Technically Speaking

This news comes as somewhat of a shock. Apple will cease to use the IBM chip architecture in their PowerPCs. In actuality, Apple has been preparing for this switch for sometime now, as Jobs explains:

In his speech, Jobs revealed that Apple has been developing all versions of OS X since its inception to run on Intel and PowerPC chips.

“Mac OS X has been leading a secret double life the past five years,” he said.

The move to Intel marks a tectonic shift for Apple, which has used processors from IBM and Motorola (now Freescale Semiconductor) throughout the life of the Mac. However, the company has changed architectures before, shifting in the 1990s from Motorola’s 68000 family of chips to the PowerPC architecture jointly developed by IBM and Motorola.

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The main reason for the switch is that the future of the IBM PowerPC chips has nearly come to an end. They can’t squeeze much more performance out of it and Apple was hoping to have a 3Ghz machine in 2006. With the PowerPC this would be possible.

As for why Apple was making the shift, Jobs pointed both to past problems and to the PowerPC road map, which he said won’t deliver enough performance at the low-power usages needed for powerful notebooks.

Two years ago at the same conference, Jobs introduced the first G5-based Power Macs and promised developers that the company would have a 3GHz PowerMac within 12 months. The company still doesn’t have a machine that fast. “We haven’t been able to deliver,” he said. Nor has Apple been able to introduce a G5-based laptop–something Jobs said “I think a lot of you would like.”

Things weren’t looking better in the coming months, Jobs said, saying that IBM’s PowerPC road map would only deliver about a fifth the performace per watt as a comparable Intel chip.

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With this change, I think that Apple will be able to tap into Microsoft’s market a lot easier. It might even be possible to have machines dual boot Longhorn and Leopard. An interesting thought, heh.

I found this letter written to the developer of DVD decrypter and was deeply saddened by its content. It appears that the copy protection law passed in October of 2003 applies to the use of this application. So our options for copying DVDs are quickly disappearing.

Hello world,

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Let’s start with the good…. (tumble weed passes by) Ok, and now onto the bad: DVD Decrypter 3.5.4.0 is the last version you’ll ever see. We hoped this day would never come, but it has, and I can promise you, nobody is more gutted about it than I am.

What started as a bit of fun, putting a GUI around some existing code, turned into something that I can only describe as “part of me” – yes, I know that’s sad As I’ve recently been made aware (by a letter, hand delivered to my door, last Tuesday), due to some law that was changed back in October 2003, circumventing copy protection isn’t allowed.

Ok so it has taken a while (almost 2 years), but eventually “a certain company” has decided they don’t like what I’m doing (circumventing their protection) and have come at me like a pack of wolves. I’ve no choice but to cease everything to do with DVD Decrypter. I realize this is going to be one of those “that sucks - fight them!” kinda things, but at the end of the day, it”s my life and I”m not about to throw it all away (before it has even really started) attempting to fight a battle I can”t possibly win.

If 321 Studios can’t do it with millions, what chance do I have with £50?! As I’m sure most of you have already noticed, the site has been down for a few days. That surprised me as much as the next person (slight breakdown in communication), or I would have issued this statement on it directly.

So anyway, from this point forward, I’m no longer permitted to provide any sort of assistance with anything that helps people infringe the rights of “a certain company.” That means, no more emails, no more forum posts, no PM’s, no nothing! END OF STORY. The domain name will be transferred over to the company by the end of the week (9th June, according to the undertakings I have to sign) so don’t email it thinking “Oh, I’ll just ask LIGHTNING UK! for support on this.” You’ll not be getting the intended recipient and could be landing yourself in sh1t!

With 3.5.4.0 being the last version, it makes sense for everyone to disable the “check for new versions” feature, as obviously there won’t be any. Of course what I really mean is that you should all stop using the program out of respect for the company’s rights.

Anyone hosting DVD Decrypter is advised to cease doing so immediately. I’ve the feeling they won’t stop with just me. I’m having to contact anyone I know of that is (at the very least, the “mirror” sites), and tell them to stop. Copies of those emails must also be sent to the solicitors so they can check I’m doing everything I’m supposed to. If I don’t, I die.

It is of course down to the owners of those sites to react how they want to. It’s not my job to force you to do anything you don’t want to, I’m just giving you some friendly advice. Maybe it’s just me, but I see this as a bit of an “end of an era.” I realize there are other tools, but there’s no telling how much longer they’ll last, and not only that, mine was the oldest! I’ve met loads of great people over the years and I want to take this opportunity to wish them every success for the future - yes DDBT peeps, that includes you lot! : “( I hope you’ve all enjoyed my contribution to the DVD scene and maybe I’ll see ya around sometime.

LIGHTNING UK!
(Author of the once “Ultimate DVD Ripper,” DVD Decrypter)

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DVD Shrink and DVD43 might be one of the last great programs out there that can do the job for you. I suggest you get them now before they to are pulled.