The Mac Observer: The Back Page - Rid Thyself Of Angst Concerning OS X On Pre-G3 Macs

Angst. We all left that behind in our childhoods like a bad episode of Felicity, right? As adults, we certainly don't have to deal with angst anymore, right? Whatever. The truth is that even as adults, many of us face issues of angst every day. The biggest area of angst facing Mac users seems to be Mac OS X. An argument could be made that Apple's financial/sales situation is also a major source of angst, but I think that falls more squarely in the realm of "worry," which is, of course, subtly different from angst. My goal today is to eliminate at least one angst generating issue of OS X: the support, or lack thereof, for pre-G3 Macs.

The Background

There are those who say that Apple is betraying them by not supporting older Mac systems with the new OS. The argument follows that one of Apple's greatest strengths has been the fact that you can use a Mac for all but eternity. I know I have used that argument myself many times. Indeed, some even suggest that Apple owes us (Mac owners) near-perpetual support. John Holmes, a columnist for osOpinion whom I like a lot, states this argument very well. I patently disagree with that argument, and I really feel that people who think they should be able to run X on their 8500 should get over themselves. I personally do not want to be held back for those who do not wish to upgrade. In fact, while a source of strength for Mac users for more than a decade, perpetually supporting legacy hardware is also one of the things that led to us needing OS X in the first place. That is a hard and cold fact.

Planned Obsolescence

But let's get to that angst thing. Many feel like their Macs are suddenly going to become obsolete. Nothing could be further from reality! Apple has already pledged to continue updating OS 9 for the next couple of years. More important than that, however, is the issue of how we use our Macs, and our perceptions about doing so. In a nutshell, if you are doing the things you do today two years from now, your Mac will still be performing just as well then as it does today. While many of us think that our Macs get slower as time goes on, the truth is that the world around us just gets faster. This is a reality that many of us tend to forget, with lots of help and encouragement from the entire computer industry of course. They want us to think that we *need* to have the latest hardware, but most of us don't.

So to those who don't want to upgrade their hardware, or who cannot afford to, don't worry about it. Your Mac will be just as viable three years from now as it is today, and I mean that literally (it's not Apple's fault that you don't want to upgrade, but our own Kyle D'Addario will be writing more on that subject in the next couple of days). If you have any doubts about this, just look at the number of people still using OS 6, 7, 7.5x, and 8.x today. They are everywhere. While some applications released today require OS 9, or at least OS 8.5 and above, do the folks running OS 7.5 on their PowerMac 6100 care? No, they don't even notice.

Entitlement

Many of us seem to feel that Apple owes us something for having bought a machine from them 3 or 4 years ago. I suppose the company does, too, but they are meeting this obligation with the ongoing releases of OS 9 that are planned. That's just it: as much as I love OS X (and I know there are many who do not, yet), OS 9 is still a great OS. It is my opinion that anyone who wants to continue using it will be quite happy for another 2-3 years, easily. If judging from the people who are still using OS 7 is any indication, I imagine that the truly stubborn could even exist for several years beyond that.

If you don't want to upgrade your hardware, stick with OS 9 and enjoy it. Don't blame Apple for looking towards the future instead of clinging to the past.