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This month, Ryan Grimes talks about Apple’s decision not to support non-PCI Mac’s with the next Apple system software, Rhapsody. Ryan is not a happy camper, as you will see…
Greetings fellow Macintoshians,
I am here today to discuss a very important topic, one I think needs addressing front and center in the Macintosh world we so proudly live in. You may or may not know this but I’m ticked. You’re probably wondering, “What on earth could possibly tick you off?,” but I’m gonna tell all of you. I was reading MacWorld the other day and I found out some very disturbing news. I urge you all to sit down (which you probably are since you’re reading this on a computer). Are you ready? Okay, well here goes. Apple is not going to continue supporting non-PCI based Macs after Tempo (Mac OS 8). Now some of you are probably gasping, running around your houses gathering up the children to leave earth and never return. Others are probably scratching your heads and wondering, “What in the heck is he talking about with PCI-based Macs?” I’ll tell you what this means. It means that after OS 8 there will be no operating system updates for any “older” Macintoshes. Performas (except for 6360 and 6400) will not run Rhapsody, neither will any Mac that is not currently shipping right now. Compatibles will have to check with their manufacturers for specific details on whether or not theirs are PCI-based or NUBUS-based.
Talk about getting shot in the head with a bazooka. I haven’t even finished paying for my 6300 that’s not even 2 years old, and now it can’t be upgraded?!?!? (Smoke starting to come out of my ears…) What in the heck is Gil thinking while rolling in his $700,000 salary?
I know I should support Mac because I’m a loyal consumer and wouldn’t even consider purchasing something that needs a Microsoft product to operate. That would be ludicrous, yet our boys at Apple are ditching roughly a lot of us Mac-heads with Rhapsody.
Granted, my computer runs fine right now with 7.6.1 and I have no complaints except for my 15-inch monitor could just be a little bigger when playing Command and Conquer. I accidently sent my engineers against Commandos and needless to say didn’t win that battle, and that was because the characters are so small I couldn’t tell the difference in my own troops! That’s another issue, one from which I’m recovering nicely, which reminds me, I better go check and see if C&C works after swearing at it for about an hour.
I think my problem is that I suffer from Tim Allen syndrome. I want the biggest, the fastest, the loudest, the brightest, the craziest versions of whatever I use. I like fast and who doesn’t. My 6300 is fast enough for me and what I use it for (lucky for me), although if someone wants to donate a UMAX S900 250 to me, I won’t complain. The hard drives are fine (externals are wonderful!) and with 48 Megs of RAM I can run Netscape along with a whole bunch of other applications.
So, you must be wondering why I’m writing this half-crazed story for My Mac. Well, when the rumor first popped up that Nubus-based Macs would not run Rhapsody, I was a little nervous. I simply must have new toys (if I can afford them), so I wrote to Tim asking if he had heard the same thing. We kept talking periodically and when the news finally hit, I tearfully wrote Tim and asked if I could write a goofy little page about my feelings towards Apple and he agreed. This is the result of my blood-letting anger. I am ticked at Apple. Big time. Gil says he’s trying hard to restructure Apple to finally get out of the red and he pulls stunts like this. If a product can only run on 20% of all Macs out there, then what good is it? Time will tell. I still love my computer without reservation, except for that whole logic board fiasco. I love the sound of starting up my Mac (hooking it up to a 200 watt home theatre system also helps). I love Kaleidoscope and all the nutty schemes, I love customizing my computer with gadgets that scream “Macintosh!!!â€. I love it when my computer yells “Spoon!†for an alert beep. Windows users are amazed when they see all the crazy stuff I’ve done to my computer while theirs are simply Micro-clones. My computer rocks, plain and simple, and I wouldn’t change a thing, except I want to run Rhapsody. I want to have a future with my computer because I don’t know when the next one will come around. I wish Apple the best of luck with Rhapsody and hope they sell a billion copies the first day, but I won’t be one purchasing it, and a lot of friends I know won’t either, because our computers can’t run it. Sniff… Oh well, gotta go and restart my computer and shake the apartment complex once again. Later!
Ryan Grimes
http://www.ilstu.edu/~rtgrime
P.S. I want to hear your thoughts on this whole deal so write me at:
rtgrime@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu
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