Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Snakeeye
The operating system bridges the gap between the CPU and applications. When Apple switches to Intel, they will have to rewrite their OS to talk with the new CPU, but the programs themselves will still work with the OS the same way regardless. No worries there.
|
Uh, no. Drivers, for instance, will usually use the hardware directly using kernal level routines which will be CPU specific. This will result in compatibility issues.
Since Intel and PPC CPUs are so different in the way they process assembly instructions, there can be vast performance differences as a result. Many programs will have to recompiled so that they are optimized for the x86 platform, which means that you'll have to get a new version of your program if you want to have a decent running app.