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Let's get some facts on the situation straight, first:
- Yes, Apple is transitioning to Intel's x86 Pentium line of processors. Test units are available to order now for developers. They are expected to ship to consumers in one year. The full transition is expected to be complete by the end of 2007.
- All of Mac OS X itself is fully compatible with the x86 processors. It has been since five years ago when the first Developer Preview releases of Mac OS X were made.
- Most current Mac applications will work on the new processors through the use of a binary translator called "Rosetta." There is a small performance hit incurred by using this; so, using native applications will still be preferable.
- Starting today, a new version of Xcode is available that will make "fat" binaries, applications that contain code for both PowerPC and x86 processors. This means all future applications developed using Xcode should be compatible with both current PowerPC Macs and future x86 Macs. Developers still using Metrowerks CodeWarrior will need to move to Xcode.
- Rosetta is only used for translating old PowerPC applications to run on the x86 chipset. Future fat binaries will be 100% PowerPC compatible and 100% x86 compatible without needing the Rosetta translation engine. Fat binaries will run at full speed on both PowerPC and Intel systems.
- Apple is not dropping support for PowerPC-based systems. Apple still intends to continue releasing updated systems with PowerPC chips until the transition is complete. Also as mentioned above, "fat" binaries will be available of all new software for the foreseeable future. Therefore, your current hardware will not become obsolete simply because of this move.
- The next version of Mac OS X (10.5, aka "Leopard") will be available for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs. Again, Apple does not intend to drop support for existing users any time soon!
- Porting some applications to work in the fat binary format may take a few minutes; others may take a few weeks. Remember that Apple said the exact same thing about "Carbonizing" apps; so, expect some stragglers to take a full year or longer to complete this move.
- Some big developers including Adobe and Microsoft have committed to releasing fat binaries, but no time frame was announced.
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