What Is Rosetta?

Rosetta is like a magic trick. It makes the impossible seem easy, and it's been doing it for years. It started as a real game-changer when it enabled PowerPC processor-based Macintosh application programs to run on Intel-based Macintosh computers. This agreement is buried from the application user, so they never have to know that the computer they're using isn't what they think it is because Rosetta has them fooled! The secret? Rosetta uses Transitive Corporation's Quick Transit technology, allowing pre-existing Mac OS X software to run on the new Intel-based mainframe without implementing any change. Rosetta does not have a graphical user interface. That means that every time you use your favorite application, you get all its features and none of its flaws! So whether you're writing an essay, balancing your checkbook, or playing World of Warcraft, you can be sure that this little translator is working hard behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. Rosetta is named after the Rosetta Stone, a stone tablet inscribed with the same decree in three languages: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic script, and Greek. The tablet was discovered by Napoleon's troops when they invaded Egypt in 1799. Though it was initially thought to be an unimportant curiosity, it later proved to be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries ever. The Rosetta Stone has become a symbol for deciphering ancient languages, which is what we hope to achieve with our language-translation software. The Rosetta emulator is a lot like an avocado. It's considered a userland program, which deals with userland code, the code that runs in the context of the user's environment. It makes it less capable than Apple's earlier 68k emulator for PowerPC, but it also avoids troublesome debugging and possible security holes. So, while you can't expect Rosetta to do everything that a standard CPU would, it's still better than nothing!