Brad, Paul, anyone, do you think Apple dropping Intel will have any effect on Intels and Microsofts relationship and products? Will things improve now? Is Apple dropping Intel good for Microsoft?
skane2600
<p>With the transition so far away and the information Apple provided so vague, who knows? I don't know if Office on the Mac is actually cash positive for Microsoft, or whether they continued to support it to stave off anti-trust charges or to maintain goodwill. If it doesn't make money, this could be a great excuse for letting it die.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#260547"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a></blockquote><p>It seems unlikely that Apple is going to make a better X86 than Intel on their first try. Apple "magic"? Sorry the reality distortion field only works on people, not hardware.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#260650"><em>In reply to MikeGalos:</em></a></blockquote><p>You may be right although the x86 architecture wasn't really designed for that sort of integration/customization the way the ARM architecture or even the venerable 8051's was (8051 variants are still in use after 38 years). </p><p><br></p><p>But as you say, it would probably be more of a marketing effort than a technical one. There's precedent: Apple claimed a few years ago that they were the first ones to integrate all the functions of a computer in a single chip despite the fact that there were decades of prior art.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#260645"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a></blockquote><p>Depending on how things turn out, Apple might learn the lesson that rushing into a change because the competition is doing it without knowing how successful it might be, is a mistake.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#261108"><em>In reply to Hassan_Timite:</em></a></blockquote><p>Gee, Apple hasn't even cooked up a fake demo of MacOS programs running on ARM yet. :)</p><p><br></p><p>I think it's quite premature to assume that Apple's emulation will succeed where Microsoft's has apparently failed. Besides, at this point Mac on ARM is in the same category as the Surface Phone was a few years ago – just speculation.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#261316"><em>In reply to Hassan_Timite:</em></a></blockquote><p>Qualcomm like, Apple, has both ARM architectural licenses and ARM core licenses. So both have delivered core products and architectural (custom) products. It's not clear if a custom ARM chip created by Apple would outperform a custom ARM chip created by Qualcomm (or some other company) even if used within a Apple product.</p>