14 DAY TRIAL // Jobs's announcement that Apple will be using Intel processors from now for building Macs (or maybe it's better to call them MacTels from now on?) resulted in a revolution across the IT world, probably as major as the one that could have been produced by an announcement from Bill Gates that, starting with 2006, Windows would be open-source.
If Jobs would have gone for another processor and not Intel, the surprise would have had the same dimensions? Certainly not, and that's because as soon as Apple announced that from now on we'll have an Apple Mac powered by Intel, everybody thought about the Mac Os X running on a PC.
There's no doubt about the fact that Jobs and Apple are now on top. With a Mac OS X everybody considers to be the best operating system, with an iPod that has no competitors in the music players' field, Jobs's next target is probably Windows.
With Microsoft being cornered due to an unconvincing Longhorn, Jobs has the keys to total domination. And even though most experts say that some solutions could be found for Mac OS X to work only on Macs with "Intel Inside", it's clear that once adapted to the x86 architecture, its porting onto PCs is a question of months.
And what will happen then? Then, PC users will have, for the first time, a feasible alternative to Windows: an OS with fantastic graphics, virus-free, with a large number of applications developed for it and multimedia performances way ahead of Windows'.
For years Microsoft fought against Linux, but Apple's Tigers and Leopards are now entering the arena. Microsoft's dominion has reached a point of such frailness, that even a small push could send it tumbling down, thus ending its reign.
Is this to be expected with the appearance of the Mac OS X for PCs? We'll just have to wait and see!