The old saying goes:
You don't miss it
until it's gone
Amidst lots of news items about the demise of 'older' standards, millions of computer users are asking themselves what to do, and perhaps even feeling a bit toward the back of the technology bus.
Apple and many third-party developers have begun to close the door on pre-G machines -- even the Beige G3s and the Wall Street Powerbook. One member of our group is already feeling the crush, attempting to utilize iTunes on a pre-G, only to have the desktop corrupted, icons removed, and system crashes upon insertion of a music CD.
Now we're hearing noise from a number of others closing the door on those old Macs. Symantec has made it official that they'll no longer support the pre-G in Norton Utilities for Macintosh (NUM) version 7.0, further stating that "OS X version 10.0.4 and earlier are not supported". So pre-Gs need to migrate to TechTool Pro, probably the better program anyway.
Then you look at such major players as Quark, who virtually owns the high-end printing and pre-press industry, introducing new versions of their software clearly stating "Does NOT support OSX." One large printing firm we chatted with reports "... won't upgrade until Quark has a fully tested and proven version for OSX."
Worse yet, even if you did jump on the bus in order to get Firewire and USB, then along comes news like the recent announcement from Intel that they'll no longer be supporting FireWire! It seems the upstart USB 2.0 will quickly move in to dominate the market with 480 Mbps as opposed to Firewire's 400.
So you basically have two choices: spend now, or spend later. First however, take stock of what you have. Does it still do what you want it to do? Do you really need iPhoto or iTunes?
There are lots and lots of great software solutions for OS/9x that are every bit as cool as any of the few products to run on OSX. If you want iPhoto, try REALmac PhotoAlbum Pro. (www.realmacs.co.uk) If you want iTunes, try Sound Jam or any of the dozens of shareware MP3 players that do exactly the same thing. If you need Firewire and/or USB, Sonnett has excellent cards that provide those on your beige G3, or even pre-G machine.
As far as this old mouse is concerned, it's not time to upgrade until there's an essential function required that can't be done in OS/9. So far, there aren't any.
If it isn't broken, this old mouse won't fix it!
Until next time, happy mousing.
Fred Showker, Editor/Publisher UG Net News
Fred Showker is co-editor of "MUG Info Manager," the User Group Network News service, and a founding Apple User Group Advisory Board (UGAB) member. He was an original founder of the User Group Forum on AppleLink Personal Edition which became America Online in 1988 ... read more
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