On Sun, 2012-08-12 at 23:29 -0700, Jonathan M Davis wrote: […] > OSX has a lot less backwards compatibility to worry about.
Not entirely true. <semi-rant> Apple's strategy appears to be that computers are non-upgradable, non-repairable, disposable items that last until the next release: everyone is supposed buy the latest version as soon as it comes out and so be on the latest kit(*). Therefore Apple don't care about backward compatibility in the way some other manufacturers do, e.g. JDK for the last 17 years. Of course sometimes this backfires, cf. many white MacBooks which have 64-bit processors but 32-bit boot PROMs. OSX detects this and will not boot 64-bit. This leads to extraordinary problems trying to compile some codes where the compiler detects 64-bit processor and assumes a 64-bit kernel API. To build some applications I first have to build the whole compiler toolchain so as to deal with this mixed chaos. (*) And as we know there are a lot of people who actually do this, which is why there is a great market in second hand Apple kit, which is fine for me, since it is reasonable kit at a reasonable price. Unlike new kit. </semi-rant> -- Russel. ============================================================================= Dr Russel Winder t: +44 20 7585 2200 voip: sip:[email protected] 41 Buckmaster Road m: +44 7770 465 077 xmpp: [email protected] London SW11 1EN, UK w: www.russel.org.uk skype: russel_winder
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
