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Rhapsody: Intel Outside (5/25/98)
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Following Rhapsody's WWDC de-emphasis as the Mac's future (in favor of Mac OS X), questions have arisen as to the fate of Rhapsody for Intel, Apple's next-generation server OS for standard x86-based iron. Remember how Rhapsody for Intel was going to be just like Rhapsody for PowerPC, with the exception of the Blue Box for running Mac OS-based applications? Well, it sounds like all that's going away; Rhapsody for Intel appears to have been deep-sixed. At least, according to Reality, that is...
Now, here's the thing-- after thinking about it, Rhapsody for Intel makes very little sense for Apple right now. Apple still derives the vast majority of its revenue from computer sales, and they've consolidated their entire computer line around the G3 chip. Why would they undermine that by shipping a version of their operating system to run on competing systems? So we're not particularly sorry to see it go. (From a personal standpoint, we're definitely not sorry to see it go, because we've dealt with all of the cheap, shoddy, bargain-basement Wintel equipment we care to work with in this lifetime.)
Remember, just because Rhapsody's not going to be continued on the Intel side doesn't mean that Apple's cross-platform strategy is gone. The Yellow Box runtimes will still exist for Windows, meaning that Rhapsody/Mac OS X applications written with Yellow Box API's (instead of Carbon ones) will be executable on Wintel systems after a simple recompile. Of course, Apple reneged on its original pledge to make the Yellow Box runtime libraries free to distribute, so there's no telling if this strategy will actually catch on with developers, but at least it's a strategy. Hmm.
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 5/25/98 episode: May 25, 1998: The recent Apple corporate tell-alls should make way-- here comes the Microsoft equivalent. Meanwhile, someone publicly refers to Microsoft's products by the Mac-specific phrase "insanely great," and Rhapsody for Intel appears to have died before it could reach v1.0...
Other scenes from that episode: 735: I Had Bill Gates' Baby (5/25/98) Stand back, folks, because Apple's not the only company starring in tawdry tell-all books these days. Barbarians Led By Bill Gates is a new book by former Microsoft developer Marlin Eller, who recounts the company's rise to power over the course of the thirteen years he worked there... 736: Insanely Ripped Off (5/25/98) Speaking of Microsoft "borrowing" from Apple, this latest example is too surreal to be missed. Granted, once again, it's not actually Microsoft doing the borrowing, but it's still too bizarre to ignore...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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