:: Deepquest ::

The announcement at WWDC has been an big surprise, rumors were at least right this time.
This rumor wasn’t new but but arised for the past years. No matter if you like or not our favorite plateforme will become macintel. After few days of euphoria, or tears what are the real advantages of the pentium for OSX, if there are any? Is it a real step forward for the Apple community? What do we have to fear from that migration?

We’ll to try give objectives reasons based only on facts, and not as an Apple aficionados.

We took several days to gather informations, reactions, facts and figure to give the most objective analyse.
If you don’t have time to read those 5 points (and you should read), I think it’s a bad and sad day for apple to use Intel architecture.

[b]1-Marketing[/b]
Since 98 Apple has been bashing pentium processors, based on benchmarks and even adds. Don’t you remember the [url=http://deepquest.code511.com/blog/images/uploads/videossnail.mov]snail carring[/url] a pentium, or the [url=http://deepquest.code511.com/blog/images/uploads/videostoasted.mov] Toasted Pentium[/url] campain?
Ok I guess it’s sharp marketing but what about those recent benchmarking about the [url=http://www.apple.com/powermac/performance/]G5 superiority:[/url]

“The PowerPC G5 out-shoots the Pentium 4 in a battery of tests.
But it?s in the rough-and-tumble of real-world performance that the G5 really shines ? shredding the PC?s reputation in the process.”
Are we the dumb goats of Copertino, forced to migrated to an processor we’ve been described as much slower for ages?
Steve Jobs proodly show a satelite map of Apple Campus with the super secret building where intel version of OSX was tested for the past 5 years! I think the Cupertino propaganda machine went o far using their devoted users to move again to new migration. I know that Computer evolutions creates changes, but does Apple has real for plan for the next years?

[b]2-Migration[/b]
Apple announced development boxes to select ADC Premiere members for US$999: Same box, Intel motherboard with 3.6GHz Pentium 4 don’t try HDV Rendering it’s 84% slower than a dual G5 2.7 ghz…
G5 introduced is still a cuting edge processor using 64-bit architecture. But how good can be a 64-bit processor to me?
32-bit registers, a processor has a dynamic range of 2 exp 32, or 4.3 billion?which means it can express integers from 0 to 4.3 billion. With 64-bit registers, the dynamic range catapults to 264, or 18 billion?4.3 billion times larger than the range of a 32-bit processor.
A 32-bit processor can express a range of integers equal to the size of a postcard, while a 64-bit processor can express a range of integers larger than the island of Manhattan. From an enduser point of view it might not change rule your life but what about for the Terascale Cluster of the [url=http://www.tcf.vt.edu/systemX.html#hardware]University of virginia?[/url] University of Virginia selected the G5, just few of then (1100 Apple Xserve dual 2.3 Ghz), to create one of the faster, cheaper, and better cluster. The Pentium wasn’t selected because of lack of performance, and price and now Apple now praising Pentium.

[b]3-Universal Binaries[/b]
To make the current OSX software running on macintel you will need to adapt your code. Xcode will have the ability to compile for PPC and or Intel.
During the Keynote they took the example of Mathematica, an advanced mathematical software : 20 lignes of codes to make it compatible!? Anyone can believe this? What about independent developers? The Apple community was about get a decent number of new softwares thanks the OSX bsd foundation, some users ported some applications from linux or bsd to OSX. The questions will developers will take time again to migrate softwares to Macintel plateform?
Another major topic is Rosetta: it will be used the software to be used to translate PowerPC instructions to x86 instructions, a bit like Classic works with old app on OSX. Rosetta is only a link to use ppc softwares on x86. The problem is that Macos 8 or 9 will dead, code optimised for Altivec, application requiering G4 or G5 or even application that are hooked to kernel extension (like netbarrier) won’t work anymore. Don’t believe me? Check by [url=http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/universal_binary/universal_binary.pdf] yourself[/url].

[b]4-Security[/b]
It’s too early to know if Apple is going to use the processors as Dell, IBM, HP. But one thing is now sure it will use X86. We will loose the openfirware, not a big deal it will be replaced by bios. To be exact Phoenix Bios.
The question is : why [url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&rls=us-fr&q=BIOS+sucks&btnG=Search]BIOS sucks[/url], or why [url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=us-fr&q=open+firmware+sucks&spell=1]Firmware sucks[/url]? Ok this was easy! Seriously it will bring for sure several security issues. The biggest is virus like [url=http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/cih.html]CIH[/url].
The virus was able to flash the bios of the machine, and it wasn’t the only one. One of the other issue is shellcodes.[url=http://www.safemode.org/files/zillion/shellcode/doc/Writing_shellcode.html]”Shellcode”[/url] is the name given to small pieces of assembly language which are used to launch shells, typically as a result of a buffer overflow. (A buffer overflow is a technical term which is used to describe the act of filling a piece of memory with more data than it is designed to hold, this is a commonly used technique in security exploits. Shellcodes are very stealth and small, for eg you can easily remotely open a shell to machine with a code smaller than 200 bytes. Privacy is also part the security isssue, back in 1999 the Pentimum III introduced a processor serial number (PSN). It’ is a unique identifier for an individual microprocessor that cannot be modified, but can be read by software to provide identification of a processor. Concerns have been raised over the security of the PSN and its susceptibility to unauthorized access through hacking. A Canadian and a German firm have independently claimed to have identified means of hacking the PSN. These claims are hacks targeted against the control utility software. Hacks against the system BIOS, while theoretically possible, are more difficult and are still in strong dispute. Nevertheless, this has led to an outcry amongst the groups against the Pentium III and its PSN functionality. Is it want we want for our apple computers?

[b]5-End User approach[/b]
I was really surprised not by the lack of euphoria during the WWDC after in Steve Jobs announcement, the lack of time to explain this transition, the lack of details about the processor. I also very surprised by Apple’s choice that will conform the monopoly of Intel on the processor market. No major reactions after this announcement, it seems like most medias are still going in the direction told by Apple: Pentium is good for you. I’ve been using Apple computers for more than 15 years, always understood technical directions by Apple (from 68k to G*, then migrating to OSX) but this time I got more than confused. But there’s something that won’t be able to sell me anymore: performances.