Universal/Binary

The big pro for Universal code is the software will run on both the Intel Macs and the Power PC G5/G4 Macs both in native mode. Meaning - when the software runs it will be at top speed no matter which kind of Mac you run it on.

Otherwise if you run a Power PC G5/G4 Mac application on an Intel chip it will run in an emulated mode. Meaning - slower than running it on a Power PC G5/G4 Mac. BUT at least you can run it on the Intel Mac - which is a plus in its own way.

I believe the term Universial Binary is together.

Correct, the program is a old one.

As the Power PC G5 market is still around, I expect to see Mac software that will run on both Power PC G5 Macs and Intel Macs for maybe another year or two.

Getting a bit technical here --- The software used to make the programs can make the software in both modes (Intel/Power PC) so it is good for the software manufacturers to make duo software for a few years yet.

I was editing and "timed out" 😟

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_binary
http://www.apple.com/universal/

I think compiler is helpful and easy to understand term. But I would recommend Apple and Wiki for more. We had fat binary when moving to the PPC architecture (from 68k aka 68000, 68020, 68030 and 68040).

The biggest problems tend to be drivers for scanners and such that are still PPC rather than Intel.

PPC and it has to run under Rosetta, if at all, and will use more memory and run slower. Plug-ins also. Which can affect programs like CS2 (there is now UB CS3). Some would cause CS2 to crash and had to be disabled or uninstalled. So it is or was important to get recompiled and updated programs that do have Intel binary code.

You can't run code for another architecture (non-Intel) without running through something to emulate the hardware, like Rosetta. Which does an amazing job, but won't be as good as native Intel code.

And not everyone was using the tools and compilers to make the transition as seamless or smooth as possible, so learning to use new tools and compilers, having to 'clean up' the code take time and resources and training.

the next phase is developing software to better take advantage of more than one or two physical cpus or cores. As you get to 4 and 8 and beyond cores, there are other technical hurdles.

You can always check "type" field in Activity Monitor and see if there are any "PPC" listed. It could be a startup item or background task as well as an application.

KVR: WIKI: Universal Binary
mac universalbinary A Universal Binary is an executable file that will run natively on Apple Macintosh computers using PowerPC (PPC) or Intel (x86) ...