Hello
Well, Apple just released a major refresh of OSX yesterday.
It's called OSX 10.6, Snow Leopard. This replaces OSX 10.5 Leopard.
For now, it's available as an update for Leopard users only.
As is Apple's custom, support for older hardware is cut off. In this case, Snow Leopard will work only with Intel Macs. The older PowerPC CPUs are out of luck. (pre-2005-2006)
Older software is supported to some degree via Rosetta. (Zuma still goes!)
I stopped at Micro Center on the way home and got it for $25.
Like most Apple software, installation was flawless. Basically, it's a completely new OS that looks and behaves much like the old one. There were no driver issues and no software issues that I've found yet.
The obvious differences are faster shutdown, faster startup, faster sleep and more disk space.
There's gobs of not so obvious differences that aren't readily apparent.
It's a shining example of what computers can be when a computer company doesn't try to be everything to everyone.
To keep up with the times, Apple drops support for older hardware and software relatively quickly. This allows the programmers to focus on having newer software running well on newer hardware without having to compromise for the sake of backward compatibility.
It sounds heartless to G5 owners (and Adobe CS2, CS3 users) but is the best way to advance an OS so as to fully exploit modern hardware.
Basically, the PC equivalent would be Microsoft's forays into 64-bit computing. For the most part Windows users (and programmers) didn't stand for it.
So Far, So Good,
Keri
PS. Many of Microsoft's biggest problems and weaknesses are due to trying to be everything to everyone while trying to support both the newest and oldest hardware and software simultaneously. This has been the case since Windows 95 and continues today. The end result is a mediocre experience from the Jack-Of-All-Trades-And-Master-Of-None, King William.
Well, Apple just released a major refresh of OSX yesterday.
It's called OSX 10.6, Snow Leopard. This replaces OSX 10.5 Leopard.
For now, it's available as an update for Leopard users only.
As is Apple's custom, support for older hardware is cut off. In this case, Snow Leopard will work only with Intel Macs. The older PowerPC CPUs are out of luck. (pre-2005-2006)
Older software is supported to some degree via Rosetta. (Zuma still goes!)
I stopped at Micro Center on the way home and got it for $25.
Like most Apple software, installation was flawless. Basically, it's a completely new OS that looks and behaves much like the old one. There were no driver issues and no software issues that I've found yet.
The obvious differences are faster shutdown, faster startup, faster sleep and more disk space.
There's gobs of not so obvious differences that aren't readily apparent.
It's a shining example of what computers can be when a computer company doesn't try to be everything to everyone.
To keep up with the times, Apple drops support for older hardware and software relatively quickly. This allows the programmers to focus on having newer software running well on newer hardware without having to compromise for the sake of backward compatibility.
It sounds heartless to G5 owners (and Adobe CS2, CS3 users) but is the best way to advance an OS so as to fully exploit modern hardware.
Basically, the PC equivalent would be Microsoft's forays into 64-bit computing. For the most part Windows users (and programmers) didn't stand for it.
So Far, So Good,
Keri
PS. Many of Microsoft's biggest problems and weaknesses are due to trying to be everything to everyone while trying to support both the newest and oldest hardware and software simultaneously. This has been the case since Windows 95 and continues today. The end result is a mediocre experience from the Jack-Of-All-Trades-And-Master-Of-None, King William.
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