If its a stability and performance release, they should be the same minimum as Leopard.
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PowerPC Support in Mac OS X 10.6 After All?
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PowerPC machines were sold through the end of 2006.
To drop PowerPC OS support at the beginning of 2009 would mean less than 2.5 years of OS upgrades worth, which includes only 1 major OS revision (Leopard).
Folks, that would be worse than Microsoft as far as support goes. Apple can move forward and still support existing customers for a more reasonable time period.
I define reasonable as around 3 years, which coincidentally is how long AppleCare lasts. Once 3 years is up, then the "upgrade" argument holds more weight, but right now it's a little too early to be singing that tune.
To drop PowerPC OS support at the beginning of 2009 would mean less than 2.5 years of OS upgrades worth, which includes only 1 major OS revision (Leopard).
Folks, that would be worse than Microsoft as far as support goes. Apple can move forward and still support existing customers for a more reasonable time period.
I define reasonable as around 3 years, which coincidentally is how long AppleCare lasts. Once 3 years is up, then the "upgrade" argument holds more weight, but right now it's a little too early to be singing that tune.
Personally, I think it might make sense that Snow Leopard will be a 64-bit only release meaning it'll only run on the G5 and 64-bit Intel Macs. It'll move things forward nicely toward 64-bit Cocoa, while 32-bit applications will still run. It just won't install on 32-bit computers. That does leave first-gen Core Duo Macs orphaned along with the last-gen G4 notebooks that shipped alongside G5 desktops, but what can you do? I'm not sure this will be worse than not supporting dual dual core G5s which are still quite powerful, at least compared to the original Core Duo Intels.
I'd say forget every previous rumor about 10.6. PPC support and new features. Leopard stability update my butt. Previous rumorors just haven't actually heard anything about the new OS so they made up b.s. (as usual).
[moderator edit]To those saying PPC support should be ended [/end mod edit]... Just because you have a shiny new mac and/or are willing to part with your PPCs doesn't mean we all have one or can afford one any time soon. Can I be happy with Leopard until I buy a new mac? Sure, but if Apple is offering a new OS for PPC, I'll take it.
It's perplexing why Apple doesn't take business advice from the geniuses on MacRumors, isn't it?
[moderator edit]To those saying PPC support should be ended [/end mod edit]... Just because you have a shiny new mac and/or are willing to part with your PPCs doesn't mean we all have one or can afford one any time soon. Can I be happy with Leopard until I buy a new mac? Sure, but if Apple is offering a new OS for PPC, I'll take it.
It's perplexing why Apple doesn't take business advice from the geniuses on MacRumors, isn't it?
I can see the 867 MHz limit staying the same, but a "multiprocessor only" requirement being added.
Remember where you read it first!
Remember where you read it first!
Hence the focus on "Stability and Performance" in Snow Leopard OS 10.6.
10.5 should have been 10.6, however
wanted to release it quickly to compare they leapfrog technology to Vista. That is why 10.5 seems sluggish on PPC.That being said I have sold all my PPC system with the exception of my trusty G3 Pismo. Which BTW runs 10.4 well, minus all the eye candy.
I am happy
is going to support PPC for another OS release. My computers I am working on are all Intel bases, however I am not discouraged with the PPC release. Thank if true. 
IMO, it would have been a smart move to drop PPC support.
Intel is the new way to go. Either upgrade if you want a new OS, or stick with Tiger or Leopard. It's called progress people.
What about those G5 Powermacs in 2006? Was that NOT progress? My G5 system runs Leopard amazingly and I don't have any doubt that it would run 10.6 just as nice.
Aye, it's true I do not and never have owned a PPC.
That means I can't post my opinion?
Technology is always changing. Everything becomes outdated, thus forcing you to update your machine. You can't expect Apple to support your machine for the latest OS, just because you've been "loyal Apple customers for years".
Having to support PPC and Intel chips make an OS bloated. A bloated OS means less features. Features that would only run on Intel, but are being left out because you "loyal Apple customers" want the best just like everyone else.
I'm sorry you don't have the funds to buy a MacPro. But you not having money is not Apples problem.
Edit: For QQs sakes, I'll change my "No PPC support" to 10.7. According to rumors it'll just be performance and stability anyway... and it'll put a stop to our lil' dispute. But you must admit, saying you want PPC support for the latest OS is not reasonable. After 10.6 hits, and 10.7 rumors roll out, this whole convo will start all over again.
Why drop PPC support?
There are actually a couple good reasons though I don't think that they will drop it in 10.6. For example:
1) Significantly less testing
2) More resources for working on Intel-only features
Things like virtualization are complete Intel only features. If I had to choose between PPC support and Intel hypervisor built into the OS, I would choose the latter.
Sam
There are actually a couple good reasons though I don't think that they will drop it in 10.6. For example:
1) Significantly less testing
2) More resources for working on Intel-only features
Things like virtualization are complete Intel only features. If I had to choose between PPC support and Intel hypervisor built into the OS, I would choose the latter.
Sam
Keeping PPC in OS X will only keep bloat, it's living in the past. It's not like if some car company came up with an electric version of their car they'd be up in arms, telling the car maker to make it a gas and electric? Why stunt technology.
PPC whiners make no sense when they complain that their machines are suddenly "outdated" if some new system won't run on their machine. Hey, listen up, your machine was outdated before it shipped to the factory to you, life's a bummer, wear a helmet. It's not like if Snow Leopard came out all Intel PPC machines would suddenly stop working, they'd work just fine. I've an iBook G3 which surfs the web and does text related stuff perfectly well under Panther. A computer is a tool for a job, and real craftspeople don't blame their tools if they can't get the job done.
This coming from a person who owns a Macbook Pro, a Powermac G5 1.8 DP and my sig other owns an iMac 1.8 PPC machine. We wouldn't have the money to buy new machines to replace the PowerMac and iMac should 10.6 be Intel and released next year, but I'm all whiny like the others in the PPC contingent as I know my machines currently work fine under Leopard, and will continue to work fine under 10.5 into the future as intended.
Apple should cut PPC loose, future-proof it's OS, go Intel only, nuff said.
PPC whiners make no sense when they complain that their machines are suddenly "outdated" if some new system won't run on their machine. Hey, listen up, your machine was outdated before it shipped to the factory to you, life's a bummer, wear a helmet. It's not like if Snow Leopard came out all Intel PPC machines would suddenly stop working, they'd work just fine. I've an iBook G3 which surfs the web and does text related stuff perfectly well under Panther. A computer is a tool for a job, and real craftspeople don't blame their tools if they can't get the job done.
This coming from a person who owns a Macbook Pro, a Powermac G5 1.8 DP and my sig other owns an iMac 1.8 PPC machine. We wouldn't have the money to buy new machines to replace the PowerMac and iMac should 10.6 be Intel and released next year, but I'm all whiny like the others in the PPC contingent as I know my machines currently work fine under Leopard, and will continue to work fine under 10.5 into the future as intended.
Apple should cut PPC loose, future-proof it's OS, go Intel only, nuff said.
This would be a stupid on
part if implemented, since majority of the people use 4GB or less of in they MacBook (Pro), Core 2 Duo and other machines that are and are not 64-bit capable processors. Even though my SR notebook can handle 8GB of ram, the prices are no where near affordable and the iMac Core 2 Duo (White) only allow 3GB max support.64-bit is only good for 4+ GB of memory address, anything less and its pointless. 32-bit will be staying for a while since most consumer application do not even benefit from 64-bit.
Fact of the matter is you don't NEED to run 10.6, you only want. There's a big difference between a want and a need. You may WANT a big nice house, a fast shiny car, a trip to some exotic land, but you don't NEED those things. You need to eat, have a roof over your head, and have a Mac, clearly you already have those, everything else is purely wants, not required things.
lol it wouldnt suprise me one bit if ppc support was only for G5's
i mean heck to run leopard now you need a pretty fast G4 ( and from my experience a 1ghz G4 is dog slow with leopard with 1 gig ram compared to my intel macs)
the only way i can see g4 support is if they have just a stability release and thats iffy in my view
do i hope it supports G4's, sure but i wouldnt be shocked if it didnt
Actually, yes it is. Apple's business is to make money, period. In a time where the economy is slowing/downturning, they need to continue to target as wide a swath of people as they can: those with disposable income and those with less.
Apple doesn't just make money on new computer sales. It also makes money on software sales. If they make a new OS that excludes the millions who still have late-model PPC macs, then they will loose out on those people's business, and I can guarantee you that most of them are not going to just say "well, I guess its time to upgrade." They will wait until the computer they have no longer fits their needs and then upgrade.
How does supporting both OSes mean its bloated? Its only disk space and there are programs out there like Xslimmer to cut out the code you don't want. It may not be Apples problem that people can't afford the latest Mac Pro but it is there problem to continue support for older hardware, in fact, its their obligation.
So what about the people who bought a highly expensive quad-core powermac only two years ago?
The OS CDs that come with a new mac are specific to the machine, so therefore would not contain any PPC support, i would have thought.
not everyone is a "switcher" dude.
when your intel mac is still running perfectly 5 years from now, you'll understand why we're happy PPC support is continuing.
Actually you would be wrong on this account, it all adds to
OS customer/usage base, and nothing looks better to developers and investors than a strong and growing user base regardless of PPC/Intel.For
to support PPC/Intel is not expensive as OS X was supported and written for years on both platforms and it also is a backup plan, not to be considered a wasted resource.Many business still trust they faithful PPC systems, and if
decided to migrate to another architecture its not they fault since adoption of a new architecture could be fate for they business(es) that have been running perfectly well for years. Stability = Money and Profits.Performance is already proven on those PPC machines, however performance is varied and is always improving so its not a prominent factor as compared to stability.