When will Apple stop supporting OS9?

September 15, 2005 10:04 AM

As a longtime Mac user, I still depend on several OS9 applications for my work. I've heard, though, that Apple's new Macs will stop supporting OS9, which is bad news for me. My goal is to buy the last PowerBook that rolls off the assembly line that still supports OS9 - this way, my OS9-friendly Mac will last as long as possible. My question: can anyone tell me when Apple is making the changeover to OS9-less Macs?
posted by mark7570 to computers & internet (22 comments total)

Which OS9 Apps do you use?
posted by jpburns at 10:08 AM on September 15, 2005

Several - but one is Claris Emailer from 1996, which is still superior to any other non-Unix e-mail program I can find..
posted by mark7570 at 10:11 AM on September 15, 2005

Yeah, tell us what the OS 9 apps are and we can probably point you to something else.

At this point, no one can really say what the last OS 9 friendly Mac will be and we'll probably only know in hindsight, i.e. Apple won't say "This is the last OS 9 friendly mac", they'll probably say "Oh, remember that OS 9 friendly mac we shipped two months ago? Well, that was last one. Don't you think it's time to upgrade?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:12 AM on September 15, 2005

Just so you know, there are no macs being sold now that boot into OS9. The compatibility layer ("Classic") is still accessible by any OSX machine but might have problems with certain software (games, sound, MIDI, video etc.)

According to this, Classic will not be supported on OSX-Intel, which should be out by this coming June (according to Apple's CEO.) No one has an accurate answer for when the switch to full OSX-Intel will be over besides Apple themselves, and they ain't saying.

My educated guess is that the last Powerbook will be released within the next couple of months (maybe next week at the Paris expo?) and the next Powerbook after that (in June or so) will be OSX-Intel only, thus ending Classic for the PB.
posted by neustile at 10:14 AM on September 15, 2005

ugh 3rd para "that the last Powerbook" should be "that the last PowerPC Powerbook"
posted by neustile at 10:15 AM on September 15, 2005

non-Unix e-mail program
You can run unix mail programs on OS X, you know.
posted by bonaldi at 10:16 AM on September 15, 2005

The strict answer: no. There's no exact timetable, and Apple may well be a little cautious about announcing the end of the PowerPC line, to limit the lost sales from people waiting for Intels. But, as a best guess, there'll be one more iteration of G4 PowerBooks, given that PB performance was a major factor in the Intel switch; and the rumour sites expect them to be announced some time soon.

I'd say wait until the Intel PBs launch, some time in 2006; chances are you'll get discontinued or clearance PPC models for a decent markdown. (And by waiting, you may well find out that an Intel PB actually supports your OS9 apps in Classic, via Rosetta.)
posted by holgate at 10:17 AM on September 15, 2005

(Nix that last comment on Classic via Rosetta: Mr Gruber once more trumps CNet et al.)
posted by holgate at 10:20 AM on September 15, 2005

I have an old HP scanner that WILL NOT work with X; their software is pathetic. The only reason I ever open 9 is to use HP's old scanning program. And for the very rare occasion wherein I bust out the old Burning Monkey Solitaire...

I presume that they're going to stop supporting "Classic" when they change over to Intel processors.
posted by deep_sea_diving_suit at 10:22 AM on September 15, 2005

deep_sea: have you tried VueScan?
posted by mrbill at 10:35 AM on September 15, 2005

I want to note that when Apple discontinued the ability to boot into OS9, they made available for a short time a model that still had this capability, and made it very clear that you wanted to buy this model if you had to boot into OS9. It wouldn't surprise me if a similar "warning" was made available during the transition to Intel, for more reasons than just Classic compatibility.
posted by trevyn at 10:36 AM on September 15, 2005

Actually I have the same problem. We use a program called BULK MAILER for dealing with USPS bulk mailing and postage and tracking an academic association's membership status - I posted a question here in the green a month ago asking for alternatives but was misinterpreted and people only wrote me about bulk EMAIL tools, which I have no need for.

I understand that it will not be supported after the current generation of hardware, but we are unable to find any other product that works, and Satori software has never made an OSX version of it, unfortunately.
posted by luriete at 10:38 AM on September 15, 2005

If you're looking to replace Claris Emailer, check out the demo of PoweMail. I used it when I switched from OS 9.1 to OS 10.1, back in the days when Mail.app == big suck.
posted by nathan_teske at 11:07 AM on September 15, 2005

I feel your pain, Mark.

I'm stuck using the Classic layer for Outlook 2001 which, you may gather, hasn't been updated since, well, 2001.

I've given up hope of Microsoft ever writing an OS X version of Outlook and MS Entourage doesn't talk to our Exchange server. I can pick up incoming mail with Apple's Mail, but it will not send (and, with all the POP and SMTP ports locked down here, there's no other way to send mail).

By 2007, either something has to give, or I'll be living my work e-mail life in (the miserable) Outlook Web Access "client" (the anti Gmail).
posted by baltimore at 11:13 AM on September 15, 2005

Sorry to derail, but since Claris Emailer was mentioned I thought it might be ok to ask. I have old Clariswork text and spreadsheet files I'd like to open (and convert) in OS X. Can I do this without Appleworks?
posted by ig at 11:44 AM on September 15, 2005

Mail.app sucks a lot less in 10.4; it suits my tastes well enough now that I actually converted from Outlook Express. I still have some minor complaints, but Mail might be worth a second look if you haven't tried it out in a couple of years.
posted by Mars Saxman at 12:06 PM on September 15, 2005

I can't wait til PowerPC macs get obsolete and cheap. So many people have been praising that architecture over regular PCs for so long I'd like a chance to try it. Thing is, I'd want to get a better one than what i have now, so a used G3 box will not do.
posted by davy at 1:27 PM on September 15, 2005

MS Entourage doesn't talk to our Exchange server.

Works fine for me... native Exchange protocol, too, not using POP or IMAP.
posted by mrbill at 2:10 PM on September 15, 2005

Mark,

Back in the day, Will Mayall, was the lead programmer on Emailer (which was my favorite email software.) As I recall, Microsoft hired him to do some work on either Outlook Express (mac) or Entourage.

It will certainly satisfy your needs.

LG
dataviz makes software to convert all of your old, non standard formats (like Appleworks.)
posted by filmgeek at 9:00 PM on September 15, 2005

...and MS Entourage doesn't talk to our Exchange server.
Baltimore, what, exactly, is the problem? Are you getting a specific error? As long as you have the correct server settings, Entourage should work great. That said, Entourage-X wasn't quite ready for prime-time. If you are on that version, I highly recommend you move up to Entourage 2004.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:02 PM on September 15, 2005

Thanks for the info/encouragement Thorzdad and mrbill. I thought I'd tried cracking in with E2004, but maybe I didn't get the settings right and gave up too early, given the extensive - and ultimately failing - efforts I'd put into the earlier version of Entourage. I'll give it the ol' college try next time I'm inside the network.
posted by baltimore at 5:12 AM on September 16, 2005

Baltimore, in order to use Entourage with newer releases of Microsoft Exchange you will need to create a security certificate on the server and import it into Keychain on your Mac.

It took me quite a long time to get this sorted, but now everything works fine.
posted by Lleyam at 3:53 AM on September 18, 2005