Snow Leopard to leave PowerPC users out in the cold?
Summary: LogicielMac has a screenshot that could spell the end of the line for PowerPC users.
LogicielMac (via MacRumors) has a screenshot that could spell the end of the line for PowerPC users.
Now, does this apply specifically to the Developer Preview of Snow Leopard, or is this a sign that Apple is making the move to being Intel-only?
Does this drop come too soon (after all, Apple only stopped selling PowerPC systems a couple of years ago), or is it time to draw a line under the PowerPC?
[poll id=306]
Thoughts?
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Talkback
Well, every platform eventually comes to an end
"Intel only" the environment will be unable to generate
PowerPC binaries, e.g., the gcc compiler can emit binaries
for all manner of CPU architectures.
Apple simply may not want to put in the QA cycles to
insure that its developer tools run on PowerPC machines
given that most likely 95% (or more) of developers who put
out Cocoa binaries probably have an Intel box on their
desktop. Developers are very wont to have the "latest" on
their desktop, more so in Mac OS X.
Even so, a company can't support users of old platforms
forever.
The constant upgrade cycle in technology is nothing new,
take PC gaming where if you don't have last month's uber
video card, your experience with the latest hot Windows
game may be lackluster. As a perfect example, in August
2006 I purchased a $500 nVidia 7950GX2 which featured
dual GPUs and the ability to do SLI. A couple of months
later Relic Entertainment released "Company of Heroes".
Without SLI, CoH rated my system "Poor", with SLI,
"Average".
My point? Cry me a river.
-M
Bad form to do this in a point rev
Purely from an accounting perspective it's a smart move to kill support for PowerPC sooner than later. However in terms of treating PowerPC customers fairly, that kind of a move would be poor form -- not that that's ever stopped Apple from making similar business decisions before.
A Sampling
people who should be upset about this?
I'm not. Far from it.
I was given a value proposition when I purchased all 3
machines, and value was returned. It will continue to be
returned with Leopard, and dependable hardware. I'm
looking forward to these new value propositions with the
knowledge that if the record of performance and
dependability is any indicator, I'll get much more than my
money's worth.
Moving technology forward is not something that should
be governed by the Marquess of Queensberry rules. It must
be organic, unfettered and open to breakthrough. Bad
form? Bad form is any false politicking that interferes with
this.
YMMV
The focus of Snow Leopard is adding better support for multi-core processing, 64 bit processing, and GPU co-processing. It seems like it draws a clear line in the sand -- the kind of radical change that belongs in a major rev.
Ultimately, maybe it's a trivial thing. Who cares if it says OS X or OS XI on the box, right? But to me, it's misleading to consumers. There will be "Snow Leopard or higher" dependencies as software is written to take advantage of the processing capabilities. For PowerPC users, there would be no upgrade path -- certainly that's not part of the original value proposition. This IS bad form, because the rules do not apply to technological innovation, but rather to customer service.
I have no political agenda here. I own two Macs, three iPods and will be buying the iPhone 3G.
if....
and if you really consider OS upgrades 10.1 - 10.5 to be the same as MS service packs, well you are seriously uninformed and have no clue what your talking about.. which is evident by your weird expectations. This post is so clueless I thought for a moment it was a Cox parody.... it is isn't it?
Thank you for making my point...
And Harry, for the record, it's MARQUIS of Queensbury...
Isn't this due out some time in 2010?
bit soon to push you out of the upgrade loop, but then again,
your copy of Leopard will still keep on chugging away without any
problems at all.
Poor to average?
[i]Even so, a company can't support users of old platforms forever.[/i]
Hear hear!
But, But... BUT!!!!
Wait a sec... Hold the phone... STOP!
Aren't the Apple faithful always talking about how OSX is superior to Windows because it'll run WELL on an "ancient" G3 box with only 256 MB of RAM? And how with OSX, you don't HAVE to go run out and buy a bunch of hardware upgrades when a new version comes out?
Seems to me that most Mac heads with PPC boxes will find themselves with a rude awakening when Snow Leopard is released. Oh... The abandonment issues!
But have no fear. There'll be plenty of extra sweetened Kool Aid to drink when that day come as the Apple spin meisters will have worked out why dropping support for the PPC is a good (and more importantly, NECESSARY) thing.
for the same reason....
Things change... just because in the past OSX ran good on G3s, doesn't mean it will continue that way forever. Just because in the past Intel had sucky processors... well they didn't stay that way forever.
RE: Snow Leopard to leave PowerPC users out in the cold?
hardware early on.
RE: Snow Leopard to leave PowerPC users out in the cold?
Jan. 2009 wasn't accurate (or plans changed). Today, I'd
look for MacWorld for a definitive public answer and the
release date. Maybe.
I'm to the point where I think the zdnet's interest in future
Apple has gone overboard. Unless the point is to draw in
the same folks to say the same thing they said yesterday
about Apple. In that case, never mind.
Future Apple
Let's Get You Working on This One, Alfie
Sorry, I guess I was in a mood yesterday. Apple is being
very vague about processor specs for Snow Leopard:
perhaps more is being said to WWDC participants who are
restricted in what they may reveal to the outside world.
That suggests either the details were not going to play well
and would have stolen focus from iPhone 3G / iPhone OS
2.0, or Apple hasn't decided and wants to hold off
finalizing hard choices until it achieves development goals.
It's pretty clear that to get better performance, they will be
targeting achieving very high utilization of multi-cores. If
that's true, and I'm speculating here, since the vast
majority of PPC systems do not have multi-cores, inclusion
and support in Snow Leopard would be a moot issue.
I've got a free morning: I'll get some entrails to roast, make
sure somebody is checking the tea leaves!
Wouldn't surprise me if Apple draws a line
couple of years ago and I can see them
making Snow Leopard a multi-core only
OS. 10.6 would then being about what
Apple & developers can do after optimizing it for multi-core systems.
With the 16TB limit on memory added I
think Apple might be looking at some
very impressive performance in the
future.
As for PPCs and Solo, we have 3 in our
family and I can see upgrading them
over the next 1 to 2 years (with the old
ones going to the grandkids) so I don't
really see a problem for most of us.
Apple will continue to support Leopard
in terms of customer support and
developers will continue to ensure the
apps they want to run on PPCs will
continue to run on them.
RE: Snow Leopard to leave PowerPC users out in the cold?
AMD
Power PC architecture is still better for number crunching.
It's used in the XBox 360, many Macs and IBMs concepts
have evolved into the cell chip which currently runs the
PS3 and the worlds fastest computer.
No, this is a decision based on architecture (multicores),
production volume, and thermal tolerances for smaller
thinner devices. Things evolve, and the fact that Apple now
runs both chipsets concurrently and accommodated a
smooth transition, is a large credit to Apple and OSX.
It would appear your friend the "Mac nut" might know
something you don't.
Back then, it was true.
because it was true...
Not at all, as long as