Twenty months ago (give or take a few weeks) Apple announced their intention to move their entire Macintosh computer line to “Intel inside”. The move was greeted by some with alarm; others, with cautious optimism. This spring, as we Mac users stand on the brink of a bevy of new product announcements (for sure Mac OS 10.5 “Leopard”, iPhone, Apple TV, and most likely a refreshed lineup of portables, desktops, and displays), Apple’s decision to “bite the bullet” and move to Intel seems, well, brilliant.

From just about every account, Mac use is on the rise. Organizations that log what browsers visit which web sites report use of Apple’s Safari browser (only available on the Mac platform) on the rise. Apple’s recent quarterly sales figures show percentage growth above the rest of the industry, particularly in the portable computer segment.

One of the perceived barriers to switching from a Windows PC-based “lifestyle” to the Mac has always been the lack of compatibility between software. At the core of the problem (so to speak) was Apple’s use of a totally different processor architecture – IBM’s PowerPC. To bridge the gap, Microsoft itself offered Virtual PC software that enabled Mac users to run a full-up version of Windows in a virtualized window. However, since Virtual PC was emulating a processor environment, the process was just too slow.

So, very shortly after they shipped their first Intel-based Mac, Apple released “Boot Camp”, software that easily automates creating a partition on the Mac’s hard drive into which any version of Windows (even Vista) can be installed. And, since the Mac can be booted from the Windows “side”, there’s no virtualization or emulation. It turns your Intel Mac into a really fast, really great looking Windows PC – until you boot it up, of course, and then its just another malware-plagued, blue-screen-of-death waiting to happen. But, I digress.

Anyway, Boot Camp and other virtualized Windows security blankets may be helping to ease Windows-to-Mac switchers’ fears of change.

Intel’s roadmap of processor upgrades bodes well for new Mac users, specifically those interested in the MacBook consumer-level portable. Intel is set to release their “Centrino Pro” in late spring, which will mate a 64-bit Core 2 Duo processor with a new, more powerful graphics chip, faster bus architecture, and more cache.

This, of course, will be just in time for Apple’s next-generation “Leopard” operating system. Sometimes timing is everything.