The Romanian Macintosh users' community (http://www.MacUser.ro) has discussed over and over again this subject, reaching the conclusion that this is a move we were to expect from somebody the likes of Steve Jobs, who has always kept an eye open for "novelties", sometimes even taking some rather shocking decisions.

Porting the OS X on x86 will certainly assure an increase in the operating system's sales, but it's also very likely to affect the sales of Apple systems, especially in Eastern Europe.

The reason for this "shift" is to diversify the company's offer, still keeping the PowerPC processors, in order to provide the company's customers, both present and future, with a more economical option to the current processors, more powerful but also more expensive.

One thing is certain: both the image and the future of Apple are going through a major change, which can lead either to an increase of the market share, or to Steve Jobs's demise...