Apple On Intel? Hell Has Frozen Over!

News.com and The Wall Street Journal both reported that Steve Jobs will announce plans to put the family jewels--the Macintosh OS--on (gasp) Intel microprocessors.

If true, and it certainly seems to be, it's a loss for IBM's already weakened chip biz. And it is bound to cause a firestorm among the Mac developer faithful. One can only wonder if the reaction will be as strong as when Jobs appeared at MacWorld Boston a few years back to announce a: an end to legal hostilities with Microsoft and b: (not coincidentally) a $150 million investment by Microsoft in Apple.

Watching the image of a huge beamed-in Bill Gates loom over Jobs on stage, it seemed a riot might break out. Haven't heard that much hissing and booing since catching one of Woody Allen's latter day "misogynistic" flicks at the Kendall Square Cinema. Jobs had to chide the incensed crowd to behave themselves.

Interestingly, Intel chief Paul Otellini discounted talk about Apple/Intel at a recent conference, called it "the Halley's Comet of rumors." The thing is, Halley's Comet is, in fact, real. If, as expected, Jobs takes the stage Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference with this news, Apple will officially be in bed with the both of the Siamese twins of the PC monopoly.

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Who knew?

TECHED 2005 BEGINS

Could it be that Orlando has surpassed Vegas as the world's worst convention venue? Ask me in a week and we'll chat. But even if it's really and truly awful (this site somehow seems to dwarf the horrific LVCC), at least we know next year it will be in Boston. Good news for the home town team.

At TechEd there will be tons o' info on SQL Server 2005 and its closely aligned Visual Studio 2005 analog. But we've been hearing about them for oh—let's don't even guess how long. Some of the partners really want to hear more " and expect to—on the Visual Studio Tools For Office or VSTO This would be the Whidbey or 2005 version."

Others want to hear more about the planned convergence of Content Management Server and SharePoint Portal Servernews that many thought was already announced in February when CRN reported on it. If it had been announced one might think the company would comment on it. It has not. Maybe this week...

Others want more details on the as-yet-unannounced InfoPath Server.

Hell, I'd settle for a manageable convention center.

PROGRESS MAKES PROGRESS

Meanwhile, at a venue not so far away, at the Dolphin in Orlando—er Lake Buena Vista-some 700 Progress Software partners and customers will gather to talk about go-to-markets . Progress has quietly amassed a network of partners who seem unusually content. This contrasts sharply with many ISV and VAR partners who are only to happy to bitch (off the record) about their technology buddies. By sticking to product development and building channel rapport over the years, Progress has garnered application partners in various verticals that should be the envy of many larger competitors. Part of the reason is it gives them the credit for much of what gets done. Its databases and tools tend to get embedded and seemingly disappear into other people's products..

Progress is not glitzy. But its stuff works, and people come back for more. Says David Richard, of Fara Business Systems, a Mandeville, La. developer of insurance applications: "We're much like them. We're not heavy into marketing and advertising, our name is not well known generally but in those companies we serve we have 96 percent retention rate and consistent, profitable growth."