Finally, we find we need to issue an utter and complete retraction. What can we say, folks? Sometimes we just plain get things wrong. For example, yesterday we mentioned that even Mac OS Rumors was predicting at least four more years of PowerPC-based Macs, which, coupled with the complete and utter failure of the Apple-AMD COMDEX rumors to bear any fruit, pretty much laid to rest any hope of Macs running AMD chips in the near future-- or so we thought.

See, faithful viewer sem sem KABOOM blitz krieg hamburger (all right, buddy, let's see that birth certificate) came up with incontrovertible evidence that Apple plans a massive migration to AMD chipsets sooner rather than later. How do we know his proof is so good, you ask? Because, we answer, it comes from Apple itself. Take a good long look at Apple's own Mac OS X Feature Comparison chart. Upon first glance it's pretty pedestrian marketing fluff, showing how new cool stuff is packed into Jaguar versus previous versions of Mac OS X (and Mac OS 9 and earlier). However, if you focus in hard on the "Other Features" section, you might just notice something interesting right at the end.

That's right, everyone, it's right there plain as day: Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar has "Amd support," whereas previous versions of the Mac OS did not. Clearly this wasn't something that Apple actually intended to be advertised, and we're looking at a case of some junior member of the staff accidentally listing the feature on a public web page because he or she failed to notice that AMD support was internally classified as a "Sooper-Dooper Mega Tip-Toppiest Top Secret Feature Implemented Now But Not Meant To Be Enabled Until Later." Since it's right there in a shipping OS, though, it's only logical to assume that AMD-based Macs are right around the corner.

Check it out quick-- before Apple pulls a Framistan, edits the page to remove the info, and acts like it was never there in the first place. Also, a moment of silence, please, for the members of Apple's staff responsible for the leak who have surely already been, ahem, "corrected" and replaced with a fresh batch of Web Gnomes. So, uh, whaddaya think... Hammer-based Power Macs by Christmas, yeah?