I agree, Gene. How many new “features” do we need in a word processor, anyway? Is anyone complaining that calculators have not changed at all in decades? Have they stopped buying because “innovation” has stopped on calculators?

There’s a reason why physical calculators have stayed the same: they’ve reached the apex of their functionality. Anything else from that point onwards would just be marketing, not innovation.

When a product has reached the apex of its functionality manufacturers should just let it be and work on something else to generate revenue. Take OS X, as an example. The Finder is still broken, it’s slow as heck when compared to Mac OS 9 running on 8-year old hardware (with a paltry 256MB RAM, Mac OS flies!). But does Apple care? Nope. Instead, they keep piling on eye-candy to distract us from the real issues plaguing the platform.

Whatever gains I get when switching from Mac OS to OS X have not come from improvements to the Finder (I like the side-scrolling table view in OS X but other than that by and large the new GUI has been a few steps backwards). They’ve been from the Unix underpinnings.

Like Microsoft Office, the Mac OS interface had reached the apex of its functionality a long time ago. If Apple wanted to sell more products maybe they should start innovating again and deliver new product designs for a change. The ones they’re offering me are essentially the same things they’ve been offering for over 5 years.

The ancient Romans had wine, everything else is just gravy.

I don’t understand. What software has stopped working on old computers? You can use a 20 year old computer to convert text from plain to bold just fine. (I’m ignoring the case of broken old computers here. They are much less useful).

If you are upset that there are not that many developers writing new software for old machines, you may have a point, but most owners of old machines already own the software they need, and can buy vintage software on eBay and elsewhere. New machine owners are much more likely customers for new software. It’s hard to blame developers for aiming at that market.

Of course, you can’t do real time video editing on a 20 year old computer, and no one makes an inexpensive converter box to let you do so. You would have to upgrade the processor, the memory, the internal bus, the display and probably a host of other things. You’d do much better to sideline your old machine than trying to upgrade it.

Sure, it would be nice to sort of pick and choose which components of your system to freeze. Why can’t I run Adobe CS3 on my old Powerbook 1400cs? That’s sort of like asking why the ancient Romans couldn’t build integrated circuits.

Gene, You are exaggerating. It would only be a conspiracy if the manufacturers were “forcing” you to buy. Enticing you with faster speeds and more functions is not force. If you must have the “newest and the greatest” toy then that is your character defect. You can choose not to play the game. I have a five year old G4 iMac flat-screen that works just fine on DSL. I skipped Mac OSX 10.3 Panther entirely.

But, Leopard has enough improvements to make me want to change. And the new 24 inch iMac is 10 to 12 times faster at $300 less than I paid for my old 800 MHz iMac. No one is making me buy anything. But, there are times when you have to let go of the past.

I hate to break it to you, but even the Cadillac cars in the 1960 were lousy compared to today’s ordinary cars at prices that are much lower when adjusted for inflation. The technology improves; it makes sense to hold off buying but not forever.

It’s a two-way street. Yes, today’s computers and software are not just faster, but do a lot more. But companies also can’t stay in business without producing new products, and they need to find ways to get you to upgrade. If a new application doesn’t run properly on your old computer, and its new features tempt you, what are you to do?

By the way, published reports state that Leopard will require an 867MHz G4 or better. If true, it means that lots and lots of 800MHz Macs won’t make cut. Will Leopard’s arrival spur new Mac purchases? Some people will have no choice if they wish to take advantage of the new features — assuming third parties haven’t filled some of the gaps.

Peace,
Gene

Gene, You are exaggerating. It would only be a conspiracy if the manufacturers were “forcing” you to buy. Enticing you with faster speeds and more functions is not force. If you must have the “newest and the greatest” toy then that is your character defect. You can choose not to play the game. I have a five year old G4 iMac flat-screen that works just fine on DSL. I skipped Mac OSX 10.3 Panther entirely.

But, Leopard has enough improvements to make me want to change. And the new 24 inch iMac is 10 to 12 times faster at $300 less than I paid for my old 800 MHz iMac. No one is making me buy anything. But, there are times when you have to let go of the past.

I hate to break it to you, but even the Cadillac cars in the 1960 were lousy compared to today’s ordinary cars at prices that are much lower when adjusted for inflation. The technology improves; it makes sense to hold off buying but not forever.

I was around when Mac OS X first came out, it was a slug, but after each version released it became better and better. I don’t think there is a conspiracy out there to get you to buy new hardware, but an eagerness to do more with your computer. As a programmer, I love all the new tools that become available to me via xCode, and I don’t think they are doing just to get you to buy a new computer, it is just a continuing progression of making a product better, some know how to do, others don’t. Some features are bloat, but some, like with iMovie, is just practicality, have you ever tried to edit video on a g3 or g4? Converting video that is 20 minutes into a new format takes 18 hours. I think this might have been taken into consideration and that set a level that was acceptable for working environment, and while creating their product all sorts of features that would have been impractical on a slower machine where included. Garageband hardly runs on a g4, so what? Do you know everything that is involved in making that program work? If life was really so much better before, just continue to use Word 5.1. You can also use Nisus Writer… Me, I love all the features, stable, and performance that Mac OS X and its applications have to offer… anything Microsoft.. well I’m not sure they know how to achieve anything but features… oh and it looks pretty… BTW have you noticed that Safari Beta is only 6.6 megs? Internet Explorer.. 26 Megs… Some are trying to keep it simple.

There’s something to be said for the days when you had to get a program to run in 1MB or less of memory and get it to fit on a 1.4MB floppy disc.

Cheap ram and enormous hard drives has contributed extensively to bloat.

Conspiracy is a big, and very loaded word. There’s a never-ending spiral where hardware gets faster and better…we need a new generation of software to capitalize on it…for a while we are happy, then we find we want to do new things with our computers that place greater demands on hardware…hardware gets faster and better…and so forth. Sure, one can think of some silly and trivial “upgrades” but most of the time the consumer is the winner. Sure, we get separated from a fair amount of money, but aren’t are lives better and richer? The past couple of decades have been a helluva ride, and I for one look back it it with nothing but gratitude.

Which product updates do you think have made your life “better and richer?”

WIthout just making the manufacturer rich.

I’m just curious.

Peace,
Gene

Pity, Word 5.1 ported to OSX would be very fast, and good enough for most users. Not to let Apple off the hook, most of 10.4s hardware requirements seem to be to run the eye-candy. Also, you shouldn’t expect the newest ubuntu live CD to run on any thrift store pentium.

Conspiracy is a big, and very loaded word. There’s a never-ending spiral where hardware gets faster and better…we need a new generation of software to capitalize on it…for a while we are happy, then we find we want to do new things with our computers that place greater demands on hardware…hardware gets faster and better…and so forth. Sure, one can think of some silly and trivial “upgrades” but most of the time the consumer is the winner. Sure, we get separated from a fair amount of money, but aren’t are lives better and richer? The past couple of decades have been a helluva ride, and I for one look back it it with nothing but gratitude.