The computer industry these days is in a "so-so" sort of situation...

MOST people do NOT need a faster computer, all that much---"My computer's okay, I'll run with it, till well after it's paid for, then IF I need something faster, and can afford it, I'll shell out THEN..."

So, along comes Apple, sneaking in D.R.M. on their new hardware---the REAL reason for the switchover to Intel... protect Stevie's profit margins with his stock-swap with Disney. Distribution and FUTURE profitability of the distribution-chanels for "digital content" is what's at stake here.

So, I'll (perforce...) eventually have to retool from my PPC G5 flatscreen desktop---which has essentially NO upgradability options other than adding a bit of RAM... When it "dies" several years from now, I'll be in the market for a replacement system...

Whether that system is APPLE hardware, or (possibly?) a generic-Intel "clone" box, running a DRM'd licenced copy of OSX-for-generic-Intel... I don't know----as long as I have enough RAM, enough CPU horsepower, and (PLEASE GOD!!) still have "Rosetta" environment running on some as-yet-undeclared massively-parallel tower with "enough" CPU power to drive the system, and run my EXISTING apps and "legacy" files----I'll be happy...

Logically (pessemistically) I forcast that Apple will licence out a "generic Intel" DRM'd one-copy-per-PAYING customer version of it's OS within the next 18 months---tapping into a potential 200million PC's in NorthAmerica... at (say) $300.xx each copy, that's SIXTY BILLION DOLLARS of instant cash-revenue! (the stockholders will throw a party!)---as in any good murder mystery, "follow the money"..

Till then, I'm hedging my bets, and might shell out for a PPC G5 tower that has graphics-card expansion possibilities, and run that as a "Stand Alone" in case some future downloaded software update permenantly switches OFF the Rosetta environment!!
<rant mode/OFF> ;-)

---
BeSeeingYou...
David A. Lewis

Well, great rant but poor logic. Apple has complete control of its hardware so at any time it could add a serial number chip or coprocessor to its motherboard to help enforce DRM, no matter whether the motherboard had a Motorola, IBM or Intel CPU. So there is no connection between DRM and the switch to Intel, notwithstanding your convictions on the issue. For now, Apple appears to have decided that such techniques are not desirable.

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