Hi Sheff,

I won't presume to speak for Charles, but I will offer some information about processor/OS.

The processor that the Mac OS operates on is not the only limitation on porting software from the PC to the Mac.

The version of Mathematica 5 that was recompiled to work on the X86 based Mac that only required changing 20 lines of code would have to be the Mac OS version. To recompile that program from the Windows X86 code to work on the Mac x86 code would require an almost total rewrite of the code. The processor is an important part of the overall configuration, but the other components are also very important. Not to mention that OS. Mac OS is essentially a customized version of UNIX/LINUX. For the same reasons that Xara hasn't been ported to Linux (also an X86 based platform) is the requirement to rewrite the source code for that OS. Too many man years of work would be involved.

An analogy would be the 6502 processor based computers from the late 1970's to early 1980's. The same processor was used, but the software companies had to employee distinct software development groups for each target computer. The Apple IIe and the Commodore 64 both used the 6502, however that is where the similarity ended. The Apple used a simple piezo electric buzzer for sound. The Commodore 64 had a 3 voice synthesizer. The Apple's graphics were limited to 4 colours displayed at one time. The Commodore 64 could display 8 colours simultaniously. The Apple's video memory was severely fragmented and require ackward code to make a seamless full screen display. The Commodore 64 had linear video memory that was easy to directly update, not to mention it had sprite's for animations.

Also the Apple IIe cost at least 3 times that of the Commodore 64. About the same as the cost difference between a Mac and a PC.


Cheers