The Power PC was introduced to us in 1994. Apple Computer is serious about placing their eggs in the Power PC abasket. They have vastly increased the power of the Macintosh and lowered the price. The Power PC's have processing power that is like night and day compared to the original Macs and yet they cost less in actual dollars at their introduction than their original counterparts.
The Power PC uses a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) chip that isn't really like the old chips it used to use. The original Mac processor was geared to basically one thing; being a Mac computer. The RISC chip used in the Power PC is much more generic. You could use it to build an MSDOS type of computer or you could design an intelligent robotic device for industry around it. It's just a fast processor that is waiting to be applied.
The Power PC really is different. It's universal and more importantly, open ended. It's nearest counterpart as of this writing is the Pentium used in the MSDOS world. Pentium is (really) not as capable of the diversity of the RISC chip used in the Power PC. Pentium is already reaching the limit of it's ability. A new and faster upgrade to Pentium is scheduled to be introduced soon though.
What will run on your Power PC
Yes most programs will run on a Power PC at least as fast as on a regular Mac. For programs to run at "Power PC" speed you need "fat" programs or ones that have been upgraded with Power PC code.
The only programs that won't run (according to Apple) are ones that require a FPU (Floating point Unit) coprocessor chip. The Power PC's FPU is different from the original Mac FPU. Usually only high end math oriented programs need an FPU. Since these programs are the ones to benefit the most from the Power PC speed they are the ones being upgraded. "I do have a nice fractal program that would also benefit from a Power PC but won't run on it because of the FPU".
Power PC Overview
All Power PC's are equiped with items found only in part on some previous Macs or not at all before except as an add on peripheral.
Geoport - an added super fast serial port.
Speech recognition - Previously found only in the AV Mac.
Talking Teachtest - Yes, it reads to you.
Stereo digital quality recording and playback
Built in Ethernet - Faster than Appletalk connectivity.
