Cringley On Crack

AppleI was going to blog about the recent Disturbance in the Force, the Apple->Intel shift, but I didn’t, for a a number of reasons:

  • Whatta I know? I mean, what kind of light could I possibly shine on this controversial event?
  • There are plenty of other opinions on the event, from blogs through magazine articles to threads on sites such as Slashdot. As you can imagine, this event filled up hard drives on servers all over the Net.

But the most over-the-top (to me) view of the event was by long-time Silicon Valley insider (and one-time Apple pseudo-employee) Robert Cringley.

His analysis? This is the first step that will culminate in Intel merging with Apple to help both companies crush Microsoft.

What?! Can I have whatever he’s smoking?

While the argument he puts forth has some merit – and he does have a much better persective on the industry than me, he misses (to me) the most obvious flaw in his report: Steve Jobs, controller of the Reality Distortion Field, he of the brilliant marketing smarts that is always overshadowed by his massive ego, will never let go of Apple.

Hell, he got pushed out once.

And came back to lead Apple back to glory (small installed base, sure, but iPod, iTunes…).

(Or maybe Steve will convince Intel to change its name to iNtel.)

‘Tain’t gunna happen.

But I’m the same loser who dismissed the WSJ story about Intel/Apple talks about a week before the announcement that made it a reality, saying it was a recurring rumor that had no legs.

Oops. My bad.

But still. Steve losing control of Apple? I just don’t see it.