I’ve been looking for a good link to describe the so-called Osbourne Effect, named after Adam Osbourne’s famous Osbourne Computer Compoany.
Sadly, there are few, if any, links that Google can conjure up. Even WikiPedia lacks a page on this computer pioneer.
Osbourne, as you may remember, created the first successful portable PC, the Osbourne I. Sales were brisk and Osbourne Computer owned the market. Soon after, Osbourne made the mistake of pre-announcing a newer, faster, better version of the Osbourne I, but failed to deliver. Sales of the Osbourne I dried up completely in the meantime, with potential customers choosing to wait for the better model that never arrived. The company folded and became a footnote in the computer industry (and one not well documented, it seems).
Its a lesson of the dangers of preannouncing products, or instantly obsoleting the ones you’re currently selling. Apple effectively did that with their Intel announcement.
Whoops. Nice move, Steve. Maybe you aren’t such a marketing genius after all.
The difference is, Apple has huge, HUGE (and I mean HUUUUUUGGGGEEE) wads of cash in the bank that will let them wait out such an effect, if they really believe they can succeed in the long-term with higher-volume Intel chips.
Not to mention that they are still supporting PPC chips for like the next 5 years. New compiled binaries will support both PPC and Intel.
Sounds like to me this is a good time to get a deal on a PPC Mac.
True. They have a bit more dough than Osbourne did, so they may be able to ride this out. But you’ve got to admit this move doesn’t help their PPC sales in the meantime.
Yeah. As if software apps weren’t bloated enough, why not double the size and load ’em up with 50% of code you won’t use. I’m thinking this migration is going to be less than seamless, no matter what Mr. Jobs tells ya.
So they support PPC for the next five years. So what? It’s still a dead-end architecture for Macs. Who wants to buy a system that’s been instantly obsoleted?
We do!
Regards,
Windows XP users
seriously though fat binaries are a real thing and not a bad option. And like you say the migration will probably take some time so why not dip your toe into the Mac pool with a (presumably) inexpensive PPC version during the shake-out? PPC or Intel it’s still running OS X which is the real reason to switch to Mac.
OMG I am drinking the kool aid.
Dude, no kidding. Next you’ll be walking around in black turtlenecks mumbling “insanely great! insanely great!”
The switch from the 68040 chip to the PPC601 chip was announced a good year in advance and Apple managed to not only survive, but it actually managed to continue selling 68040 based computers after the rollout of the PowerMac 6100. It was not until the rollout of the PPC603e that 68040 chip was dropped in Performas and BowerBooks.