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If Apple ever decides to let its Mac OS X operating system outside of its confines, the company can count Dell Inc. founder and Chairman Michael Dell as a possible customer. With the recent news that Apple plans to become a fellow customer of Intel Corp. for x86 processors, Dell has expressed interest in selling Mac OS X-based PCs, he said in an e-mail to Fortune published on the magazine’s Web site Thursday. “If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to offer it to our customers,” Dell wrote in the e-mail. A Dell...

SAN FRANCISCO - After two decades of touting its Macintosh as a superior alternative to PCs based on Intel Corp. chips and Microsoft Corp. software, Apple Computer Inc. announced plans to switch the Mac to the same Intel chips that have powered Windows-based machines for years.The deal, which has long been rumored, will help Apple better compete with the performance - and potentially the price - of Windows PCs. Still, Apple will continue to build its own computers and says it won't be licensing its software to other PC vendors.Speaking to thousands of software developers Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developers...

Mac OS X has been leading secret double life. Every Mac project build for Intel and PowerPC. Every release of Mac OS X has been built for both Intel and PowerPC-based Macs. For the last 5 years. Mac OS X is cross-platform by design. Apple's demo is on an Intel-based system. Jobs shows all Mac OS X Tiger features are already compatible with Intel-based processors. Not done yet. Will put into the developer hands to help Apple finish it.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) is expected to announce Monday that it will begin shifting its Macintosh computer line next year to Intel Corp. chips, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Sunday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Apple Computer plans to announce Monday that it's scrapping its partnership with IBM and switching its computers to Intel's microprocessors, CNET News.com has learned. Apple has used IBM's PowerPC processors since 1994, but will begin a phased transition to Intel's chips, sources familiar with the situation said. Apple plans to move lower-end computers such as the Mac Mini to Intel chips in mid-2006 and higher-end models such as the Power Mac in mid-2007, sources said. The announcement is expected Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, at which Chief Executive Steve Jobs is giving the keynote speech. The...

So is Apple moving the Mac onto Intel processors? News.com says so. Other news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, have also reported those rumors. Meanwhile, analysts and intelligent commentators alike have said that an Apple move to Intel makes no sense. I tend to be in the latter camp. I honestly can’t see how Apple moving wholesale to Intel processors — forcing yet another platform transition for a platform that’s only now stabilized after the tumultuous march to Mac OS X — makes much sense. Then again, Apple has surprised us in the past, so you can never say...

Excerpt, subscription required - SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple Computer Inc. is expected to announce Monday that it will begin shifting its Macintosh computer line next year to Intel Corp. chips, people familiar with the situation said. The move is a major change in strategy by Apple, a high-profile win for Intel, and a potential blow to International Business Machines Corp. and Freescale Semiconductor Inc., suppliers of the PowerPC chips that Apple has long used in its Macintosh systems. [snip]