14 DAY TRIAL // With more details about IBM's upcoming Power6 processor, many are beginning to think that maybe Apple's decision to transition to Intel might not have been such a good idea. While this could not be further from the truth, Apple is - despite the transition - in perhaps the best place to take advantage of these new advances in technology.
Those who think that it may have been a better idea to have waited for the next generation processors from IBM, would still have to be walking around with G4 PowerBooks and hoping against all hope that IBM will get a portable version of the G5 out of the door. Apple simply did not have the freedom of choice and fast pace of progress that the transition to Intel has offered.
However, things can yet change. The Mac platform, on the software side, is becoming more and more independent, as all programs are becoming Universal Binaries. This gives Apple the freedom to use whatever technology is better at the moment, at least in theory. When G6 processors become available, there would be nothing stopping Apple from releasing G6 based Macs, alongside Intel powered ones. If Apple had the foresight to make OS X run on X86 architecture from the get go, no doubt that Apple will be working behind the scenes to make sure that OS X will still run on IBM's chips for years to come.