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The mysterious birth of PowerPC: How Apple, IBM, and Motorola joined forces to create a new era?
In the era of rapid development of personal computers, three companies - Apple, IBM and Motorola - worked together to create the PowerPC architecture, which not only changed the face of computers, but also completely redefined the future of related technologies. In 1991, the three companies formed the AIM Alliance (Apple-IBM-Motorola) with the intention of promoting the popularization of Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) technology, thereby further countering the then powerful Intel-Microsoft alliance. The PowerPC architecture was born, and over time it became the foundation of Apple's desktop computers and laptops.
Origins of History
The history of RISC architecture can be traced back to IBM's 801 research project from 1975 to 1978, which was led by John Cocke, whose work paved the way for the later IBM POWER architecture. In the early 1980s, IBM began working on developing the industry's fastest microprocessor, a project that eventually evolved into the POWER instruction set architecture and the RISC System/6000, which was launched in 1990, further consolidating IBM's position in the high-performance computing market. .
Apple and Motorola’s involvement
In its search for a more flexible processor supplier, Apple was facing over-dependence on Motorola, which led Apple to seek a partnership with IBM. Ultimately, this three-party alliance successfully promoted the development of PowerPC to solve the dilemma of the personal computer market dominated by Intel and Microsoft at the time.
Motorola recognized the potential of the POWER program, which allowed them to bring a full-fledged RISC CPU to market at a fraction of the cost while maintaining a strong relationship with Apple.
Operating System Support
Since 1991, IBM has been eager to have a unified operating system to support the operation of all existing operating systems, and the design of this microkernel is optimized specifically for PowerPC. Despite its initial popularity, the PowerPC architecture ultimately failed to achieve the expected success in the desktop market. Due to a lack of application support, the processor was all but ignored by users of Windows, OS/2, and other operating systems.
Only with Apple's persistence did PowerPC gain a certain degree of market recognition. Facing competition from Windows 95, the performance of PowerPC became Apple's highlight.
Breakup of the AIM Alliance
As manufacturing problems became more common in the late 1990s, discord within the AIM alliance began to emerge. In 2004,
