Home Forums FineTunedMac Community Lounge iOS, iTunes & Leopard

The question of how long Apple will support Leopard, which has gone virtually undiscussed heretofore, leapt into the spotlight, center-stage, the other night when my buddy Max told me he had to buy a new Mac in order to upgrade his iPhone.

After a quick check of his Mac's specs I told him that all he needed to do was upgrade from Tiger to Leopard (and max out his RAM, but that's another thread), which would enable him to run the latest version of iTunes (10.1.1 as I write) and upgrade his iPhone's iOs.

We were left with the question, though, of how much time will the close to $200 investment he'll have to make buy him?

Apple's PPC to Intel switch has left it with something of a down-the-road public relations nightmare, namely that at some point (which, extrapolating from Mactracker, will be in August (Edit) 2013 2011 when the final Power Mac G5 goes vintage) it will be able to legitimately drop support for Leopard and leave every PPC user in the world who wants to run a supported version of OS X in the position of having to buy not just a new version of OS X, but a new Intel Mac.

That, in and of itself, is not so terrible, because many users are in a position to put the decision off for years (witness the number of users who are, wisely or not, running other legacy versions of OS X), but it has been exacerbated by the huge proliferation of iOS devices, the need to upgrade which will ultimately (i.e. when iOS upgrades become available exclusively via a version of iTunes that won't run on a PPC Mac) force many users' to buy new Macs now whether or not they had any intention of doing so at all.

So... The question I've been trying to get to is: Can we expect Apple to support iTunes for Leopard until past August (Edit) 2013 2011, and hoping against all hope, possibly even later for how long?

Since the world is supposed to end in 2012 (december), i would go ahead and get the new Mac now.



i don't think anyone can answer your question authoritatively. Not even Steve Jobs, at this juncture.


Edit: having said that, i'd expect Leopard will be "lively" for at least another 2 years... but i wouldn't bet much on my expectations.

They officially support the current os and one version back. they also support any computer in warranty, guarantee parts for computers 5 yrs from manufacture, and limited parts to 7 years, at which point they stop providing parts. (california being the exception, parts get diverted there during the process and continue availability I believe until 10 yrs?)

We've seen a number of people that have been forced to upgrade to a new computer because they wanted an ipad, and that required the latest itunes, and that required them to make an OS upgrade, and that required them to make a computer upgrade. This is an issue of people running ancient (by computer standards) computers. It's unreasonable to expect a 6+ year old computer to support brand new hardware.

It's no different than OS 9. Classic was available though all the way to 10.4 on powerpc, so there was a longer transition period.

One thing in favor of Leo may be the fact that it's not that drastically different from Snowy (though i admit there are more subtle differences than i initially "expected"). IMO, the Tiger-to-Leo transition was the most extreme of all the OSX cat upgrades... with no more NetInfo being the big leap there. (Time Machine was more of an addition, though some change too perhaps).

True, Snowy has detached residual PPC code architectures... but i think that might even favor giving Leo a bit longer support all the more likely (and or "necessary" perhaps)... until the majority of the Leo-based PPCs have passed away. I don't think it would behoove Apple PR to heartlessly kill off ALL support for those particular cats too soon. Better to let them die more naturally.

Then again, it may be only security related updates that linger... while stuff precisely like iTunes might become the very carrot employed to "encourage" early Leo retirement.

:shrug:



Certain tiny exceptions can occur. Note the dates on the following (Tiger) items:

Edit #42: perhaps that Java item came before 10.6 was released.

Here's an entirely different perspective (which is, by the way, supported by your example)...

1. This is not about expecting a 6 year old computer to support new hardware, but about expecting it to support a new version of iTunes which, heretofore, has been pretty successfully backwards compatible worked in Leopard, and, although I have no idea of the ins and outs of upgrading an iOS, seems like it will ought to continue to be work.
2. From what I've seen, iOS devices have captured people's imaginations to such a huge degree that users who
   1. can't spell OS X, let alone tell you which version of it they're running,
   2. wouldn't consider spending $29, much less $129, on a version upgrade,
   3. have absolutely no desire, let alone need, to upgrade their "antique" Macs because their computer usage is so minimal and basic (and let's blow past security updates for the moment), and
   4. don't run a single 3rd party app, indeed, haven't got a clue that MacUpdate and its ilk exist

are

• head over heels into their "i" devices,
• hot to upgrade them the second a new version of iOS is released, and
• running many, many iApps.(I hear numbers exceeding 50 all the time.)

With that in mind, then, I'll suggest that it will be in Apple's best interests, public relations-wise, anyhow, to not abruptly pull the plug on such people...to give them a substantial lead time in which to make their decisions and save their pennies.

(Aside: Hmmm... The apparent simultaneous release of Lion and vintage-esence of all PPC Macs is, in this context, frightening to contemplate.)

Apple did the right thing with Classic, and I'm hoping, even expecting, that they'll also do the right thing with iTunes, but...?


Actually, Macs go "Vintage" after 5 years and "Obsolete" after 7. (See Vintage and obsolete products.)