If Steve Jobs has his way, his fiber optic connectors will only be compatible with Apple Brand Optic Cable.

I already had to wait for Direct X 11 graphics cards to come out, and am still waiting for Windows 7, before I build my new computer. Now I have fiber optic connectors to weight down on my mind too?! I can't wait a year.

well...
i dont think its steve's jobs idea..
i thought about fiber optics in the pc for years..
and i know more people who thought about that
and im sure that its not steve's jobs new idea
he only made it happend

Fiberoptics have been the next logical step for years - for EVERY kind of data tranfer cable. Photons beat out copper every time. Now just wait till we have quantum entanglement to tranfer data...

As several ppl already pointed out, this wasn't Jobs' idea. It's a no-brainer, one who just about ANYONE who has ever used any other type of cable for data transfer and had any type of modern technical knowledge wished for. Jobby might have asked Intel to do it, but the very first person to build a working fiberoptic cable in a lab said, "Hey, this would be GREAT for information transfer!"

And yeah, it looks like it will be pretty awesome. Now let's tear up all those old cable lines and replace our internet connections with this. Info transfer between your gadgets and the bits of your computer is all nice and well, but streaming true to life super-high resolution games at several hundred frames per second with absolutely zero humanly detectable lag or latency would be bliss. Now we just need to get this stuff down to a couple cents per hundred feet hehe :D

Stop bashing Steve, many people may have had an idea for this, but he actually had intel CREATE it. Doing is better then thinking.

Wouldn't that mean that Intel should get the credit for this? It's easy to say, "Hey, we need a fiber optic cable." It's a whole other thing to create it. As you said, way to go Intel.

They will have to make the optical cables rather durable, fiber optics are rather fragile compared to copper.

Steve Jobs
Just made them force to the front.
Good job, Steve

So what proof do you have that
"If Steve Jobs has his way, his fiber optic connectors will only be compatible with Apple Brand Optic Cable."
Have you heard of Firewire? Who do you think created that?

Not new. Probably half of the people who had to turn off equipment to connect or disconnect periperals to avoid ESD damage from 1994-1999 had this same idea without any means to capitalize it and make it real. Jobs may have suggested it, but it was only awaiting economic marketing sustainability before it would be implemented anyway. Sustainability, in practical terms, means it can pay its own way. Capitalization, of course, means that it can more than pay its way, returning more than it requires to start up. The cost is no longer prohibitive. This happens when technologies mature.

I had this idea in 1963, before Steve Jobs knew what a computer was, thank you very much.

Bigger Picture guys:
WTF are we still using wired connections? I believe a Uni in Australia had POC on 50Gps wireless. I can see using photons in the circuits boards for the bus & peripherals but wireless must be sought after for all externals. Let WiPAN reign!

saris,

We have plastic fiber optic cables now that are much cheaper and far more durable than glass ones.

Fiber optic data transfer is obviously the next stage we will go to. It is also likely a next step in data storage. Think about memory. It keeps getting smaller while holdimg more data. We will reach a point when the quantum boundry will be an issue for designing smaller lines on a chip. Optical will solve this. Having a fiber optic connector and transfer method will be necessary.

This is just another step into the future of data transfers. Perhaps if integrated into the circuitry of computer motherboards data transfer rates would not take as long as they do now regardless of size of information. This is great improvement to technology. Now if implemented globally in all electronics, the competition would set fire to the computing world as we know it.

The use of Photons can be tricky also. If used in instruments such as satellites could be great. But let's not forget that the Sun, our star emits photons continually. Able to short circuit or warp information and cause power outages. So protection is needed in safe use of this technology.

Nike slogan....

finally! the real computer that runs at the speed of light ! TO INFINITY AND BEYOND STEVE JOBS !!!