Editor’s note: The following article is written by prospective staff member Clay Garland. Please give feedback by leaving a comment.

There was chatter, but nothing more than could be expected of a crowd numbering nearly four thousand and eager to hear a man wearing a black mock turtle-neck speak.  The standard fare of Apple’s successes over the past couple of quarters lulled us into the sense of security we always get when Steve is on stage.  The gentle murmur or Apple earnings, however, turned into the single biggest shock of our computing lives as the CEO of Intel strode out onto the stage and joined Steve jobs in a friendly embrace.  Then, the weight of what was happening hit us all.  The phoenix-like rumor of Mac OS on Intel chips, yes, the one that we all discounted and swept under the iRug a thousand times, had just come to pass.  This news was sure to send some barking mad and running naked thru the streets.  Famine, Locusts, and Plague were almost certain to follow.

Now since dramatic writing just isn’t my style, I’m going to shift gears while I recant the rest of this storied event.  While some users may find this news reason to sell all their worldly belongings, choosing the placid lifestyle of a nomadic monk over the use of an Intel based Mac, the fact remains that switching to Intel was practically unavoidable.  Intel simply has more resources to devote to a computer manufacturer, and given the fact that they actually seem to care about computers, as opposed to gaming consoles, they are not a bad choice for the betterment of our beloved platform.  Now Apple lovers everywhere are going to want to slay me and roast my entrails on a blazing fire, but this isn’t a bad move, it’s simply a different direction.  Sure, I like thinking different, we all do, and we will continue to.  But thinking different only works when the company that you’re partnered with is thinking something at least in the general scope of what you are.  IBM wasn’t thinking like Apple.  Intel will.

Now before the stones being slung in my direction reach unbearable quantities, I’d like to tell you all why a company like Intel will be able to think like Apple.  For years, we’ve all viewed Intel as somewhat of an enemy.  Truth is, Intel has played one part or another in Macintosh hardware for going on ten years.  But this is different. (As if you needed to be told that.) This change of direction has as much with what Intel wants to get out of the computer industry as it does with what Apple would like to see from a chip supplier.  Intel is tired of having its name being analogous to the veritable stronghold of computer security that is Microsoft Windows.  Intel catches undue flak from the media and users for its role in the Wintel duopoly.  Simply put, Windows is a canker for Intel.  It’s unsightly, but what’s a guy to do, he can’t very well cut off his own lip.

Now while we can all vent, until we are quite blue in the face, about how the PowerPC is so fantastic as to make x86 chips cower in fear and fling their own feces like primates in a feeble attempt at defense, the truth is, that this is all theory and conjecture.  Sure, the PPC is more scalable.  Is the PPC a better thought out chip??? You betcha.  The simple fact remains, however, that the x86 is no slouch; if it were it wouldn’t comprise ninety-plus percent of the PC market. I don’t care who stole what from whom way back when.  At present, the x86 has a number of advantages, heat and speed being the two biggest.  The roadmap for the Intel chip is also quite a bit more satisfactory placing it far ahead of IBM in 2 years.  Now I know a great deal can happen in two years, as can not very much at all, but I’m thinking that IBM is going to spend way too much time playing in its own private sandbox to make any great strides on the PPC platform.

Apple has planned one of the most carefully orchestrated transitions ever to take place in the computer industry.  They have poised themselves to be a major player in the desktop market within five years.  Intel and Apple have entered into this partnership for one reason and one reason only.  They want to further their businesses.  Given the strength and strategies of both companies, I find it very difficult to fathom that it will not happen.  Apple will be here for years to come, as will IBM and Motorola.  It is with a smidge of regret that I say, however, that I believe the former will be playing Halo 3, and the latter will be sending text messages whilst trying to cumbersomely download a song on its phone.