Ok.. so, I’ve had a bit more time to calm down, and think about this whole switching CPU thing…

And, now that I can breath again, I think this may not be a totally bad thing.

It all depends on how Apple actually handles the transition.

read on for how I think it should be done

Keep in mind, I haven’t had a chance to finish watching the re-broadcast of Steve’s keynote, or finish reading through all the stuff Apple has posted to their site about it yet..so some of this may be stuff Apple is already planning to do.

1 – Switch to x86_64. Switch everything over to 64 bit chips, from the beginning. It doesn’t make sense to have Mac users back track from 64 bit chips, back down to 32 bit chips..

2 – Make Leopard (10.5) a full 64 bit OS.

3 – Make sure to keep the whole ‘it just works’ part of the Mac experience. This, more then any other part of the existing user experience MUST be carried over to the new machines.

4 – When the first Mac86s are available, provide some kind of ‘early adopter’ rebate, particularly to people (like me) who just purchased a new PPC chip.

5 – Support PPC Macs through at least 2010. Since most Mac users don’t upgrade as often as PC users..that will keep us current for all the iApps, Pro Apps, and most importantly the OS through then

6 – Convince even the smallest 3rd party developer to do the same as #6. Even if it means throwing some of that saved up cash at them.

I think if Apple is able to do most (preferably all) of these, then the transition could end up being A Good Thing.

Questions I do have about this though:

1 – How is Apple going to keep OS X running only on Apple hardware? (This relates to #3 above)

2 – How does Apple plan on keeping product updates a secret from now on? Intel has historically made their roadmaps very public.

Battle Of The Heroes from the album “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith” by John Williams; London Symphony Orchestra