E-mail, calendar, shared address book, public folders, the whole shooting match.



    At my work, Exchange 2003 won again. Why? There is barely nothing else out there.



    Sun, Oracle, Suse, Samsung have small efforts, but Exchange is the gold standard.



    I am convinced that this is an area where Apple can gain some major ground.




    IBM's Lotus Domino/Notes is way better that exchange.
  • Reply 6 of 23
    There already is an Exchange killer - and it comes from IBM. All that is needed is for IBM to port the Domino server to their own processor and that 'domino' will fall, like the second shoe on Microsoft. competitive info



    While this thread was started on the proposition that Apple should 'attack now' on the hardware side against Intel, it seems to leave out the real 'enemy' here and that is the other half of the Wintel duopoly, namely Microsoft.



    Let IBM handle the processor battles with Intel, it seems to me that they are doing just fine. The real target of opportunity here is the beast of Redmond. Microsoft has put itself in a far more precarious position than Intel is in. Even if Intel has to pull the plug on the Itanic and let it sink into s well deserved watery grave, they will still be in a viable and even enviable position with their chip manufacturing business.



    Microsoft, on the other hand, is in a far more difficult and possibly deadly (in a business sense) position. Windows has been unmasked, over the past year particularly, as having security problems that have been built into Windows by design.



    SoBig, Blaster and others to numerous to mention have shown the design flaws of Windows to the World. And with their entire code base susceptible to 'shatter' attacks, they have been forced to do a complete re-write of their operating system. I'm not talking about a service pack to XP here, I'm talking about a ground up re-write of Windows ~ namely 'Longhorn'.



    Compounding and greatly exacerbating their problem is the Software Licensing Six fiasco that seriously pissed off Redmond's corporate customers. Microsoft put the gun to the heads of their corporate accounts and demanded payment up front (though spaced out over time) for companies to stay current in their software. They had to pull the trigger on empty cylinders three times (the deadline moved back) before finally accepting that most (70 ~ 75%) of their customers wouldn't roll over for them.



    Of course those that did sign up for this extortion have now found out that because "Longhorn" has been moved back to 2006 (at the earliest) they are contractually obligated to pay for something that they won't get. You probably can't imagine how pissed off the guys that are still writing checks every month to Microsoft are about this.



    There is a great opportunity for Apple (and Linux) in the next two or three years to topple the dominance that Microsoft holds in the corporate world. Microsoft has shot itself in the foot (if not the head) and may have mortally wounded itself with it's own greed.



    But, hey, Apple went through this already with OSX ~ scrapping it's outdated operating system to build it's future on a UNIX based system. Why can't Microsoft do the same thing. You can be sure that's what they are trying to do.



    But, you might say, with $50,000,000,000 in the bank, they ought to be able to write a pretty good OS. And that is true, if they just let their senior programmers design it. The problem at Microsoft lies at the top, the "Chief Software Architect" Mr. Bill Gates himself is directing the development of this project. The prime directive for Longhorn is customer lock-in, not good code.



    The problem for Microsoft is that their corporate customer base got a slap in the face to wake them from their stupor with SA6. They have seen into the workings of Microsoft, Inc. and the sheep's clothing has been been pulled off the butterfly and reveled the predatory monopolist hiding under the tons of marketing dollars.



    Of course in the consumer space, with all their cash and power over OEM's Microsoft will likely dominate for many years to come. Until the consumer demands something different and better, they will continue to be controlled and made docile by Microsoft marketing.



    The space between now and Longhorn will be the chance that Apple needs to make a difference in these poor unwitting fool's lives.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    .
  • Reply 8 of 23
    othelloothello Posts: 1,054member
    domino on OSX would be a massive thing for many places, including lotss of universities (where macs are getting a real foothold for scientific work)
  • Reply 9 of 23
    krassykrassy Posts: 595member
    second:



    longhorn will take some time. apple has to attack now because they're in the position to lead with a brand-new-cool-best-technology-OS
  • Reply 10 of 23
    cliveclive Posts: 720member
    There are already Notes clients for MacOS 9 and X - while having the server too would be nice... so what? It's one machine out of many.





    -- Clive
  • Reply 11 of 23
    aslan^aslan^ Posts: 599member
    mark my words...



    Sony has yet to play it's hand... although they may just wait till the end and make friends with the victors but then again, Sony is a large chip manufacturer too and Im sure the playing field is just as complicated for them as it is for IBM... Sony IMHO should scrap its microsoft orientation and go with a Sony Linux or suitable variant. Sony hardware is quasi proprietary anyway and they could end up being a lot like Apple if they tried, and Apple makes money dont they.



    It is amusing for me to see Microsoft trying to gain favour with IBM by buying their PPC's for the XBox, I guess they can already see the writing on the wall...



    Before long, the only "computers" running XP will be XBox's with PPC's, running some kind of home entertainment thing.
  • Reply 12 of 23
    big macbig mac Posts: 480member
    Excellent post, Aphelion, but I think you've left out a major piece of the enterprise equation. You want Apple to attack that sector, a market which the company has never had any great success. It's fairly simple why that is: one vendor status. Apple loves the security of being the sole provider of Mac hardware, but that will always bar the Mac from the corporate space. Nothing Apple does, no matter how wonderful its products are, could ever convince enterprise to buy in as long as Apple remains the only game in Mac town. If Apple wants to go after businesses, it needs commodity Mac clones out there. And I highly doubt Apple is interested in that.
  • Reply 13 of 23
    aphelionaphelion Posts: 736member
    Big Mac, you must have missed this thread.



    From my first post in it:

    Quote:

    The idea of a Partnership!!! with IBM is overlooked by most Industry watchers. These guys have a plan, and Apple is part of it.



    IBM is operating system agnostic, they offer the customer choice, and what better choice is there than OSX? Expect Apple to offer IBM blades and Blade Center chassis under their label, and expect to see IBM offer OSX server on their hardware.



    It simply makes too much sense for Apple and IBM not to maximize each others strengths. What's to lose by either party?



    Blades and the required chassis to place them in are the future for server rooms. IBM has already done the R&D and spent the money needed to build these. An Apple branded IBM built Blade Center should address the single source objection quite well. After all, who has better credibility in the enterprise than IBM?



    IBM Blade Center



  • Reply 14 of 23
    If IBM would port Domino to OS X, i would buy 3 Xserves with xRaid the same day.



    Right now i have it running on small cluster of AS/400s and hardware is ridiculously expensive, having the ability to run it on apple hardware would lower the costs dramatically.



    That one app would do to apple xserve sales more than they wish for.



    Oh don't even get me started...





    Cluster of xServes running domino, with failover protection, all sharing xRAID array, mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm :-).



    They have Domino for Windows, Linux, OS400, AIX, SPARC, i'm not sure OS/2 is there as well.



    Oh and for the love of god port Designer Client to OS X while you're at it..



    What makes IBM good company to have around is their ability to plan ahead and stick to their plan, they really make excellent products, both hardware and software. They may not look 'cool' as apple's stuff, but they are rock solid.



    Look what they are doing to Linux, they realize that slowly IT heads are getting fed up with constant Windows problems, and slowly starting to look for alternatives. And when time comes they will be ready/are ready.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AsLan^

    mark my words...



    Sony has yet to play it's hand... although they may just wait till the end and make friends with the victors but then again, Sony is a large chip manufacturer too and Im sure the playing field is just as complicated for them as it is for IBM... Sony IMHO should scrap its microsoft orientation and go with a Sony Linux or suitable variant. Sony hardware is quasi proprietary anyway and they could end up being a lot like Apple if they tried, and Apple makes money dont they.



    It is amusing for me to see Microsoft trying to gain favour with IBM by buying their PPC's for the XBox, I guess they can already see the writing on the wall...



    Before long, the only "computers" running XP will be XBox's with PPC's, running some kind of home entertainment thing.




    Sony?



    It takes more than having few laptops and desktops to enter enterprise market.



    Sony doesn't have long term strategy, they are electronics manufacturer, they don't provide software and services as IBM does, they don't have HUGE network of business partners working for them in that field, they lack integrity.



    Sony was something in the 80s, now only in professional equipment they still mean something, maybe home computing.
  • Reply 16 of 23
    Quote:

    Originally posted by FormatC2

    That server needs a killer app. Apple needs an Exchange killer.



    E-mail, calendar, shared address book, public folders, the whole shooting match.



    At my work, Exchange 2003 won again. Why? There is barely nothing else out there.



    Sun, Oracle, Suse, Samsung have small efforts, but Exchange is the gold standard.







    There is - it was called FirstClass, later it was called Open Text, I have no idea what it's officially called now ... it has all those things, E-mail, Calendar, Shared Address Book, Public Folders ... and database access, access to your phone system (send retrieve voice mail), customization yadda yadda yadda.



    What it doesn't have is Microsoft's marketing dollars, what it didn't expect was the internet to have been the killer app that it was (for that matter, neither did Microsoft).



    These guy's almost owned the world - sigh.



    They have a server and client which runs on Windows and OSX, takes about 1/4 the manpower of Exchange to care and feed ... but, like I said, it's not Microsoft, so nobody knows about it.



    check it out.



    FirstClass
  • Reply 17 of 23
    aslan^aslan^ Posts: 599member
    You know what,



    I didnt even read the thread properly (I was wondering why you guys were posting about enterprise)... my bad, apologies for posting O/T !



    Cheers
  • Reply 18 of 23
    Quote:

    Originally posted by OverToasty

    There is - it was called FirstClass, later it was called Open Text, I have no idea what it's officially called now ... it has all those things, E-mail, Calendar, Shared Address Book, Public Folders ... and database access, access to your phone system (send retrieve voice mail), customization yadda yadda yadda.



    What it doesn't have is Microsoft's marketing dollars, what it didn't expect was the internet to have been the killer app that it was (for that matter, neither did Microsoft).



    These guy's almost owned the world - sigh.



    They have a server and client which runs on Windows and OSX, takes about 1/4 the manpower of Exchange to care and feed ... but, like I said, it's not Microsoft, so nobody knows about it.



    check it out.



    FirstClass




    It is a great product. The problem is as with any small (compared to MS/IBM) companies... can you trust them to keep supporting you? and keep developing their products, when you hear IBM saying 'we are committed' that means they are committed, when microsoft says that, you know it means nothing, but there will always be something coming out from Redmond to let you keep working.



    Its hard for smaller guys to get noticed. And even harder to connivence customers that they are here to stay. There are tons of fantastic products out there, just no-one knows about them.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    aphelionaphelion Posts: 736member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by piwozniak

    If IBM would port Domino to OS X, i would buy 3 Xserves with xRaid the same day... That one app would do to apple xserve sales more than they wish for...



    Look what they are doing to Linux, they realize that slowly IT heads are getting fed up with constant Windows problems, and slowly starting to look for alternatives. And when time comes they will be ready/are ready.




    Heads in the enterprise got turned when they were slapped in the face with SA6. You can bet that ALL Microsoft enterprise customers are looking for an alternative to "SA7" and "Longhorn".



    The next two or three years will be a Window of opportunity for the significant "others" to offer an alternative to the obvious lock-in that will be the main "feature" of Longhorn.



    Windows centric IT departments will herd together to support the adoption of Longhorn. They know it will mean perpetual job security for their limited skill set (ie Windows), and thousands of billable man hours to implement the "up-grade". These guys in IT and their legions of MSCE's will fight hard to maintain their inertia as an entrenched solution in what will become an ever more closed shop of Microsoft functionaries. (if they have their way and sign-up for SA7 and Longhorn).



    Countering this herd mentality will be the CIO's who, at least in the larger enterprises, will actually know that something other than a Microsoft solution exists. At this level these guys have PHd's in computer science, so they should know something about what's happening.



    These are the very guys that got burned the worst from SA6, they are the one's that authorized (or not) the program, and they are the guys that had to explain to the CEOs what they got for the money. They paid millions to "stay current" for three years and all they will get is a service pack for Windows XP.



    The tipping point is when Microsoft pushes Longhorn out and asks these same CIOs to authorize "SA7" to get Longhorn at a "discount". I think these people are going to take a very strong look at alternatives before they sign the dotted line.



    One other competitive point is that Longhorn will REQUIRE a hardware upgrade on the desktop. The Microsoft "vision" is a very FAT desktop client. It will take a lot of horsepower just to run Longhorn, not to mention the platform changes required for NGSCB (aka Palladium) to take control.



    Compare this approach to keeping the existing equipment on the desktop and running a Linux client to call applications from the servers safely positioned in the server room for streamlined maintenance and security. Think Total Cost of Ownership here.



    Apple needs to get it's ducks in a row for this window of opportunity. All they need is a cost effective and viable solution for a replacement of Microsoft in the enterprise. For the first time ever, Apple will have many important people willing to listen.
  • Reply 20 of 23
    Aphelion



    i agree 99% :-)



    There's only one problem...



    There are applications that require windows, there is a personnel that doesn't know how to work with anything else than windows, and finally it's not easy to gradually change platforms.



    If apple wants to get in, they will need to have some guys ready to 'hit the road' and meet with their potential customers, hardware is there, or almost there.



    Like i said if i could run domino on OS X, i would do it in an instant, now give me good office app, AutoCad, and i will replace windows with OS X.



    I bought few powerbooks, and we're using them as loaners to people who want to take computer home and do some work, or just surf the web. There's microsoft office installed, but they have to learn new OS, if they want to use those comps.



    Everyone loves those macs, and people wish they could work with macs instead of windows boxes.



    They for sure have a chance, if not for replacing, then at least for positioning themselves as a valid alternative.
Sign In or Register to comment.