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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=516
Rage On: We Told You Petitions (and Lawsuits) Work
By Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac
June 6th 2002
Victory goes to the brave.
Now, finally, at last - you can get some genuine performance from your old Rage II/Pro
graphics card in OS X.
Apple''s recent release of OS 10.1.5 now includes the necessary drivers. Paradise
regained (well - maybe not paradise at 400MHz). But a lot less like treacle.
In December, we reported on a petition to Apple requesting Rage Pro hardware
acceleration drivers in OS X. Thousands (over 4,000 in fact) signed up on line,
pleading with Apple (and ATI) to release the drivers for their Wallstreets, Lombards,
Beige G3s, fruity iMacs and flavored iBooks.
Some 4 to 6 million Macs all up.
At the risk of sounding like whining, unreconstructed low-end Mac users, both IGM and
LowEndMac''s Dan Knight argued strongly for the development of 64-bit graphics
drivers, particularly as many affected machines were not even two years'' old.
Upgrade, said the critics. Don''t complain about being left behind. Or use OS 9.
Don''t expect Apple to hold back development for the future by wasting time on legacy
hardware.
Fair enough. But we weren''t asking for a lot. And IGM argued that Apple needed to
showcase OS X working properly on any and every Mac to demonstrate the power of Unix
and the stability of the new OS. On every finger-stained Bondi iMac in schools. On
every battered Beige G3 in a science lab. On every floppy-hinged Wallstreet in
existence.
Now, with 10.1.5, windows snap open and shut, just as Steve intended. Dock animations
fly like they oughta. Full-screen QuickTime movies again!
Now whether this is because a class action was launched against Apple for witholding
this type of OS X support from qualified machines, or because Steve is actually a
warm, fuzzy, teddy-bear like person, we''re not sure.
What we do know is that Apple modified its KBase document slightly in the wake of the
lawsuit announcement, which suggested Apple was "considering" whether it would develop
drivers for the Rage Pro. Previously, their KBase has said they planned no further
development of non-128-bit Rage graphics drivers.
But, optimistically - naively, perhaps - we''d like to think that our petitions and
feedback to Apple played some small part in the decision.
And, as an owner of an affected machine, I personally extend my thanks to Apple for
ultimately doing the right think. It ain''t Quartz Extreme, but it''s one hell of an
improvement.
See? And now they''ll get my cash for the next PowerBook I buy. Treat your customers
as you want them to treat you. We now promise we''ll shut up about the Rage Pro now.
Post your comments at:
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=516
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Copyright (c) 2002 Insanely Great Mac. All rights reserved. This article
may not be republished in part or whole without explicit written
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