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hcho3

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 13, 2010
2,783
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I fear every time apple says revolutionary. They are going to make something from ground up. Guess what that means? Apple iOS and Mac OS will be combined into one OS. So, it will most likely require new hardware. Are all of mac buyers going to be screwed in a year from now on? I doubt it will be 100% compatible
 
I fear every time apple says revolutionary. They are going to make something from ground up. Guess what that means? Apple iOS and Mac OS will be combined into one OS. So, it will most likely require new hardware. Are all of mac buyers going to be screwed in a year from now on? I doubt it will be 100% compatible

that is a rumors only and IOS IS BASED on mac os x so apple may add the refining and revolutionary feature from ios and MAKE IT compatible with mac os x. apple or any other os company such as microsoft will never ever kill 90% of the hardwae and make new one. PEOPLE WILL GET PISSED. your point is not rational but maybe this time, core solo will die i have no idea. its not rational it wont happen
 
Define screwed. I used to keep PCs for around 3 years. I've had my current iMac 4 years and it still does everything I need it to. If something much better came out tomorrow I'd still be able to do everything I can and need to do today.

If your machine is still supported and up to the job then there isn't much need for concern. OK, it won't be cutting edge but that's something for the individual to decide whether they need or not. I'm still getting great mileage out of iMac and I know folk still getting good mileage out of Tiger and iMacs older than mine.
 
I don't think they will turn the mac into a giant iPad. And if they do, you can bet that the current crop of hardware and software will still be supported on the count of tens of millions of people out there using it and relying on it.

Maybe there will be some functionality that will require hardware integration and thus people with old hardware will be out of luck, but we don't know.

Buyers at any time are going to be screwed by time. Even people who buy the next best thing will be screwed a short time later when the next new thing comes out. We just have to enjoy what we have today.

Just because something newer will come doesn't mean what you have no will stop working or being useful. As long as you keep the software you have you will always have the same abilities as you have now and no one can take that away from you.
 
Define screwed. I used to keep PCs for around 3 years. I've had my current iMac 4 years and it still does everything I need it to. If something much better came out tomorrow I'd still be able to do everything I can and need to do today.

If your machine is still supported and up to the job then there isn't much need for concern. OK, it won't be cutting edge but that's something for the individual to decide whether they need or not. I'm still getting great mileage out of iMac and I know folk still getting good mileage out of Tiger and iMacs older than mine.

Couldn't have said it better myself...
 
Apple WILL NOT drop support for 1-year-old Mac hardware with OS 10.7. Seriously, people...

This.

It wouldn't make any sense whatsoever to alienate people with existing hardware by releasing a "revolutionary" operating system that would force them to buy new machines just to use it.

If.. and i mean If... 10.7 is some frankenstein-hybrid of OS X and iOS then the transition towards 10.7-centric hardware would be slow and steady - in the same way that since 10.4 there was a slow transition in dropping PPC machines.

Apple isn't stupid to severe ties with existing customers in one quick swoop.
 
I seriously doubt that Apple will make a new OS that renders any computers made within the last few years useless. Computer hardware is so fast now, its not the OS that pushes the hardware limits anymore, its the applications and the games. I expect to be able to run 10.7 10.8 and so on. I know people that are running 7 year old iMacs just fine with Leopard.
 
PANIC!!!!! No, wait, don't. Rewind to several years ago when Apple switched to Intel. That was a major change that they promised would take place over several years. And they followed through with that promise. Snow Leopard was the first update for OSX that wasn't available for PPC users.

There is no need to worry about compatibility.
 
I guess the only "revolutionary" technology that wouldn't be back-compatible is if this new technology involves the rumored touch-screen macs, in which case non-touch screen macs wouldn't be supported for that specific technology. But to assume that Mac OS 10.7 will "drop" support for non-touch screen macs (assuming they ever materialize) is far-fetched for all the reasons mentioned above.
 
I guess the only "revolutionary" technology that wouldn't be back-compatible is if this new technology involves the rumored touch-screen macs, in which case non-touch screen macs wouldn't be supported for that specific technology. But to assume that Mac OS 10.7 will "drop" support for non-touch screen macs (assuming they ever materialize) is far-fetched for all the reasons mentioned above.

Even if that is implemented, you have multi-touch peripherals that have the same function if your screen doesn't support touch. Magic Trackpad anyone?
 
I suspect the revolution will either be a delving into cloud services and integrating this into OS X, *or* building an iOS layer into OS X, so OS X users can run both kinds of apps. Remember that iOS also shares the Darwin foundation with OS X, so it certainly doesn't sound impossible. And imagine being able to simply add iOS apps as e.g. gadgets in the OS X Dashboard, or install them as regular app bundles.

So to summarize, I don't think there's a compatibility problem in either case. Even if Apple switches to AMD (something that has been rumored), it wouldn't hurt compatibility since both the processor lines from Intel and AMD use the same instruction sets for 64-bit, and it would certainly not be the same grim fate as happened with the switch from PowerPC to Intel.

Edit: Exactly, I agree with CaoCao -- I think that could happen though.
 
To Apple marketing, everything it does is revolutionary and magical.

OS X is positioned well. I wouldn't worry about it.
 
You really think Apple would be able to get away with releasing an operating system that makes all Apple computers more than a year old obsolete?
 
Apple WILL NOT drop support for 1-year-old Mac hardware with OS 10.7. Seriously, people...

This.

Plus, iOS is essentially a slightly stripped down version of OS X. Steve even mentions this fact in the introduction of the iPhone in 2007.

The software stack is the same, with the exception of Cocoa Touch and a few additional APIs (CoreMotion, CoreLocation, etc.)

Apple didn't build it from the ground up. They took the Darwin kernel, added the Core Foundation layer, the Media/Graphics Layer (OpenGL, CoreAnimation, CoreGraphics, CoreImage, OpenAL, CoreAudio, etc.), and a Touch-altered flavor of Cocoa. Then they built some other APIs that may one day make their way back into OS X, but only if it makes sense.

Anyone who codes for both iOS and Mac OS X is well aware of these similarities and realizes that they are essentially the same OS with APIs targeted toward the use cases for the device on which it runs.
 
Why don't you all look at what you have and what the IMac can do , and not so much to "what could be" ...

To use an iMac just like using an iphone it's crazy (and painful for arms)... I think you don't have to worry about future, just be happy with the machine you buy now and the things that can help you in. :)
 
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