We know software applications will in most cases have Universal Binaries, the question is, will OS X Leopard ship with a Universal Installation DVD? Or will their be seperate releases for PPC and Intel based Macs?
Why does this matter? Well, for one thing, right now the family license covers up to 5 machines in one house. So when Leopard comes out, the household may have only upgraded one or two of their Machines to Intel. Do they need to buy two OS X packages? Or will they still be able to get one family license pack (presuming they have no more than 5 machines)? Or will they need to buy two seperate packages? (Possibly two family packs if they have 2 PPC Macs and 2 Intel Macs.)
It makes sense in a lot of ways for Apple to have a Universal OS X installation kit. It prevents people from grabbing the wrong package in the store. (And softwrare isn't usually returnable once it's openned and the buyer realizes their mistake.) Also, for Apple the cost will be lower by not having to have twice as many kinds of OS X Packages in production.
For Tiger, this is a non-issue as any Intel Mac will come with a version of Tiger and so people only need to buy Tiger (if they don't have it already) for PPC based systems.
For Apple to do the right thing, it should be a single Universal OS X Leopard Package. This keeps the transition simple. Having seperate packages would complicate the transition.
Why does this matter? Well, for one thing, right now the family license covers up to 5 machines in one house. So when Leopard comes out, the household may have only upgraded one or two of their Machines to Intel. Do they need to buy two OS X packages? Or will they still be able to get one family license pack (presuming they have no more than 5 machines)? Or will they need to buy two seperate packages? (Possibly two family packs if they have 2 PPC Macs and 2 Intel Macs.)
It makes sense in a lot of ways for Apple to have a Universal OS X installation kit. It prevents people from grabbing the wrong package in the store. (And softwrare isn't usually returnable once it's openned and the buyer realizes their mistake.) Also, for Apple the cost will be lower by not having to have twice as many kinds of OS X Packages in production.
For Tiger, this is a non-issue as any Intel Mac will come with a version of Tiger and so people only need to buy Tiger (if they don't have it already) for PPC based systems.
For Apple to do the right thing, it should be a single Universal OS X Leopard Package. This keeps the transition simple. Having seperate packages would complicate the transition.
