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June 12, 2008

speculation

Snow Leopard Developer Preview hates PowerPC Macs

Posted Jun. 12, ’08, 10:00 AM PT by Aayush Arya
Category | Apple » Speculation

Snow Leopard system requirementsRemember those rumors about Snow Leopard turning its back on owners of PowerPC Macs? Well, it looks like there might be some truth to it. French site LogicielMac has scored the System Requirements PDF from the Snow Leopard Developer Preview DVD and it clearly states that “you must have a Macintosh computer with an Intel processor” to be able to install the software.

Now, assuming that the final shipping version, scheduled to launch a year from now, maintains this requirement (which is by no means certain at this point), Mac OS X Leopard will be the last cat to roar on PowerPC hardware. Given that the latest PowerPC Macs will only have been three years old by then, this move is sure to ruffle more than just a few feathers.

Putting all by fanboytastic tendencies aside, here’s my take on the issue. It does seem a little too soon but there’s little point in prolonging the death of the PowerPC platform. Mac OS X Leopard happens to be an extremely capable and well-built operating system, one that runs just fine on even ten-year-old hardware, and Snow Leopard isn’t going to add any consumer level features.

The under-the-hood improvements would’ve been significantly less if they’d had to keep dragging the PowerPC anchor around, and those on PowerPC hardware wouldn’t have experienced a dramatic increase in performance anyway (if at all). Snow Leopard is going to be Leopard with performance enhancements. For those on the PowerPC platform, there’s Leopard. For those who’ve advanced, Apple is paving the way for even better OS releases in future.

Of course, there’s the fact that I do not own a PowerPC Mac myself and might have a different opinion if I did. I do realize that dropping support for three-year-old hardware is just too soon, no matter what the reasons. In fact, if Apple decides to make Snow Leopard 64-bit only, Leopard will be the last release for my MacBook Pro as well.

It’s a delicate issue, I know, and am sure that it will spark a protest in the Mac community if and when Apple drops the axe. I’m sure a lot of our readers are on PowerPC Macs as well. What is your take on this news? Will you be content with Leopard and make peace with the fact that Apple needs to move on? Or do you have every intention to gang up with other PowerPC users left in the cold and storm the Apple HQ in Cupertino? Let us know in the comments.

[Via MacDailyNews]


10 Comments

Alterbentzion said:

Comment: Boo! Hiss!

Question: Please endulge my ignorance - didn't Apple provide some developer tool (XCode?) that would compile software as Universal? If yes, then I understand why Apple would like to take the lazy way out, but why should other developers want to alienate their PPC user base?

June 12, 2008 11:17 AM
PT said:

As long as the key applications continue to work, it really doesn't matter what the OS is or else it's going to be a tough sell to update.

June 12, 2008 11:21 AM
PT said:

As long as the key applications continue to work, it really doesn't matter what the OS is or else it's going to be a tough sell to update.

June 12, 2008 11:34 AM
Dave-O said:

@Alterbentzion, Adobe already has an Intel-only app.

My guess is Quicktime X would be an enormous pain to develop for two platforms. In fact, I can imagine Apple engineers cursing 32-bit processors.

The rest of Snow Leopard is all about optimizing performance for multicore Intel processors.

It sucks, but it's a special case. Apple announced the transition in 2005, 4 years before the scheduled release of Snow Leopard. Everyone who bought a PowerPC after that date knew they were purchasing a dead end technology.

June 12, 2008 12:36 PM
callum said:

Oh well time for a new Mac.

June 12, 2008 2:55 PM
Kelmon said:

I'm still interested to know whether OS X 10.6 only applications will exist. Each version of OS X that I can remember has added APIs that, if used in an application, will restrict that application to running on that version of the OS. However, to our knowledge 10.6 isn't adding any new APIs, but rather it is making changes to the foundations of the OS (note: this could be entirely wrong). Given this, will developers be able to compile for 10.5 but run on 10.6 so that they can continue to gain the business of PowerPC-based Mac owners? Or will they need to compile for 10.6 in order to get the performance benefits we will apparently see, and therefore be forced to leave behind the PowerPC-based Mac market?

There clearly are a number of Intel-only applications already, but will 10.6 increase the number? Either way, I'm damned sure the residual value of my old PowerBook G4 has decreased more since 10.5 will clearly be the last Apple OS that it will run.

June 12, 2008 11:53 PM
Charles said:

Also keep in mind that this is the developer preview - PPC functionality may not have been built yet, may be buggy, or there may be special developer software included that is Intel only. Honestly, it is probably in Apple's interest to state as early as possible if this release is Intel only, as that would give people time to vent, get over it, and start saving for a new machine.

June 13, 2008 5:43 AM
viperic said:

Maybe, just maybe, there will be 2 sides to Snow Leopard:
-Bug fixes and basic optimizations that will be available for both platforms as a free System Update
- Multi-core optimizations and updated foundations (QTX, CoreUI, etc.) laying the groundwork the future of the OS, and available only for Intel. Free System Update? $29.99 including a QTX Pro license? Time will tell.

June 13, 2008 6:53 AM
spiderbat said:

Restricting OS sw to a single processor family is not a very long-sighted move: sooner or later hw dependencies will start to mar the code and will render a future transition to different hw much more expensive. As Doris Day used to sing, the future's not ours to see, and who can exclude that the next preferred hw for Apple computers will be some descendant of the PowerPC line?

June 13, 2008 7:33 AM
anonymous said:

It's not like you guys will HAVE to upgrade to snow leopard. It's just an intel upgrade that has barely any new features. Just speed and efficiency.

stop moaning

June 21, 2008 11:08 PM

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