Comment by ghaff
3 hours ago
I generally agree. Xserve didn't work out for Apple and they dropped it pretty quickly--think I still have an A/UX coffee cup. Wasn't really in their DNA even if there was an argument before Linux took off. For better or worse, they're basically a client company and barely a software (OK and basically a software services) one--although they spend a fair bit on (roughly) user experience.
A/UX predates Xserve by 14 years.
And how much did A/UX sell? I Have an A/UX coffee mug in my kitchen. It even has a phone number on it.
They sold the Xserve for ten years, across the PowerPC and Intel eras.
Still, in the scheme of Apple stuff it was a failed experiment--even if a worthwile one.
It was worthwhile because in the end it taught them that they needed to do something like Apple Silicon. And hopefully the current memory fiasco will convince them that they need to take memory in house if they want to build what they need to build going forward.
I really don’t see any alternative long-term to not engineering and designing memory in house and collaborating with TSMC onshore in America.
Hopefully having an engineer from the Apple Silicon design group as the next CEO will pay off.