On Jul 6, 2009, at 11:17 PM, MaGioZal wrote:
> On 7/7/09 1:59 AM, tortoise at <[email protected]> wrote: > >> It was true back then. Problem was all the old 68k code in the old >> MacOS. > > Here's the problem. > > When Spindler launched the PowerMacs, though "icredible velocity" was > promised, the reality was that the machines were mere slow "Quadra > emulators" that made one or another task more quickly than their > predecessors. In fact, many people said the PowerMacs only completely > surpassed the performance quality of the Quadras in 1997, when Mac > OS 8 was > released three years after the last Quadra was produced! And the the lesson Apple learned from this was "When you change processors, just do it; half measures simply drag out the process." They applied that lesson to OSX and the 'secret' Intel builds. OS X has Rosetta, which emulates PPC code, but Apple made sure that the WHOLE OS and all the libraries were either Universal or dumped entirely (such as the Classic stuff) on day one. They limited what ran in Rosetta (for example, Internet and Quicktime plugins would not run on intel systems unless they were Universal.) It made the transition both faster and easier. The only delay was things like Adobe's unconscionable delay in getting a Universal version of their apps out. They demonstrated an Intel build of Photoshop AT THE INTEL ANNOUNCEMENT, but didn't actually ship anything for over a year, until the release of CS3 (CS2, maybe, I forget, but it was a <bleeping> long time) Apple has also pretty clearly cut off the PPC chip faster than they did the 68K (OS 8 still contains a great deal of 68K code; 8.5 was the first Mac OS that was PPC-only.) -- Bruce Johnson "Wherever you go, there you are" B. Banzai, PhD --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
