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Mac OS X Snow Leopard Drops PowerPC Support

jragosta said:
4. You state that 2-3 years of 'shelf life' should be OK for specialized pro level systems. What do you think the quad G5s were when they came out? You just wiped out your whole argument.
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From a business stand point yes; but not everyone in the Pro market works for a company; many are freelance and probably can't afford new systems every 2-3 years. Although a "Pro Level" machine ought to be supported longer than consumer system, yes?

And yes comparing a laptop to a desktop is not really a fair fight; but then again I don't have modern PPC hardware to stack against the 4-core modern Xeon. I am pretty certain IBM could spank Intel if the price was right. ;)

Don't get me wrong though, the Intel transition was overall a very good move by Apple. Everyone seems to want Mac laptops these days.

-mark
 
Maybe if Apple gave me a 50% discount on a MacPro in return for giving them back my G5 to be disposed of properly. ;)

Hell I may sound like I am pissed; but I know I have been needing a new desktop for the last year or so; I just have a lot invested in this old beast and do not really have the money at the moment to get a new machine.

-mark
 
sweet. I am so happy that the crappy are being dropped. It will be a 64 bit heaven for those with 64 bit chips. Awesome. Upgrade your old machines. What did yo think that macs were a forever deal. I really hope the whining won't change the plans for snow leopard
 
akira2501 said:
sweet. I am so happy that the crappy are being dropped. It will be a 64 bit heaven for those with 64 bit chips. Awesome. Upgrade your old machines. What did yo think that macs were a forever deal. I really hope the whining won't change the plans for snow leopard
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I love ignorant people..."HELLO!" G5's are 64bit systems. In fact the first Intel systems were not 64bit. :p ;)

-mark
 
BornAgainMac said:
… Leopard PPC should be good enough for a few years for those folks with G5's anyways …
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Definitely. By the time Apple releases Snow Leopard it'll be Summer '09 then another 18 month cycle for another OS with real features that people would miss out on puts 10.7 in our hands at Macworld '11.

The fact that the code is improving #1 doesn't mean that they won't be bug fixing for 10.5 people. Apple will still be cleaning stuff up on the PPC side. Secondly, if there aren't any power features garnered in 10.6, what does it matter if it's intel-only. By the time 10.7 comes out, the last PPC macs will be 5+ years old. Upgrades, people, upgrades.
 
jragosta said:
That's a silly argument. Macs running Mac OS 6 can work happily on a network with Leopard machines, as well. Why do you think that's going to change with Snow Leopard?
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mac os before os x does not work very nicely in mixed windows/mac/unix networks. also data transfer from old to new macs is a pain. and why can't i charge use an ipod shuffle on a os 9 emac as usb stick?

but you took the quote out of context anyway. the point was that old windows software runs on new systems. in the apple world you have every few years system changes that forces you to update software.

usually not a problem unless you use old scientific software that can't be updated or you use equipment that is not supported anymore. i see that far less on the windows side mainly because they use standard parts.

again, i don't need snow leopard on PPC but please apple support PPC for another 5 years or so and encourage 3rd party vendors to do the same.
 
avkills said:
Hell I may sound like I am pissed; but I know I have been needing a new desktop for the last year or so; I just have a lot invested in this old beast and do not really have the money at the moment to get a new machine.
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I guess this is just one of the benefits of generic PCs - if you need a new CPU technology, replace your motherboard and CPU (and maybe RAM) for a few hundred dollars and wham! New system...
 
PCMacUser said:
I guess this is just one of the benefits of generic PCs - if you need a new CPU technology, replace your motherboard and CPU (and maybe RAM) for a few hundred dollars and wham! New system...
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Yeah that is a good point for DIYers. It would be great if Apple made the newest MacPro case standard and sold Mobo + CPU kits.

-mark
 
jragosta said:
Supporting 32 bit in addition to 64 bit doesn't add much work at all. Plus, the 32 bit Intel machines are even newer than the PPC machines. Can you imagine the whining if Snow Leopard didn't run on a computer that will be 2 years old at the time?
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Not newer than all of the PPC machines; some of the quad-core G5 systems are less than 2 years old now, newer than some of the Intel systems.

I imagine the whining would be about the same as what we're hearing now.
 
though i have an intel iMac (for my family)
my main machine is still G5 Quad purchased 2 yrs before. If snow leopard release on 2009, isnt it too fast to drop a 3-yr-old product from the newest OS?

on the other side...i can imagine how terrible for installing Vista on a 3-yr-old PC...its the era before Core Solo right?

akira2501 said:
sweet. I am so happy that the crappy are being dropped. It will be a 64 bit heaven for those with 64 bit chips. Awesome. Upgrade your old machines. What did yo think that macs were a forever deal. I really hope the whining won't change the plans for snow leopard
Click to expand...

For your information PowerPC G5 is 64 bit. Those "crappy" chips like PowerPC G3, G4 and G5 were once one of the fastest personal systems. Do respect history.
And yet, much of the daily necessities are still rely on the "crappy" system nowadays, especially for the print industry.
 
jragosta said:
Except that supporting PPC doubles the workload. Supporting 32 bit in addition to 64 bit doesn't add much work at all. Plus, the 32 bit Intel machines are even newer than the PPC machines. Can you imagine the whining if Snow Leopard didn't run on a computer that will be 2 years old at the time?
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That is exactly what would be happening if PPC is dropped in Snow. The last G5s were sold almost a year AFTER the 32-bit Intels first came out, because the PowerMac/Pro line was the last to be switched.
 
guzhogi said:
The PowerPC brand may not be dead, but the specific processors used in the last PowerPC Macs probably are. Or at least, IBM/Motorola don't make them anymore.

Personally, I'm mixed. G5s are very powerful, but then again, it'll be a lot easier if there was only one platform to support. The average developer can just click a button to make an app Universal, but what about the developers at Apple who have to make the developer tools, compilers, platform specific stuff? They have to write the programs that actually compile the same code, but for different platforms. Kind of difficult. I'd like to see the PowerPC supported for maybe another 5 years or so. Plus, have Apple take at least 2 years between upgrades. That way, they can add new features, optimize them & get all the bugs out.
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I think this is how a majority of people feel about PPC, but the truth is it's time to move on (for Apple anyway). It would be far more beneficial, in more ways than one, to support only Intel. I mean it HAS to happen sometime soon. Where do they draw the line? They might as well do it here.

The PPC was an awesome chip in its day. The G5's still have perk in them. But they have seen their day.
 
unwinded said:
In late 2005 you should have been well aware of the Intel transition announced in the middle of the year. The "Intel PowerBook" was even announced in early November of 2005.
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The Mac Pro was not announced until June 2006. Before that, developers and power users had no choice but the G5. And even then, no one knew how powerful or stable the Mac Pros would be before they came out in August.
 
Amdahl said:
If updates aren't important, why do they make them?
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Because Apple is a business that makes money selling hardware. After they sell you the hardware they milk you for a while with software. When they add sufficient features to the software to cause your hardware to run slowly, they offer you new and faster hardware. At this point the cycle repeats.

How in the heck could they stay in business if the hardware lasted forever and never needed updates?
 
avkills said:
Yeah that is a good point for DIYers. It would be great if Apple made the newest MacPro case standard and sold Mobo + CPU kits.

-mark
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Actually Dell offered an upgrade program for the XPS series.

I just want GPU decoding more then anything else. That'll require a new laptop for me but I won't be replacing my current MacBook until Snow Leopard is out.
 
love it. wanted to see the response. So the older chips are 64 bit ehh. Well then there has to be some good reason that they are being dropped. Whatever man Don't have the old or classic or whatever you want to call the not new chipset anyway. Sorry dudes and dudaz. time to upgrade:p
 
PPC owners who whine:
You want (not need) the latest OS but you work on outdated machines. :rolleyes:
Tiger or Leopard will suffice for years to come if you want or need to hang onto the past.
 
Amdahl said:
A 24 month old OS is not old. It is as simple as that.


Better, as in five years of support, obviously. If I buy a computer from Apple, I expect it will be kept safe on the Internet for five years, and no less. It is true today. If Apple wants to announce a change, they need to do so. I think if that is the case, Apple needs to put little stickers on their computers that say "Good for two years!"
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As do I. Tell me, how many internet-related attacks has your Mac been subject to? How about your "better-supported" windows machines? If Apple wants to announce a change that's taking place today, or renders your current machines useless, then they will. Neither of those things are happening. The G3 iMac that I booted into moments ago has no such stickers on it that says "Good for x years!", yet is running OS 9 just fine. No software updates, and no panic either. So what's the problem?

You and I seem to have a thing going and I like how we can play devils' advocate back and forth forever, but again your Tiger box isn't suddenly useless. Apple has announced nothing to either of us in relation to support, future updates or pricing, so both our speculations on these matters are our best guesses and somewhat futile. But I've enjoyed the conversation. How often does that happen on a Mac forum? :)
 
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