We work with Apple, ATI, and Nvidia to make everything run as well as possible. Doom 3 had AltiVec code in it, and there were driver changes to make things work better. The bottom line is that the compiler / cpu / system / graphics card combinations available for macs has just never been as fast as the equivalent x86/windows systems. The performance gap is not a myth or the result of malicious developers trying to make your platform of choice look bad.

Yes, it is always possible to make an application faster, but expecting developers to work harder on the mac platform than on windows is not reasonable. The xbox version of Doom required extensive effort in both programming and content to get good performance, but it was justified because of the market. In hindsight, we probably should have waited and ported the xbox version of the game to the mac, which would have played on a broader range of hardware. Of course, then we would have taken criticism for only giving the mac community the "crippled, cut down version".

An Intel processor inside a Macintosh could put the vast library of Windows-based games and software programs within the reach of Mac users - at least those who are willing to run a second operating system on their computers.

Moreover, having Intel Inside might solve an important perception problem that has long plagued Apple in its effort to convert consumers who are attracted to the company's industrial design, but who have stayed away because the computers do not run Windows programs.

Should the new [IBM PowerPC/Cell-based video game] consoles find wide acceptance as broad-based entertainment engines, Intel will need to respond - and one attractive alternative would be an inexpensive Macintosh Mini based on an Intel processor, able to run the vast library of PC games.

- Sony's top executives had tried to persuade Mr. Jobs to adopt a chip that I.B.M. has been developing for the next-generation Sony PlayStation ... Mr. Kutaragi tried to interest Mr. Jobs in adopting the Cell chip, which is being developed by I.B.M. for use in the coming PlayStation 3, in exchange for access to certain Sony technologies. Mr. Jobs rejected the idea, telling Mr. Kutaragi that he was disappointed with the Cell design, which he believes will be even less effective than the PowerPC.

- Mr. Jobs waited until the last moment - 3 p.m. on Friday, June 4 - to inform Big Blue [I was moving to Intel chips]. Those executives said that I.B.M. had learned about Apple's negotiations with Intel from news reports and that Apple had not returned phone calls in recent weeks.

- I.B.M. executives said that without additional Apple investment they were unwilling to pursue the faster and lower-power chips he badly needs for his laptop business ... Because the business was not profitable, I.B.M. "decided not to continue to go ahead with the product road map."

- The power-conserving 64-bit Intel chips that Apple is counting on to rejuvenate its laptop products will not be available until early 2007.

Apple's decision in the 1980's to use a different chip from the one put in most personal computers "fit in with the idea of Think Different," Stephen G. Wozniak, who founded Apple with Mr. Jobs in 1976, said in an e-mail exchange. "So it's hard for some people to accept this switch."

Apple's Decision to Use Intel Processors Is Nothing Less Than an Attempt to Dethrone Microsoft. Really.

PowerPC's dedicated vector processor in the G4 and G5 chips that make them so fast at running applications like Adobe Photoshop and doing that vaunted H.264 video compression. Apple loved to pull Phil Schiller onstage to do side-by-side speed tests showing how much faster in real life the G4s and G5s were than their Pentium equivalents. Was that so much BS? Did Apple not really mean it?

Tiger -- is a 64-bit OS, remember, yet Intel's 64-bit chips -- Xeon and Itanium -- are high buck items aimed at servers, not iMacs. So is Intel going to do a cheaper Itanium for Apple or is Apple going to pretend that 64-bit never existed? Yes to both is my guess, which explains why the word "Pentium" was hardly used in the Jobs presentation.

Where the heck is AMD?

This announcement has to cost Apple billions in lost sales as customers inevitably decide to wait for Intel boxes.

Is this all really about Digital Rights Management?

Moving to the Cell Processor would have made much more sense than going to Intel or AMD

This isn't a story about Intel gaining another three percent market share at the expense of IBM, it is about Intel taking back control of the desktop from Microsoft ... So Intel buys Apple and works with their OEMs to get products out in the market. The OEMs would love to be able to offer a higher margin product with better reliability than Microsoft. Intel/Apple enters the market just as Microsoft announces yet another delay in their next generation OS. By the way, the new Apple OS for the Intel Architecture has a compatibility mode with Windows (I'm just guessing on this one).

Yes, I've been punk'd. Remember all the Expos with the demos of Photoshop up against a Wintel? Recall how they rendered everything faster? How Mathematica crunched numbers like crazy and the CEO would come out and talk of the wonders of the Mac? Remember the Intel bunny being burned? Yes, they poo-poo'd that this week and laughed at ol' times on stage. I wasn't amused - it was a badge of honor. Recall all the talk about CISC and RISC and all that? Pipelines and bottlenecks and speed increases and how it took two Intel chips to do the work of one IBM PowerPC chip? That OS X was written to take advantage of the power of the PowerPC?

It was all a joke, a big "gotcha!" I feel lied to frankly. Or else, it was all true - I wasn't dreaming after all!! - and now the wonders of the PPC RISC are getting smaller in the mirror. It was all true - Photoshop does render faster on a PPC. But guess what? It doesn't matter - performance doesn't matter. That is the message.

So either it was all lies, and we were fooled, our Macs weren't better as were led to believe, or else it was all true and we must settle for second best, or, for us, as good as it gets when we are used to having it very well. Take your choice, there are no other options: you were fooled or must give up the best.

Twelve and a half million users may be dwarfed by Microsoft's Windows user base, but numbers are climbing - fast.

Over one million visitors go to an Apple Store each week, Jobs said. He also showed attendees a chart, a chart that claimed Apple's Mac unit sales to be climbing 40 per cent year-on-year - against an average PC market share climb of 12 per cent, Apple claimed.

Recently, I described rumors that Apple would switch from PowerPC to x86 microprocessors as "a bunch of bull."

OK, I was wrong. I apologize to Don Clark and Nick Wingfield of the Wall Street Journal, David Utter of WebProNews, Paul Thurrott of winsupersite.com, and all the other journalists I called "dupes" for going along with what I thought was a tired, old, often-recycled rumor.

I believe Apple is switching because Steve Jobs has his eye on the big prize—a substantial share of the personal computer marketplace.

In fact, I believe Steve Jobs has been working toward this goal since he returned to Apple in 1997.

I think the keys to Apple's success now lie in the "platformization" strategy of Intel's new CEO, Paul Otellini.

Apple will show Intel how to make software-friendly hardware, and Intel will put its unmatched manufacturing muscle into Apple's service.

Welcome to QuickTime 7, the latest version of the world's most advanced digital media technology. Download the public preview to get a first look at the exciting new features in QuickTime 7 for Windows.

The Developer Transition Kit brings together all the components you need to create Universal Binaries that run on Macintosh computers using Intel microprocessors. The Kit contains the information, sample code, software, and hardware you'll need to develop a Universal Binary.

The development system has the preview release of Mac OS X Tiger on Intel pre-installed, allowing you to run, verify, and debug your Universal Binary application.

The development system comes pre-loaded with Xcode 2.1. Xcode 2.1 is the development environment for creating Universal Binaries. Updates and additional downloads of Xcode 2.1 will be made available as needed for Transition Kit developers.

You must be an ADC Select or Premier Member to purchase the Developer Transition Kit.

After Jobs' presentation, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller addressed the issue of running Windows on Macs, saying there are no plans to sell or support Windows on an Intel-based Mac. "That doesn't preclude someone from running it on a Mac. They probably will," he said. "We won't do anything to preclude that."

However, Schiller said the company does not plan to let people run Mac OS X on other computer makers' hardware. "We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac," he said.

At first, it was just too hard to believe, and I dismissed it as nonsense, but two serious news organizations are reporting it as a done deal (News.com and WSJ), and on Sunday morning a couple of things fell into place making it look a lot more plausible.

Apple will move to Intel, and they're relying on a fast, seamless emulator to do it.

But it's really about Hollywood: Apple's looking to transform the movie industry the same way the iPod and iTunes changed the music business ... Apple -- or rather, Hollywood -- wants the Pentium D to secure an online movie store (iFlicks if you will), that will allow consumers to buy or rent new movies on demand, over the Internet.

The Intel transition will occur first in the summer with the Mac mini, which I'll bet will become a mini-Tivo-cum-home-server.

As expected, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced Monday during his keynote address at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2005 that his company is migrating to Intel microprocessors. The transition will take over two years, Jobs noted, with the first Intel-based Macs appearing in mid-2006.

While Jobs did answer many questions about the Intel migration, some questions remain. First, will Intel-based Macs be able to run Windows? Second, will standard PCs be able to run future versions of Mac OS X? And what about Leopard? Is that PowerPC only? Intel only? Or both? And finally, how will the company maintain sales momentum, over the next year especially, while Apple preps a coming generation of Intel-based Macs.

Whatever happens, this is an interesting time for the industry. No surprise, then, that Apple would be right in the middle of it.

On a personal note, I'd like to thank the many kind Apple fans that took time today to drop me a note congratulating me on getting the scoop on this story. I do appreciate it.

"We are thrilled to have the world's most innovative personal computer company as a customer," said Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel. "Apple helped found the PC industry and throughout the years has been known for fresh ideas and new approaches. We look forward to providing advanced chip technologies, and to collaborating on new initiatives, to help Apple continue to deliver innovative products for years to come."

At its Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple announced plans to deliver models of its Macintosh computers using Intel microprocessors by this time next year, and to transition all of its Macs to using Intel microprocessors by the end of 2007. Apple previewed a version of its critically acclaimed operating system, Mac OS X Tiger, running on an Intel-based Mac to the over 3,800 developers attending CEO Steve Jobs' keynote address. Apple also announced the availability of a Developer Transition Kit, consisting of an Intel-based Mac development system along with preview versions of Apple's software, which will allow developers to prepare versions of their applications which will run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.

"Our goal is to provide our customers with the best personal computers in the world, and looking ahead Intel has the strongest processor roadmap by far," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "It's been ten years since our transition to the PowerPC, and we think Intel's technology will help us create the best personal computers for the next ten years."