Re: Is word X compatible with an Intel Mac

Its not a rumor. Snow leopard will not be a universal Binary install there will be not one iota of PPC code in its bones.

I was going to get me a new Intel Mac Tower until the Economy went south and wiped out half of the value of my retirement find (Franklin Income) Now I'll have to nurse the G4-500 along for another Year.

On my OSX3.9 Drive The KeyChain application, Accounts Control Panel Install application for Package files and stickies has suddenly quit working and I don't know how to fix. So I am having to use a new Drive I had to install in place of my OS9 Drive that originally came with the Computer.

CyberTaz wrote:
Hi Elliott;

Quite frankly I hope you're right - I've become quite fond of my Dual 2GHz
G5, and since it seems to be holding up quite nicely I'd hate to have to
ditch it just because Apple decides to. I've no idea how accurate the rumor
mill is but there's at least the speculation that the impending release of
Snow Leopard will do just that - cut PPCs off at the knees. Yes , if that
comes to pass I can hold on to my G5 as long as Tiger or Leopard continue to
be supported but there's no doubt that they will eventually go the way of
Classic as OS X (or XI) continues to evolve... But my comment wasn't
directed toward that concern so much as it was in reference to the inherent
fragility of Office X - which (to my understanding) wasn't really *designed*
for OS X. Perhaps I'm wrongly interpreting but from what I've read & heard
from some rather authoritative sources Office X was fundamentally a Classic
app with an "OS X-like" UI offered up as a stopgap measure until a more
properly built suite could be created - enter Office 2004 stage right.

Also - and I'm honestly not baiting you here - I see the design intent of
10.5 from a slightly different perspective than you espouse. My impression
is that it was indeed *designed* for Intel while "keeping PPC architecture
compatibility in mind" - a minor distinction in wording, perhaps, but
significant. [IMHO] The potential for multi-core processor performance is
simply too enticing for Apple to continue dragging PPC support along in a
sidecar. Even Apple isn't arrogant enough to alienate its entire installed
population in one fell swoop, but PPC-based support will certainly meet the
same fate as the 68000 series. How rapidly I have no idea. The saving grace
- as you note - is that the Rosetta emulator already exists, but I believe
it may be deemed excess baggage sooner than you expect.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac



On 10/28/08 7:18 PM, in article 281020082318192743%nospam@xxxxxxxxx,
"Elliott Roper" <nospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <C52CF78D.458A9%onlygeneraltaz1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, CyberTaz
<onlygeneraltaz1@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Additional to Elliott's germane comments you also have to consider the OS as
well as the hardware. Office X was hastily thrown into the market place to
coincide with the introduction of OS X 10.0 (Cheetah). Leopard is 10.5
designed for the Intel processors, so even though X will run on that system
today is no guarantee that the changes in the OS X update won't cripple or
altogether kill it.
But I wouldn't get into a KTS [1] over it. If the past is anything to
go by, you have plenty of time.

Word 5.1 from 1990 finally stopped working on the currently shipping OS
in 2007 with the demise of Classic mode on the introduction of OS X
10.5. Classic was an environment to emulate a totally different
operating system originally on totally different hardware.

Rosetta solves a simpler problem, emulating older hardware on the same
underlying operating system. It will be a cold day in hell before
Rosetta support finally dies. My guess would be another 10 years from
now. Minimum.

It is not strictly true to claim that OS X 10.5 is designed for Intel
processors. It is designed for both Power PC and Intel processors. It
works beautifully and natively on each. The first sign of bias was the
dumping of Classic, so eventually it will come to be true, except there
is always a chance that Intel too will get the push in favour of some
new toys.

MS made a bit of a pig's ear making Office 2008 run natively on Intel
hardware on OS X, ripping out great swathes of functionality in a bid
to have its ship date and name coincide. It was a major undertaking for
MS, because they had to completely shift gears on development tools. In
the end, it too was rushed out with bits of Kleenex on the shaving
cuts.

MS still have to finish the jump by abandoning Carbon and embracing the
Cocoa development framework, which will become the more strongly
preferred set of tools starting with OS X 10.6. Without all the Cocoa
goodness, it will look increasingly old and clunky as time goes by.

MS Office remains very important to many many Mac users. Many of those
will hang onto Office 2004 or v.X until Microsoft completes a proper
transition to current OS X technology, if they ever do. For that alone,
you can bet real money, at quite generous odds, that OS X support for
Rosetta and Office v.X and 2004 is not going away any time soon.

1. Pommy acronym. "Knickers Twisted Situation"


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET mailto:pjones@xxxxxxxxxxxx
If it's "fixed", don't "break it"! http://www.vpea.org
http://www.phillipmjones.net
G4-500 Mac 1.5 GB RAM OSX.3.9 G4-1.67 GB PowerBook 17" 2GB RAM OSX.4.11
------------------------------------------------------------------------
.

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