Posted Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Intel Inside, My Epson R2400 Printer Has Shipped, and Other Earth-Shattering Events

It is better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.
         —Abraham Lincoln
         (or maybe Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, or someone else)

Those wise words came to mind many times over the last few days as I read the blathering of analysts, bloggers, editors, and others who think they have a better bead on what's going on at Apple than Apple does.

Way too many people have embarrassed themselves recently by offering ill-informed opinion, incorrect predictions, and just wild guesses on what a move to an Intel processor architecture might mean for the Mac platform. It won't happen! It'll mean doom! Three major transitions in 15 years! Captain, she can't take much more of this!

Well, guess what? It appears that the old starship will do just fine. Some very smart engineers—smarter, I think, than the alleged experts I've been reading—have apparently been doing a lot of work for a long time to make sure that a transition to a different processor architecture will be pretty painless for you and me.

Software developers have some work do to, but they have time to do it. Apple will undoubtedly see a drop in hardware sales as people postpone purchases, but it has a few dollars in the bank and this is probably as good a time as any to jack up the house and replace the foundation. (And I, for one, am still planning to buy a new PowerBook soon. Indeed, I'll probably go through a couple of new systems between now and the day the Blue Man Group pulls up to my door with a new Intel-based Mac.)

There are some unanswered technical questions, but we'll learn the answers soon enough. But the move to Intel processors isn't going to be as traumatic as the move from OS 9 to OS X or the move from 680x0 to PowerPC. The Mac is going to remain the Mac. Future Macs will also be able to run Windows, if that's your idea of a good time.

Full ahead, Scotty—and while you're at it, beam all the pundits to a remote penal colony.

My Epson R2400 Printer Has Shipped
Now let's talk about something truly significant. I got word yesterday that my Epson R2400 printer has shipped from New York. I cancelled my order from Ink Jet Solutions, having been jerked around on delivery date one too many times. I ended up ordering the printer from Amazon. (Actually, it was from New York's Adorama, via Amazon's marketplace.)

My UPS tracking number says that the printer is in Philadelphia today, checking out the Liberty Bell and other sights. It's due here in California on Thursday, and I'm excited.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm working on a GarageBand remix of the insipid Intel Inside chime. Please, Steve, don't let that be the startup sound of the new Macs.

Calendar of Events
One last thing: I've recently scheduled several appearances over the next couple of months; I've added a list to the sidebar along the right side of this page. Let's get together!