Apple obsoletes PowerPC Macs

According to announcements today at WWDC, the next release of Mac OS X, OS 10.6 “Snow Leopard”, will not support PowerPC-based Macs.  I find this pretty annoying.  I like to get my money’s worth out of a machine. Now Apple is telling me I have to get a new machine if I want support, even though that old machine is still doing its thing just fine.

Yeah, I have Intel Macs; but I also have a number of PowerPC Macs, including my  main laptop, that work just fine. I’d like to be able to use the latest software on these machines too, but now I’m rev-locked.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like blackmail. It doesn’t feel very “Green” throwing away a working machine that is otherwise adequate, but no longer compatible (with Apple’s business model).

2 comments for “Apple obsoletes PowerPC Macs

  1. David,
    How old is that thing? The old PC’s / laptops I’ve got around that are over 5 years old are useless and effectively not supported by Windows. They never could run Vista. While I hear you the choice is made by the move to 64bit tech. That’s industry obsolescence too. Will Windows 7 work on 32 bit machines? I don’t know. I bet you can get a little longer out of it although the new ones are even more appealing! Wish you were here! Think I’d learn more. Next year I’m making sure I play to attend with a group rather than on my own. My first observation of how to get more out of it.
    Stuart

  2. The Intel-based Macintoshes were released in January 2006 and the full transition was completed August 2006. That’s not that long ago. A lot of us bought high-end (costly) Macs near the end of the PowerPC run and paid a pretty penny for the machines.

    I have PowerPC Macs purchased in 2004-2005 and some of theme were very high-end machines at the time.

    As far as I’m concerned, I haven’t gotten my money’s worth yet.

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