I couldn't care less from a computing standpoint.
It's not exactly a secret that I'm not too into Apple's latest attempt at a UNIX OS (though I do think they've got some neat stuff going for them), so switching from PPC to IA32 isn't exactly anything I care about. If anything, I think it's a stupid move. Only time will tell though.
I'll tell you this much: the way time will tell will be with hardware prices. The average computer user doesn't even know there's a difference in processors between a Mac and a Windows box. They just know that one runs their games and the internets well and the other one is pretty. What the average consumer does notice is the price difference between two machines.
They look at a PC and go "hmm, this one costs less and the numbers are all bigger. It has a lot of gigahertz." Then they look at a Mac and go "Why, this one doesn't have as much gigahertz as that one, and it costs more." To the average consumer, it's a no-brainer. You go with the PC. So if Apple's push to IA32 doesn't result in drastically lower prices (because now the 'gigahertz' will even out), consumers aren't going to care. In fact, they'll probably be confused if Apple decides to tout x86 as some sort of marketing message.
Here's another thing I'll tell you: I'm gonna snap if I have to hear "will you support x86 OS X?", "When are you going to support the newest Apple thing?", "Will RB 2005 support this new OS that's going to come out sometime next year perhaps?" all week long. Look guys, it was just announced! Have you told your screaming customers whether your products will ship on the new-fangled imaginary OS? Neither have we. And when we do, we'll be sure to say it loud enough for everyone to hear, so you can stop bugging now. I've heard about it on no less than 4 lists (betas, games, nug and plugins), one message board (three different threads, no less), personal email and freaking bug reports, so I've got good reason to be sick of it already.
Heh, my Apple stock went down 32 cents a share today.
I just realized why Apple wants to be on a RISC processor -- so they can use fld1, fldz, fldlg2, and fldpi. Sneaky!
What's fld1, fld2, fdlg2 and fldpi?
:: grins sheepishly :: the most useless IA32 instructions imaginable.
fld1 -- floating point load 1
fldz -- floating point load 0
fldlg2 -- floading point load log base 10 of 2
fldpi -- float point load pi
That's right, there's an IA32 opcode to load the value of pi into a register.
I hear you on the stock front Aaron, a little frustrating for me too. Am sure it's just a knee-jerk reaction though.
I'm not so certain it's knee-jerk though. I mean, who would buy Apple's machines now knowing fully well that the entire OS architecture is going to change in a year? That's a pretty large unknown, and I can picture their sales dropping sharply because of it.
Unfortunately, for the 6-12 months, the stock probably will be struggling. iPod sales will remain strong, but at least for the next 2 months, hardware sales will drop. It's the mentality, "But if they're switching, why should I buy this machine now?"
I think overall, it's a good choice. The good things:
1) Apple doesn't have to use a custom motherboard and chipset anymore. They can lower costs by doing less chip design (although they still can do it for the power machines). The consumer ones could easily see a drop in prices due to this.
2) "Mhz doesn't matter" doesn't matter anymore. The numbers will be very equivalent now, and when comparing, it'll come down to pricing. I think Apple can compete with pricing, and IMHO the average user is better off on OS X (or rather, a *nix variant that doesn't crumble with virii and spyware, but let's face it, Linux isn't ready for the desktop user). There's real value in a well designed system, and I think it will do at least as good as it does currently.
3) PowerBooks are going to get faster again. The problem currently is that there are no G5 powerbooks, because the G5 processor is so power hungry. The Intel P4 is much more efficient, and can be used in small-form factor machines much easier. This is one area in which Apple will tremendously gain from this switch.
4) Now that Apple doesn't rely on custom chips from a specific manufacturer (with this change, anyways), they are more free with what they can do. Let's say in a couple years Intel doesn't quite live up to the demands, and AMD has a much better product. There's no technological barrier to do the switch. The benefit of using a common processor is very clear -- they no longer are influenced by a limited quantity of chips any more than the rest of the market is. This also means that they don't have to pay more to have chips specially manufactured for them -- instead, they are able to buy them at the bulk rate that every OEM does.
That's all for now. There's a lot of good in the long term out of this. The problem for stockholders and Apple's hardware sales will be this next 6 months or so until they start shipping new machines. I would expect that there will be small bumps in the machines available within the next few months to alleviate it, but the stock probably won't grow in that period. Just my prediction anyways.
Oh, and the other thing is that what's available today, isn't what will be in machines when they ship. Jobs said that they like Intel's roadmaps, and I believe that's a hint that something will be brought to market soon that Apple will be able to use to blow away the current G4 processors.