PowerPC Open Platform Motherboards Finally Here

Cajal writes: "IBM's POP (PowerPC Open Platform) is a standard for making PowerPC-based motherboards. It's been out for years, but no one did anything with it. That's now changed. According to a story on PenguinPPC, Mai Logic is finally making POP motherboards. Finally, we can buy PowerPC motherboards without dealing with Apple."

Comments

from the hope-laptops-come-next dept.

[Chacham]

I agree. Home laptops are something many people would like.

death of Apple?

[Transient0]

Competition is a good and healthy thing, but part of me is a little worried by this.

I mean, if apple hardware becomes the open market that PC hardware is now, Apple will have to quickly adapt.

Microsoft understood from the beginning that the real profit is to be made in software, but Apple is still a proprietary hardware company that happens to also sell the software which their machines require.

If the market truly opens up, Apple may face the really tough choice of dumping their hardware line entirely. When the time comes, will they make the right choice and make the shift to software-only gracefully?

If they don't then I fear that one of the last strongholds against Microsoft market share may wither and die.

On the other hand, it will be in the best interest of the companies which produce third party hardware to keep Apple in business(after all, if Apple goes under, who will buy hardware for Mac OS?), so maybe some sort of truce will be drawn. I guess as always, it's wait and see.

Really though, despite the foreshadowing, this is good news for the market.