Apple aims to protect Rosetta mark

Apple Computer has applied for a trademark for Rosetta, the translation technology that will act as a bridge as Apple moves to Intel chips beginning next year.

The Mac maker applied last week for trademark protection for the Rosetta moniker. Apple is encouraging developers to create Intel-compatible versions of their products, but it has also announced plans to offer Rosetta, a built-in emulation software that will allow much of the software written for PowerPC-based Macs to run on the new Intel machines.

Apple has not pinned an exact date when the first Intel machines will arrive, saying only that they should be on the market by June. Some analysts have said that the first machines could come as early as January's Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

Although many major software makers have committed to adding Intel support to their software, it is unclear how quickly that support will come. Adobe, for example, has said it will support Intel-based Macs with future versions of its software, but doesn't plan to retrofit its Creative Suite 2 products to work with the new Macs.

Hence the need for Rosetta.

Company executives have described Rosetta as "Apple technology," but it uses an engine from a start-up company called Transitive, which offers a variety of engines for translating software written for one operating system or processor to code that can run on a different configuration.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs did confirm to the New York Times that Transitive is playing a role, but company executives have not elaborated. In a June interview with CNET News.com, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller declined to say how much of Rosetta was developed in-house. "I'm not going to talk about details, but it's Apple technology," Schiller said.

Rosetta will allow many existing Mac programs to run on new Intel-based Macs, but it does have some limitations. Apple has said that Rosetta is "designed to translate currently shipping applications that run on a PowerPC with a G3 processor and that are built for Mac OS X."

However, Apple said Rosetta can't run several types of code, including programs that are written specifically to use the PowerPC's AltiVec instructions; those that require a G4 or G5 chip; and programs written for Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9 that run today in Mac OS X's "classic" mode.

"How compatible your application is with Rosetta depends on the type of application it is," Apple said in a paper for developers that came out in June. "Applications that have a lot of user interaction and low computational needs, such as a word processor, are quite compatible. Those that have a moderate amount of user interaction and some high computational needs or that use OpenGL are, in most cases, also quite compatible. Those that have intense computing needs aren't compatible."

Apple's Rosetta trademark application was earlier noted by Mac enthusiast site Macsimum News.

[heystoopid]

what a shame

what a shame, alas rosetta, has been predated by VMWARE , oh well back to the drawing board for apple, late as usual!

[jwmoreland]

Missed the point

The point isn't that this technology is new and innovative; the
point is that the transition from PowerPC to Intel will be
relatively smooth.

[Jonathan]

Trolling right along...

What did you f-ing expect? Apple to do nothing and say ?screw you? to their userbase? Ummm moron; This is a tool to aid in the transition. Its not intended to be some revolutionary app. God. Its like the trolls just smell an Apple article and come running. I?ve seen more coherent thinking in a chimp doped up on crack. If you are going to pound at an Apple fault how about you THINK about it before hitting that submit button.

[open-mind]

VMWARE != Rosetta

Rosetta is emulating a completely different CPU instruction set. Like
Virtual PC emulates Intel on PowerPC. Like Mac OS emulated 68K
on PowerPC about ten years ago.

Last I checked ... VMWARE doesn't do that.

[zaznet]

Entirely Off!

OK, these are two entirely different products.

First of all VMWare can't run anything for a Mac. VMWare is hardware virtualization, allowing another OS (or multiple such virtual systems) to be booted within a parent OS.

Mac's system is to allow the execution of ONE PROGRAM on a non-native system by translating the binary code designed for a Mac with PowerPC chips into the code needed for a Mac using the new Intel chips.

They don't compete in the same market space at all, they don't do the same jobs at all.

Apple is hardly "late" on this either. It's a product for a future Apple Mac system that won't be out for several more months. If Rosetta makes it near the release of the Intel Macs it will be "just on time" to meet the needs of their customers.

[scottk0640]

It's not a patent

Apple is getting a trademark, not a patent. Maybe you should read
the article before posting next time.

There is a language education product called "Rosetta Stone", but it
must not be close enough to cause a conflict.

[symphoniq]

Minor Correction

A small correction: Rosetta is not emulation, it is binary translation.

[aabcdefghij987654321]

MS has already done that though

The original Windows NT 3.1 for Digital Alpha systems performed a binary translation of Intel code to Alpha chip code. It's not some sort of revolutionary new technology at all and if you review the article you'll see that's not what Apple is trying to protect anyway.

The point which you missed as well is that Apple is trademarking "Rosetta" as a brand name. The author of the article certainly didn't make that clear but that's the actual action being taken by Apple and there's nothing really mysterious or special about it, just normal business.

Apple's Intel Challenge

Apple's real challenge will be to explain to users how viruses, mallware and trojens written to run on current Intel chips won't effect Mac OS X.
Otherwise users simply won't make the switch!

[SystemsJunky]

In Other Words

Apple is doing what they always do. Take Code from someone else, extend it to fit their needs, then boast it as there own. Typical.

Rosetta = QuickTransit for x86 + Apples own Extensions of code.

Wait, what am I thinking, They designed and made "everything" we use today before anyone else did. Silly Me.