Let's set things straight. No one is forcing a user or a company to run SL. It is a completely optional install. Businesses that have Leopard installed can run that operating system for years to come without losing any productivity. There exists no program that solely requires SL to run. A liberal outlook may see SL only programs perhaps 6 months to a year from SL release. And those will likely be small utility apps from groups that push aesthetics (CandyBar, Coda, etc.) over functionality. Certainly not programs necessary for productivity.
Moreover, typically corporations do not adopt a new OS upon release. Most wait until one or two service releases later. Pushing the adoption date back even further. And widening the window of final PPC machine to Intel machine sold.
Users who are running PPC don't get the latest and greatest, but that's progress. You act like Apple is about to yank all PPC operating systems. All current machines running PPC will still be able to run Leopard. Even if PPC users wait until 2010 to update, doesn't put them that far back from the rest of the pack.
You yourself have said that SL is a "bug fix" release. This means the disparity between Tiger and Leopard, feature wise, will not exist or be as abundant, further strengthening Apple's decision in making the switch with SL. Should they have dropped PPC on a revolutionary, new OS (as Leopard was from Tiger), they might have upset a few more people, but to drop support in a "refinement" release will mitigate that.
In closing, Apple has always been a progressive company. If you have stuck with them for over two decades, you would know this, and you would be a little more lenient (and less critical) in their decisions. Needing to incorporate legacy support only hinders progress. While respect should be paid to the past, we needn't live there forever...
