Microsoft, switcher?
Microsoft's next-generation Xbox will ditch its Intel chip in favor of the same kind of chip used in Apple's Macs.[...]
For many years, the speculation has been that Apple may migrate to Intel chips to survive. But with the advent of the G5 and a state-of-the-art IBM chip plant in Fishkill, New York, it may be Microsoft that does the migrating.
In a cryptic press release issued on Monday, IBM announced Microsoft's intention to use an IBM chip in the next-generation Xbox, which is expected to debut in early 2005.
Note that no one between IBM and Microsoft is specifically pronouncing the P-word (I can already hear "language!" over at Intel):
The release studiously avoids naming the chip architecture, referring only to "IBM's family of state-of-the-art processors."
However, IBM spokesman Scott Brooks said IBM's "family of processors" are all PowerPCs. He declined to name the architecture specifically, saying IBM had promised Microsoft it would not do so.
Microsoft, switching to a chip co-developed by Apple, IBM and Motorola. That would make them the biggest switcher ever, even before this one. How ironic, indeed!
More reading:
IBM's press release
Microsoft's press release
