Power PC & PowerMac (10.13.94)

Motorola's new PowerPC microprocessor launched a whole new generation of computers including the PowerMac. This program looks at the increased speed and functionality of computers using the new Motorola CPU. Demonstrations include various benchmark tests on the PowerMac, the PowerMac 7100 and the PowerMac 8100, applications such as Excel 5.0 for the Mac, and PhotoShop 3.0. Also a look at SoftWindows, a utility that lets you run Windows apps on a PowerMac. Includes a visit to Motorola's CPU design center and the implementation of a huge data center at the University of Texas using 750 new PowerMacs. Guests include Jim Gable and Stephen Dougherty of Apple, John Peck of Adobe Systems, and John Morse of Microsoft. Originally broadcast in 1994.

This item is part of the collection: Computer Chronicles

Keywords: powerpc; powermac; apple; motorola; adobe; microsoft

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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Reviewer: new Thread(); - - April 3, 2005
Subject: Mac begins the risky change to a new CPU type

The show includes a comparison of Pentium vs PowerMac by Apple Computer; using Painter and FrameMaker, the Apple of course wins. An early version of the dog and pony that Steve Jobs did in the late 90s. Has a demo of SoftWindows from Insignia by a guy with an interesting accent.

The 68000 processor series was running out of gas, and Apple was forced to move to a new architecture. At the time of this show, PowerPC was supposed to be made available on other types of systems from IBM. It was used in the Be Computer BeBox.

The leap worked for Apple, since it had to. But PowerPC never became a mass market architecture outside that area.