Transitive?

[Gordon Webster]

I would say that this is hardly a case of Apple
"leading the way". It's a workaround that Apple has
been forced to adopt as a result of the already poor
strategy of basing their hardware on a Motorola
chipset that is evolving so slowly it is threatening
to become obsolete. More Jurassic Park than Xerox
parc.

Apple actually considered migrating their hardware to
Intel some years ago, but in spite of seeing an urgent
need for it even then, they were unable to pursue the
strategy since they considered it would be too
disruptive. A major reason for this was the impact
that it would have on their developers. Considering
how Apple has progressively relinquished its market
share to other platforms over the last decade or two,
the sad truth of the matter is that they cannot afford
to make life harder for the already small number
(relatively speaking) of developers who currently
target their hardware. 

The adoption of Transitive's technology is therefore
an escape hatch from a poor business strategy rather
than any kind of triumph of innovation on Apple's
part. It just allows them to transition to Intel
chipsets while maintaining backward compatibility with
their old hardware for a year or two, to keep their
shrinking user base happy. Hardly cause for a parade I
think.

Before all the Apple afficianado's on this list jump
down my throat for this, let me add that I think that
Apple has potentially the best home computer products
on the market and an OS that is second to none. I am
no fan of the MS hegemony either and I would LOVE to
see Apple succeed and win the war of the desktop. I
would like to be able to own one myself but the simple
truth is I get so much more computer for my money
using Intel/Linux and so much more choice of software
to run on it as well.

By analogy perhaps and for those of you who enjoy
photography - consider the recent, effective demise of
the Leica Camera company. Paraphrasing the Leica
chairman: "We're a niche market with a loyal following
of more discerning customers" - sounds familiar
doesn't it! 

I pray that Apple will be smarter than this in the
future.

Gordon

--- Dennis Brown <see3d at writeme.com> wrote:

> Richard,
> 
> That is what they do --take an app running on one OS
> and one chip and  
> make it run on another OS and another chip.  No
> trivial task, but  
> they can do it.  The face of software development
> may be about to  
> open up to all platforms, and the face of hardware
> development  
> opening up to be released from legacy restrictions. 
> And as usual  
> Apple will lead the way for the whole industry.
> 
> Dennis