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Wednesday, February 04, 2009, 10:00 am
iLife '09 not fully compatible with PowerPC Macs
Apple is slowly dropping PowerPC compatibility with its latest software releases as evidenced by a major new feature of iLife '09 that will function only on Intel-based Macs.Ars Technica points out that GarageBand's Learn to Play, a new section within the music-making software that serves as a digital instructor for a user learning a new instrument, is not officially supported for Macs still running on PowerPC processors.
System requirements found on the Apple Store website say, in fine print, "GarageBand Learn to Play requires an Intel-based Mac with a dual-core processor or better."
When iLife '09 was first announced at last month's Macworld, the system requirements included "a Power PC G5 or 867 MHz or faster PowerPC G4" without mentioning any incompatible individual features.
Learn to Play also offers Artist Lessons from a Lesson Store built into GarageBand where artists teach fans how to play their hit songs on certain instruments for $4.99 each lesson.
Chief executive Steve Jobs confirmed the switch from PowerPC to Intel in June 2005, targeting the end of 2007 for the transition to be completed.
Mac OS X Leopard excluded slower PowerPC-based Macs with a cutoff set at 800 MHz G4 or faster.
Official documentation from Apple gives clues that PowerPC Macs very well may be left out completely when Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is released sometime during the first half of this year. Developer copies distributed at WWDC last year included a requirements PDF that listed "an Intel processor" as the minimum necessary to run the software.
Adding further weight to that possibility, people familiar with the ongoing development of Leopard have previously told AppleInsider that Snow Leopard would in all likelihood exclude support for PowerPC processors.
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I wouldn't be shocked for Snow Leopard to take a whiz on all PPC Mac's. If Snow Leopard is available for PPC Macs, I definitely see SL being the last officially supported OS for PPC Mac's.
The upside should be more sales of computers. 
Snow Leopard will be intel only. I'm surprised that apple hasen't announced that yet. They reduced the size of files as well as the OS. The only way to do that is by removing the PPC code in there.
There is actually an app you can get that will remove the unecessary PPC code in Leopard on an Intel machine and the final file size for apps is the same size i've been seeing for apps bundled with snow leopard.
In order to "dip my toe" into OS X, I bought the very first PowerPC MacMini back in 2005. After about a while, I discovered the MacMini was a little underpowered for some things, especially Eclipse and Google Earth. Just as I was about to buy an iMac, Apple announced the Intel transition.
So I held off for several months waiting for more info on the transition. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out the iMac was the Mac to go Intel. After reading all the reviews and MacIntouch (which indicated very slight issues, but the first Intel iMac was mostly in tip-top shape), the only concern I had was that the Intel chip was 32-bit, and that the Core 2 Duo would only come out later in the year. After asking around, I was told that the only advantage to a 64-bit chip was that it would address more than 4 Gb of RAM.
Well, I got nailed later when Apple provided Java 6 only for 64-bit Intel chips. That was a real letdown, seeing as I'm a Java developer.
Anyway, to make a long story short, there's never a right time to buy a new computer, or a new Mac. No matter how well you try to time it, you'll miss out on something.
I wouldn't be shocked for Snow Leopard to take a whiz on all PPC Mac's. If Snow Leopard is available for PPC Macs, I definitely see SL being the last officially supported OS for PPC Mac's.
The upside should be more sales of computers.
I'd expect SL to be delivered without PPC support. How exactly does Apple optimize and set a roadmap for the future by clinging on to computers that will be nigh 4 years old when SL is purported to ship?
To date there's been no hint of PPC support so I doubt that we suddenly get a build that inserts PPC.
Though Leopard is a fine OS for PPC and I frankly do not see much reason for PPC owners to anguish over not being invited to the SL party. The GPU and CPU features are pretty much tailored for Intel and recent AMD/Nvidia product
Apple is slowly dropping PowerPC compatibility with its latest software releases as evidenced by a major new feature of iLife '09 that will function only on Intel-based Macs.
Ars Technica points out that GarageBand's Learn to Play, a new section within the music-making software that serves as a digital instructor for a user learning a new instrument, is not officially supported for Macs still running on PowerPC processors.
System requirements found on the Apple Store website say, in fine print, "GarageBand Learn to Play requires an Intel-based Mac with a dual-core processor or better."
When iLife '09 was first announced at last month's Macworld, the system requirements included "a Power PC G5 or 867 MHz or faster PowerPC G4" without mentioning any incompatible individual features.
Learn to Play also offers Artist Lessons from a Lesson Store built into GarageBand where artists teach fans how to play their hit songs on certain instruments for $4.99 each lesson.
Chief executive Steve Jobs confirmed the switch from PowerPC to Intel in June 2005, targeting the end of 2007 for the transition to be completed.
Mac OS X Leopard excluded slower PowerPC-based Macs with a cutoff set at 800 MHz G4 or faster.
Official documentation from Apple gives clues that PowerPC Macs very well may be left out completely when Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is released sometime during the first half of this year. Developer copies distributed at WWDC last year included a requirements PDF that listed "an Intel processor" as the minimum necessary to run the software.
Adding further weight to that possibility, people familiar with the ongoing development of Leopard have previously told AppleInsider that Snow Leopard would in all likelihood exclude support for PowerPC processors.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Yes it seems that way is inevitable and it brings another question I have about Rosetta. Seems that it will be scrapped in Snow leopard ? can anyone confirm ?
I am dependant on Appleworks so I may have to buy a macbook now to be sure of having Rosetta at hand.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we know this at MacWorld? I could have sworn Phil said this during his presentation.
This should lead to at least 5 more law-suits.
It looks like AppleInside is creating news today. The Garageband learn to play requirements were up the day of the keynote and did not change. I read that before I pre-ordered the Mac Box set Family Pack. 
If it's not on the box that GarageBand doesn't fully support PPC, then those people should be allowed to get their money back if they want.
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Apple is slowly dropping PowerPC compatibility with its latest software releases as evidenced by a major new feature of iLife '09 that will function only on Intel-based Macs.
Ars Technica points out that GarageBand's Learn to Play, a new section within the music-making software that serves as a digital instructor for a user learning a new instrument... told AppleInsider that Snow Leopard would in all likelihood exclude support for PowerPC processors.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
To me, Learn to Play demonstrates another powerful direction for applications under OS X, graphic instruction in skills that we might otherwise not be confident to pursue but which Garageband (and no doubt, future applications) makes very, very attractive. I guess, in the light of the ever increasing demand on performance that these applications seem to require, support for older systems will decline.
Still using a dual 1.42 GHz G4, along with my near new MacBook Pro.