[X4U] Apple QC slipping?

[Randy B. Singer]

On Dec 17, 2008, at 9:29 PM, Ed Gould wrote:

> When you take basic functionality of an OS and essentially tell the  
> users to go scratch people (including myself) get upset. Quality  
> control is part of *COMPATIBILITY* AT least one major manufacturer  
> takes such items seriously. From design to implementation it is  
> part of the QC process. Compatibility between releases of OS (and  
> or hardware) is really important because like I said 100's of  
> millions of dollars of investment (company assets are involved) if  
> those assets no longer work they cannot be on the books as assets.  
> 100's of millions is no small bowl of nuts it is a piece of the pie  
> and every CEO looks at all the important financial numbers. 100's  
> of millions is NOT chump change to any corporate entity.

I agree with Aron that backwards compatibility and quality control  
aren't at all the same thing, no matter how you stretch the  
definition of quality.

Backwards compatibility is high on Apple's list.  That's why they  
paid quite a bit of money to Transitive to use their technology to  
create Rosetta.  Rosetta works surprisingly well for an emulator, and  
it's seamless.

But if you are still complaining about the loss of OS 9  
compatibility, I think that it's time to get over it.  OS 9 was  
discontinued about 8 years ago, which is a huge amount of time in the  
personal computer world.  I'm surprised that Apple continued to  
support the use of OS 9 programs, in the form of Classic, for as long  
as it did.

One of the huge reasons that Microsoft was so hamstrung in getting  
out Vista is because they are trying to support too much legacy  
code.  Every industry analyst is saying that Microsoft has to ditch  
the legacy code and start over and create a new lean and fast  
operating system if they don't want to see their market share  
continue to shrink.  Apple, because they don't have to support a lot  
of legacy code, is not only able to keep on quickly updating OS X,  
but they are also able to migrate OS X to other platforms  
efficiently, like the iPhone.
http://kohcan.notlong.com
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8160
http://eteenie.notlong.com
Vista is a pig of an OS.  OS 9 was getting to be a pig too. While it  
was a shame to have to upgrade all of our old software, we are very  
lucky that OS X is lean and mean.

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
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