The big announcement in the computing world last week was Apple's decision to switch from PowerPC to Intel processors. While Mac zealots and ordinary users have sung the praises of Mac OS (and especially OS X) for many years, there was never a way for PC users to get in on the action without buying an overpriced computer from Apple with a PowerPC processor inside. (Note to non-techies: software written for PowerPC-powered computers won't run on Intel-powered PCs, and vice versa.) However, with the announcement of the move from PowerPC to Intel, there's a distinct possibility that Apple will start selling OS X as a standalone operating system that will run on any Intel-based computer. Suddenly, the world of OS X may be opened to everyone, regardless of the hardware platform used. Even if Apple keeps their OS on their hardware, I think it's a good move for them to use Intel processors. Their systems have lagged behind Intel's for several years, so now Mac users will enjoy the speed of the latest processors, and will no longer need to point to the beauty of their OS as a reason to endure slower computers.
But the migration to Intel hardware will take Apple a few years, so all the rejoicing and speculation is premature. However, there are rumors that Apple already has a version of OS X that runs on Intel platforms, and that such a beast is loose in the wilderness of the Internet. Gizmodo found a Bittorrent file of a possible OS X Intel release, and this is the story of what happened when they tried to install it. I laughed out loud while reading it.
And if you don't get the term at the end, just Google it.
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