Apple’s announcement that they would begin producing Macs using Intel chips rather than IBM PowerPC chips is something of an earthquake, or a tectonic shift for the world of personal computing. It is perhaps best explained in simplistic terms as bringing the Mac software community into a more connected and less isolated place (of course, this will take place over time, over the next couple of years). The best analogy that I read (including some more dweeby analysis) was by ZDNet’s John Carroll who compared the change as being from the isolation of the Azores to the connectedness of Manhattan In other words, Apple will still be an island, but there will be lots more ways (bridges and tunnels) to make connections with other kinds of software and computers. This opens many doors for new possibilities in the future, including less expensive Macs. Right on.