S
Svenn Bjerkem
Guest
This is a personal opinion and no attempt to sell anything but a
fantastic idea.
Apple Computer has just launched the two missing links in their product
portfolio: The Mac Pro and the new Xserve. Both dual Xeon Woodcrest
with dual cores. The Xserve is only 1 HE high and you can fit a bunch
of them in your computing center. Add the Xraid storage and you have
all you need.
This may look like a commercial or spam, but I am just amazed at what
Apple has been able to do during the last year. I have been a PowerBook
user since late 2003 and even if I haven't upgraded from Panther to
Tiger I am very satisfied.
If you look at the spec's on the new machines, they give a good value
for the money. Apple has always had a strong hold in movie and audio
business. But why not now add EDA to that?
This time it is really about the hen and the egg. When the big EDA
vendors turned to Linux supporters it was as a result of pressure from
customers who wanted to move away from expencive and slow hardware from
Sun or HP. Apple isn't cheap, so don't expect companies to come rushing
for it like they did with Linux, but it isn' slow either. Not anymore,
nor will it be slow again, ever. The move to Intel make that for sure.
If AMD should happen to become faster/better again sometime in the
future, well then it is no sweat any longer to switch processor. Apple
has little acceptance in corporate environments like semiconductor
vendors. Price/Performance has always been good, but the price has
always been high. I would rather guess that my company would stand in
line to get a bunch of those $100 laptops instead. Price, sadly, most
always wins.
Apple has the advantage that Sun and HP had, but lost: Hardware and
operating system from one and the same vendor. Well, they haven't lost
it quite yet, but they are trying as hard as they can to lose the rest
of their business. Looking into the crystal ball I would say that the
strategy that Apple has now will make them not go away during the next
10+ years.
And Apple give you all you need to merge, there is a full blown X11
server in OSX. A hard-core Mac-user would frown at it, but, hey, it is
something to start with. Qt is running natively on MacOSX so if Cadence
get the Motif-parts replaced they are up and running. And for the
business-suits: MacOSX is BSD and not GPL, which mean you can keep the
source closed if you want to. With Qt and BSD the way to a native
integration on the Aqua desktop is short.
I would say: "Oh, Brave New World", and tomorrow reality will catch up
with me in the office ....
--
Svenn
fantastic idea.
Apple Computer has just launched the two missing links in their product
portfolio: The Mac Pro and the new Xserve. Both dual Xeon Woodcrest
with dual cores. The Xserve is only 1 HE high and you can fit a bunch
of them in your computing center. Add the Xraid storage and you have
all you need.
This may look like a commercial or spam, but I am just amazed at what
Apple has been able to do during the last year. I have been a PowerBook
user since late 2003 and even if I haven't upgraded from Panther to
Tiger I am very satisfied.
If you look at the spec's on the new machines, they give a good value
for the money. Apple has always had a strong hold in movie and audio
business. But why not now add EDA to that?
This time it is really about the hen and the egg. When the big EDA
vendors turned to Linux supporters it was as a result of pressure from
customers who wanted to move away from expencive and slow hardware from
Sun or HP. Apple isn't cheap, so don't expect companies to come rushing
for it like they did with Linux, but it isn' slow either. Not anymore,
nor will it be slow again, ever. The move to Intel make that for sure.
If AMD should happen to become faster/better again sometime in the
future, well then it is no sweat any longer to switch processor. Apple
has little acceptance in corporate environments like semiconductor
vendors. Price/Performance has always been good, but the price has
always been high. I would rather guess that my company would stand in
line to get a bunch of those $100 laptops instead. Price, sadly, most
always wins.
Apple has the advantage that Sun and HP had, but lost: Hardware and
operating system from one and the same vendor. Well, they haven't lost
it quite yet, but they are trying as hard as they can to lose the rest
of their business. Looking into the crystal ball I would say that the
strategy that Apple has now will make them not go away during the next
10+ years.
And Apple give you all you need to merge, there is a full blown X11
server in OSX. A hard-core Mac-user would frown at it, but, hey, it is
something to start with. Qt is running natively on MacOSX so if Cadence
get the Motif-parts replaced they are up and running. And for the
business-suits: MacOSX is BSD and not GPL, which mean you can keep the
source closed if you want to. With Qt and BSD the way to a native
integration on the Aqua desktop is short.
I would say: "Oh, Brave New World", and tomorrow reality will catch up
with me in the office ....
--
Svenn