The PowerPC plot is thickening, but much in the way that six-pack stomachs and blood thickens, according to information gleaned today. Apple is expected to exit the PowerPC model in the next three years as MacOSX server and MacOX X are BSD Unix based and so can flit from CPU to CPU, much as vultures fly from breakfast to lunch. According to our source on the street, the AIM PowerPC consortium is administering dollops of oxygen and adrenaline to the CPU as we speak, with only contractual arrangements preventing them from turning off the life support system. Currently, the Motorola boys and girls are developing radiation proof PowerPC chips for the (so-far) ill-fated Iridium project. And if you think it's unlikely enough that Dell is producing an iMac clone, how about Apple cooperating with Intel? That seems to be the next tasty treat for people who like guacamole on their chips, we hear. The word is that there will be IA-64 versions of MacOSXS in 2001, and Mac OSX in 2002 to 2003 timeframes. Remember a few weeks ago that Motorola took legal action against Intel for poaching its engineers? According to a different but also reliable source, Albert Yu, Chipzilla's architecture head will use those engineers to work on future IA-32 and ARM development. And he'll insulate them from the ratpack down in Santa Clara, sings our canary. ® Motorola, Phonezilla takes legal action against Chipzilla, Intel