Becoming obsessed with the idea of a mac

Posted by Chris Thompson
Dec 9, 2007 at 04:17 PM

Stephen R. Diamond wrote:
>On the Mac
>OS 9 nothing that was being made for OSX ran on 9.

This is not true. Apple came out with a compatibility toolbox so developers could develop OS X applications that would also ran in OS 9, and several companies used it (but no, it did not become popular).

The thing is, in most cases it’s a fool’s game to develop software for older operating systems. People move on, and developers are stuck with a code base that’s old, doesn’t profit from new features the OS has introduced and feels out of place. I’m looking at you Zoot, MaxThink, and Brainstorm….

>As I said, I don’t come across programs just coming out that
>don’t run on XP, but NO programs that were developed after OSX came out could run on OS 9.
>If you were running OS 9 like I was a few years ago, you had NO new application or even
>versions coming out. Imagine a CRIMP sufferer in that situation!

Your hypothetical doesn’t make a lot of sense. CRIMPers by definition upgrade to new operating systems. The set of people who are not interested in upgrading an obsolete OS but have a strong desire to try and buy a variety of new applications is not a rational market for any commercial developer to target.

The Mac community does tend to move en-masse to new operating systems quickly, and that’s a good thing for CRIMPers as well as for creating a healthy development community where small companies can create compelling products quickly. Unlike Windows (especially Vista), each new release of OS X has been faster than the last—this is especially true of Leopard, where the speed increase is dramatic—so there is no strong reason not to stay current. You’re not forced to upgrade, and most developers target one operating system back (e.g. OmniFocus targets Tiger even though it would make sense to be Leopard only), but many of us use our computers for more than eight hours a day. Paying a small price every two years to get a system that’s recent, up to date, has new productivity features, and is a pleasure to use on a daily basis is well worth it.

>The other disadvantage of the Mac that is seldom
>mentioned technical support. Microsoft has a fantastic technical support network.
>You develop any Windows or Office problem, and you get an answer almost immediately
>from an MS “MVP,” who live on the MS public news groups.

MVPs are just regular guys who hang around forums answering questions about products. You’ll find the same type of people in the Mac community. Mac people tend to be just as enthusiastic about their machines (perhaps even zealous) and helpful. Apple hosts a series of support forums for people to answer each other’s questions, and the other big one is MacOSXHints, which does the same, and in addition has a huge searchable database of question answers. Moreover, the answers tend to be easier to get at because the system is transparent. System files are plain text, there is no monolithic binary registry that’s hard to decode, etc. The Ubuntu Linux guys probably have the most fantastic support forum, however. By the way, if you live in a city with an Apple store store, you can get free in-person support at the “genius bar” desk. Also, Apple offers phone support for its products as part of the regular and extended warranties. I have never heard anyone successfully getting phone support from Microsoft.

—Chris