At 11:56 AM 20/08/02 EDT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >What I would like to ask the listers here is whether you, as a Mac user, >believe that it is absolutely neccesary to be dragged unwillingly into the >future, and forced to abandon programs and OSes that continue to be perfectly >suited to one's needs, just to satisfy a computer company's efforts to >continually 'improve' things?
You're not forced at all. You can keep using your current hardware and software indefinitely. The parts that are most likely to degrade (power supply, disks) are fairly standard and likely to be available for a very long time. Despite the computer industry's best efforts to make hardware and software disposable, people still keep old machines going, and work out hacks to make old software keep working on new hardware or OSs. Even though Jobs has given OS9 a funeral, it's still supported in emulation in the new OSX. Given that lots of Unix-family software is being ported to OSX as we speak, even if Apple doesn't encourage it, most old Mac software is or will be runnable under various emulations. On my PC I still use several DOS applications under Win98 (which is itself officially about to be EOLed). I use apps that are 14 years old every day -- one advantage is that something written to run acceptably on a PCXT is instantaneous on a Pentium. Of course, if you want to use the latest versions of PhotoShop, MS Office, InDesign, or especially play new games, you will have to upgrade to close to state-of-the art systems. But that's the carrot more than a stick. -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
