It didn't take long until everyone in the Moscone conference room would hold his breath for a second, just moments before falling into applause and laughter, half proudly, half shocked. "It's true." was written in big letters on the black screen of a Keynote slide. The e was shifted down below the line, just like, yes—exactly like in the Intel-logo.

Apple had announced it would shift its entire line of products over to use Intel chips. Not from now on, not tomorrow, but within the next two years. Stocks for Intel and Apple rose that day, for Apple it was 2%. On Tuesday, Apple fell for 8%—not as low as before.

So yes, that means it's a good thing, right? A controversy begun. It had been simmering for a while, caused by the various rumors that had made their way from blog sphere to the surface of Cnet news and the Wallstreet Journal. "It can't be" was the immediate reaction of the community of Mac enthusiasts. Quickly, old experts emerged from respectable Mac veteran sites such as MacNN, finding various reasons why it was never possible Apple would seriously consider such a step.

And yet it has become reality. And there are good reasons why. The first I can think of is business. Jobs made it transparent in clear words when he said "We have great products in line... And IBM just isn't getting us that far...". So it clearly is about the growth and fate of the company. Wether it's also a decision about users is something only the future can tell. But Jobs didn't fall short in making sure everyone in the conference hall understand that Apple is indeed caring for developers and consumers. To put it simple, they made sure this won't fail.

The transition phase of two years is accompanied by a number of concepts that make it as smooth and easy as possible, in a very typical Apple-sort of way. Apple has taken all necessary steps to provide help for developers making the shift. Apple knows development of software is all about costs. Apple also knows, a crucial keypoint in making software for the Mac in the first place is having people using it, lots of people, and to never let those users down. And the third keypoint Apple is aware of is psychology. There had been three major transitions in the life of Macintosh already. Not all of them had happened that smoothly, none of them so quickly. This is going to be a major transition from a technical point of view. From a psychological point of view, regarding the user experience, there should be no experience at all—if it is not one that's very much improved.

Apple has set up developer boxes with both, Intel- and IBM-PowerPC-processors. They can't have those incredible G5/Intel machines float around, so of course, they want them back after development cycle. Apple has also prepared its own developer suite called Xcode for a smooth transition. A simple check box is suppused to grant output of binary code that works on both, Intel- and PowerPC-processors. And for the users of Mac OS X, Apple installs Rosetta in its next version of the operating system. Rosetta will translate the binary code on the fly, giving a smooth experience of programs starting seemlessly, even if they have not been compiled for OS X running on Intel. Jobs showed off this new function by using both, Photoshop and the Microsoft Office suite on a Mac with Intel inside.

For the past five years, Jobs said, Apple's Mac OS X had been leading a secret shadow life. Yes, there was a building on the Apple campus in which Apple had secretly developed the version of thes system for the day X, the day when they had to make the switch. It was a plan B solution, some people at Apple had never dreamt it would become true one day.

So what's the conclusion. Will this be a good thing for us? I guess that's a question asked too early. One day we might ask though what would have happened if Apple wouldn't have made this important move.

Additional sources:
Prior to the announcement:
Forbes: Why Apple can't embrace Intel
MacNN: Apple-Intel talks intended to pressure IBM
Associated Press: Markets stay strong on Apple-Intel report
Top Tech News: Apple, Intel Rumored To Be in Talks
Wired Magazine: Apple Switching to Intel Chips?
Information Week: The Dream Of x86-Capable Macs Remains Elusive
Macworld: Analysts: Apple, Intel talks probably not about PCs

After the announcement:
Wired Magazine: Jobs Drops Da Intel Bomb