They're herding the press at the doors to the big hall. Steve Jobs does his keynote in a bit less than an hour. I've got the jitters. It's not the x86/PowerPC question itself that's got me chomping at the bit. It's the crowd's reaction. These are the people who hissed at Microsoft last year, but they redeemed themselves later with applause. Would they dare dis Steve? I don't know. Apple's got killer hardware eng They’re herding the press at the doors to the big hall. Steve Jobs does his keynote in a bit less than an hour. I’ve got the jitters. It’s not the x86/PowerPC question itself that’s got me chomping at the bit. It’s the crowd’s reaction. These are the people who hissed at Microsoft last year, but they redeemed themselves later with applause. Would they dare dis Steve?I don’t know. Apple’s got killer hardware engineering talent. The x86 architecture, as implemented by its creator, is mediocre. But in Apple’s hands, the potential is considerable. There’s no reason in the world that Apple couldn’t do, or have done for it, NUMA (non-uniform memory access; a dedicated bank of RAM per CPU) and multiple I/O buses. Apple could build x86 systems that you could use to run Windows or Linux, but as one Apple sales exec once said to me, “why would you?” Or Apple could just buy fully populated motherboards from Intel and wrap them in heavy brushed aluminum, festoon the system’s backside with I/O ports of every imaginable variety, pre-load the hard drive with OS X (yum) and settle for making best in class PCs with unremarkable guts. Whatever the pitch, if this x86 thing goes off, the focus will be on two things: An easy, unhurried transition, and emphasis on Apple’s unique added value. It could be that Apple, like Sun Microsystems (which is roaming the floor wearing VIP badges), may be coming around to the realization that above the consumer level, there’s a lot more money in software.There was a guest speaker checking in with a bag full of juggling (like bowling) pins. Are we going to get “now it’s a Mac, now it’s a Windows PC, now it’s a Mac…” Anyhow, long live the Mac. ——– Technology Industry