Tikkabik

...because the Mac news sites are falling over themselves to report a passing sentence from Sony Magazine, Sony's official propaganda mouthpiece for the UK. "The integrated Cell processor will be able to support a variety of operating systems (such as Linux or Apple's Tiger)."

The magazine's web site has news about the Playstation 3's expected release in 2006 -- an issue that I covered for the publications I work for back in May, when E3 was happening.

The PS3 looks like a nifty bit of kit -- quite fast under the hood, quite more capable than the PS2, and a lot of really exciting hardware all around. The system will be built around the "Cell" microprocessor, which was developed by Sony on conjunction with IBM -- who's fabricating the silicon -- as well as Toshiba, which has a lot of background in semiconductor development.

Prior to Apple's June announcement indicating plans to install Intel CPU hardware in future Mac designs, there was speculation that Apple might switch to the Cell, since it has an architecture derived from IBM's Power architecture, used in its PowerPC chips, including the 970 chip used in G5s.

In fact, there are a lot of Power chips out there -- most are aimed at server markets. Some are used in IBM-built supercomputers. But there's a big difference between a Power-derived CPU and a Mac. And simply because the Cell and the PowerPC shared a common lineage doesn't mean the Cell is any more or less suited for use in a Macintosh than any other CPU. Anyway...

So to summarize: Some UK writer for Sony's Web site said the Cell processor runs Mac OS X. Therefore, it might be right. Therefore, it must be news. Therefore, the announcement must be that the PS3 will run Mac OS X. A) Wrong, B) Who cares, C) Big, fat, hairy deal.