That is where the frustration of the OP came from. And in my opinion Apple should not be doing towards its loyal customers who doesn't want to upgrade.
Let me chime in…I recently re-discovered PowerPC Macs (got a G5 really cheap, even though my primary Mac has been an Intel one for the past 3 years) and I've been starting to set it up as a secondary machine. I know Apple moved on (they need to sell computers to make money, right?), but it does come across as a little frustrating that every single PPC thread has someone saying, "It's dead, move on." As far as latest-and-greatest goes, that's totally right, but for a basic web browsing machine, I'd rather see someone have an old G4 or G5 than it thrown away (or some cheap desktop PC). It's almost as bad as everyone over on the iPhone forums trying to convince people to switch to Android…
Still, I think having a good web browser is important for any fairly modern (let's say last 7 years) computer…it keeps them useful for a number of tasks. Obviously, the way Apple sees it, ever person who uses a computer should have a very recent Mac running the latest OS or the newest iPad. While this is great (keeps everything uniform), I know plenty of people who might recycle an old G5 or Mac mini as a computer for aging parents, a media center, or something for their kids. In these cases, it may mean the difference of an old, but somewhat powerful computer, or no computer.
I have "upgraded" as seems to be the mantra here, but I also can appreciate old technology that has (or should have) a lot of functionality.
On PowerPC Macs there is only one true browser choice for me. The optimized Camino builds. Very fast and compatible browser. If find it resembles what FF and Safari mixed together might look like.
http://www.rpm-mozilla.org.uk/builds/camino/
True but remember that old hardware doesn't need the latest and greatest in software to be useful. Yes PPC is a dead architecture (in terms of PC's) and I'm glad resources aren't wasted developing it anymore. That said, I have an iBook G4 that faithfully chugs along and does ALMOST everything it's asked. For hardware that is from 5-6 years ago, that's fine. Don't worry about the latest and greatest software on antiquated hardware.
Moore's Law basically shows us that in computer terms; the old PPC's in terms of age and asking for support, is kinda like going back to the 2006 and expecting a computer 10 years prior (1995-1996?) to be supported.
I'm not disagreeing with you at all the "last" versions of software (iLife/iWork/Office 2008/etc.) work very well on a G4 or G5 it's really the browser thing that could be of concern. I remember when browser support for OS 9 vanished overnight, even though a lot of Carbon apps were still being written for both (and that's an entirely different operating system!)
I do think it's a little different than a 1995/1996 PC in a 2006-era world, since there is still a lot of support with universal binaries and only one OS difference (well, until Lion), as opposed to Mac OS 7.5.x/Windows 95 vs. Mac OS X 10.4/Windows XP then again, Windows XP hung on way too long![]()
These old macs still serve their purpose very well. And it has given me an exciting time, than the latest intels. Yes, the latest are fast and powerful, but it just do not possess the character to "be different".
I am unique as a person, I am different than any other. For me every PPC mac has a character, not a consumer device. That is what Apple is doing right now, every product that comes out of Foxconn is bound to be a consumer product. To me, it doesn't have that character anymore.
So yes, I can afford the latest and the greatest, but I don't have the urge and interest. I still don't have an iphone, don't have an ipad. Not many people have PPC macs, most people have intel products, most people have iphones, ipads. I have a classic for my ipod since I can see character in it. Not flashy compared to ipod touch, but with more grunt and storage.
But going back to the topic, I will be disappointed if there will be no more safari support for PPC macs, but hey that is life. I don't care if I stopped at 5.0.5, I will still use it.
Aslo..there's always Linux too! Not as user-friendly necessarily, but there are the latest and greatest builds of some of the finest distros of Linux out there for the PPC architecture, I think Yellow Dog Linux is optimized FOR the G5's still, no?
It was THE Apple Linux distro and the only other OS Apple ever licensed to have installed on their machines and sold new as such.
Yes and meanwhile Apple continues to support Windows XP but not Leopard?
Are you kidding me???
And my usage of caps and bold was specifically to warn people they'll be downloading a useless update that won't work without warning since there is nothing on the website to tell you in advance.
Yes I have just tested it, and I agree it is quicker than safari. The question is, is it more secure than safari?
Boldface is the correct means of conveying emphasis in media that support it. Excessive or irregular capitalization is a hallmark of clinical paranoiacs, and will tend to erode your credibility in the eyes of your readers.Ignore the lemmings. Some people think there is no legitimate use for all caps since they complain every time they see it. There's a heck of a difference using it for effect versus using because you don't realize the caps lock key is on, but some people can't process that. They're too used to letting others think for them. It's the "me too" effect.
PowerPc support is not a high priority of apple. Snow Leopard was the first nail in the coffin for PPC macs. Safari most likely won't be supported.
Kind of has me pissed off though, that Microsoft still supports as far back as Pentium 3 (1999- 2003). Even though these machines are probably super- slow, it's nice to know that a company cares enough to support an old product.
I don't see any G3 tray loaders running Lion.
how dare you to compare OSX with windows , windows too does not run on PPC natively so why should Apple still support PPC if Microsoft does not support it , if Microsoft would support PPC then Apple would continue to support PPC , but microsoft ditched support for PPC a long long time ago , so only a matter of time before Apple was ditching PPC too , but before Ap[ple ditched PPC first they had to convince everybody that PPC is the future and intel is only slow and unstable , and behind closed doors developed OSX to run on intel from the first day of OS 10.0
and it would be a economical disaster for Apple if people would continue to use Mac's older then 2 years , thats why Apple always comes with new ideas like thunderbold , to convince the customer base that a Mac without that new thunderbold port has just some use as museum piece , and it works people do buy new Mac's all the time even if their old one is still usable, but they need to upgrade otherwise they feel left behind by technology