Many people in the past, and even today, love to portray Apple as nothing more than a small and insignificant player with very little influence, or any real impact on the world of tech at large. But is that true? Just how big of an influence has Apple had, or is currently having, if any, in the overall world of tech?
Well, just last week, Intel just happened to demo an amazing new technology called Light Speak, seen in the the above YouTube video. Light Peak, as Cnet Stephen Shankland said, is basically a "One PC Cable to rule them all." type of technology, and one that could eventually replace all of today's different and various profusion of cables that now sprout from the front, back and sides of today's PCs with a single solitary fiber-optic link. Mr. Shankland also reported that:
"In a demonstration, Perlmutter showed a PC connected to a monitor across the stage showing high-definition video sent over a Light Peak optical cable. The cable can be as long as 100 meters and can carry data at 10 gigabits per second in both directions simultaneously, though Intel expects it will reach 100 gigabits per second in the next decade, said Jason Ziller, Intel's director of optical input-output program office, in an interview."
Wow, now I have to admit - I'm impressed, and big time! This is a fantastic concept and the idea of being able to simply use one single cable, instead of many, to basically connect to just about anything that you can think of, be it monitors, keyboards, external hard drives, cameras, scanners, etc., is really an incredible idea, and especially considering at the speeds they are touting.
However, what some people found to be the most interesting thing was that Intel was running the whole demo on a Hackintosh! This left a lot of people naturally asking the question - why? Well, according Engadget, we now know that Apple had a lot to do with Light Peak, namely that they where the real source and brains behind its very creation! It's another example of Apple practicing what it preaches to - "Think Different."
Yes, not only did Apple play a significant part in the creation of Light Peak, but since it was Apple that asked Intel to create it for them, and thus dictating its standards and overall design and implementation, I would tend to think that would make Apple a very big influence in the world of tech, don't you? After all, I don't think that Intel would just snap to attention for an unimportant client, now would they?
Now, maybe I'm a little crazy here (trust me, lots of people think so), but I must reiterate that Apple would have to be an extremely influential company to influence the likes of Intel, the world's largest and most important chip company, in creating a new standard that would directly threaten to kill off its own existing technologies such as USB, including it's forthcoming USB 3.0! Despite this, I can assure you, people will still over look this fact and insist that Apple is still a small, insignificant company with next to no influence in the overall tech world.
In regards to Intel, I can clearly remember reading somewhere, awhile back, that they stated that its new relationship with Apple had forever changed its outlook and its philosophy in the way it does and views business, and in many significant ways, and Light Peak is, apparently, proof of that.
Light Peak is just another example on just how much influence Apple really has, and that influence is about to completely change forever the overall tech landscape once again, as every other computer and electronic manufacturer begins to implement Light Peak in their products, starting with Apple in the fall of 2010!
This is all so especially interesting to me, as I can distinctly remember all of the snide remarks from my Window using friends when they constantly reminded me of just how small and insignificant Apple was. I remember how they would laugh about how soon Apple was going out of business any day now.
The funny thing, is that most of what people do on their PC's already has been significantly influenced by Apple own standards, standards which they, and a lot of other people, seem to think came either from Microsoft or from others.
It was Apple, after all, that brought the graphical interface to market for instance, just as it did with the mouse, laser printers, digital still and video cameras, CD & DVD players (in computers), FireWire, etc., or even how it was Apple that popularized Intel's own USB, which by the way, got its inspiration from Apple's former ADB (Apple Desktop Bus)! And lets not forget that trash can on your desk, or cut & paste, etc.
Well, now, apparently, we can add also one more significant and upcoming standard with Light Peak, and it begs the question again: Just how big is, and has been, Apple's influence on the world of tech?
The answer:
Very, very big and, in fact - extremely big, and a lot bigger than what most people would have cared or even dared to admit, or have ever given Apple credit for, and I suspect that its influence isn't going to be diminishing anytime soon. In fact, if anything, it's probably going to get a lot bigger!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, September 28, 2009
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