XBox 2 software being developed on a G5!

Hmmm... perhaps that's why Microsoft got a big shipment of G5s a while back! Remember when that intern got in all that trouble for snapping those shipment photos?
 
speedfreak said:
- Yeah I bet they're porting longhorn to the ppc as we speak. ::evil::
Click to expand...

yeah..
and of course the ONLY way they could test the ibm chip for Xbox2 was through the G5 :)
 
What's to stop M$ from using Darwin and Sticking a windows x-box gui over it. They already have darwin compatible software; office, explorer, media player, msn, messenger, etc.. This is not a strech for them. In fact this would be very easy for them to do. Hmmm would I be able to buy an x-box with OSX on it and the iapps? Interesting thing in the article about the Apple logo on a side bar. Apple in bed with M$. Wouldn't be the first time.
 
Darwin is just the underlying code, which has nothing to do with the GUI part of OS X. They would have to port windows APIs over the the PPC which they will do if the rumor is true.

It's hard to believe MS would drop their own NT Kernel for Darwin. They would be(99.999% likely) using a special build of Windows with stripped down code.
 
Initial rumours also talked about using the VirtualPC technology. Maybe they can apply parts of it. I could also imagine that VirtualPC for the Mac could benefit from such a ported kernel. Maybe VPC could use this ported kernel and only use emulation for the 'other stuff'.
 
There's an interesting side-benefit here for Apple.

While Motorola had problems justifying the development of the G4, IBM had no such problems, largely because of scale.

However, their Fishkill plant had been struggling a little recently with not as many contracts as IBM would have liked.

But, with Microsoft buying into the G5, or the at least the POWER platform, this should at least keep the G5 development going at a pace.

But, more intriguingly, I imagine Microsoft would be wanting to make the most of the Velocity Engine, or maybe even add their own acceleration components. Now how might that affect Apple?

Lot's of speculation and distinct lack of detail at this point. Whatever happens, I'm sure Apple will benefit...
 
The Borg were rumored on Slashdot to be examining with adroit scrutiny the Linux kernel. The Borg know that its kernel is not as stable Unix, BSD, or Linux. It has always played follow the leader with its OSes, hell, Apple purchased NextStep for the operating system and underlying technology. The thing to keep in mind is that the OS is a completely separate entity from the GUI (M$ is the exception - the Windows Desktop is part of the kernel and adds instability to the OS among other gping security holes). It hink The Borg are finally starting to think around the lines of 'Lindows', having a Linux-like kernel with Windows APIs. From the userland perspective, the olny thing that is likely to change is significantly increased system stability and better multitasking and protected memory. Other than that, it will 'be' Windows. Another thing to consider, Intel may be able to get its processors up to 10,000MHz in 10 years time as projected, but the power requirements for doing that will be astronomical. Increasing the core frequency usually involves first increasing the power requirements and then optimizing teh design for lower power. I think that processor design will now focus on making them much more efficient, getting more done with less frequency than simply increasing the clock rate. The real reason The Borg are developing XBox 2 on the PowerMac G5 is because the PowerPC instruction set is pretty much teh same, it doesn't change that much. So developing games using the G5 will be very similar to developing on XBox 2 processor. The Borg need something NOW to start development, it's not like it can go out and purchase PowerPC 970-enabled PCs to develop on, that will NEVER happen, the PowerPC 970 is both an Apple and IBM design, not soley IBM.
 
I vaguely remember a rumour here before that the X-Box II was supposed to use PPC chips in the final boxes, in which case the article's assumption that the Kernel is 32-Bit due to lagging x86 64-bit counterparts isn't relevant.

If Microsoft does, indeed, use PPC chips of some sort, be them 970s or something else, they'll be porting a great deal of their APIs and things over to the platform aswell. This will undoubtedly have a HUGE impact on VPC, which would then be far more akin to native Windows.

Everyone spent so long begging Apple to develop OSX for an x86 architecture, who'd have supposed Windows would have developed for the PPC instead? Think about it - who do you know who DOESN'T want Apple hardware, at least for aesthetics?
 
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