PPC: a lame duck

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I said some time ago that the PM G5 lost much of its value once the Mactels were released. Many people here disagreed. Now comes Adobe’s Soundbooth an application that is Mactel only and apparently will never be implemented on the PPC. I expect to see more of this in the months to come--including from Apple!



A demo of this application is available here (again mactel only). http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/soundbooth/



Why anyone would pay full price a PM G5 when it was in lame duck status is beyond me.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 47
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    What would be really funny is if they made Adobe CS3 Intel only making sure they piss all the Mac users off. The PPC isn't a lame duck though, it's developer support for it that's lame. After all, the next gen games consoles all use PPC.



    I do think that mainstream desktops will eventually ditch PPC altogether, currently it's happening in hardware and inevitably this will follow in software. I think it's a good thing because I don't like it when developers are faced with more work than necessary because it means the product takes longer to develop and it is likely to be worse. Universal processor architectures means better and more software for everyone.
  • Reply 2 of 47
    regreg Posts: 832member
    Software cost a lot more than the hardware. All the software I have right now works on PPC's. Not all of that software is optimized for intel yet. Till then it will be a slow transition because it is more cost efficient.
  • Reply 3 of 47
    jinixjinix Posts: 33member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin


    What would be really funny is if they made Adobe CS3 Intel only making sure they piss all the Mac users off.



    haha that'd be really funny



    I'd love to see the PPC fanatics cry. But then again, I think it's the basic instinct of all PPC users to try to deny that their stuff will fade away real quick.
  • Reply 4 of 47
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Glad I have an Intel Mac!
  • Reply 5 of 47
    baygbmbaygbm Posts: 147member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jinix


    haha that'd be really funny



    I'd love to see the PPC fanatics cry. But then again, I think it's the basic instinct of all PPC users to try to deny that their stuff will fade away real quick.



    That would be hilarious! I warned you it would happen. It was so amusing to hear those PM G5 claim that their boxes had not gone down in value with the introduction of Mactels. ha ha ha



    I predict that less than 3 major software upgrades for PM G5 owners will emerge in 07 and none in 08.



    ? OS 10.5

    ? CS3 (if they're lucky)

    ? ???
  • Reply 6 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by baygbm


    I said some time ago that the PM G5 lost much of its value once the Mactels were released. Many people here disagreed. Now comes Adobe?s Soundbooth an application that is Mactel only and apparently will never be implemented on the PPC. I expect to see more of this in the months to come--including from Apple!



    A demo of this application is available here (again mactel only). http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/soundbooth/



    Why anyone would pay full price a PM G5 when it was in lame duck status is beyond me.



    I have a feeling this program (Soundbooth) will be primarily developed for Windows, only secondarily for the Macintel.
  • Reply 7 of 47
    baygbmbaygbm Posts: 147member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich


    I have a feeling this program (Soundbooth) will be primarily developed for Windows, only secondarily for the Macintel.





    Maybe. Maybe not. Only time will tell, but the fact that it is available as a beta download already bodes well for Adobe?s interest in developing for the Mactel.



    http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/10...ooth/index.php



    Adobe knows, as do we all, that for a lot of people doing audio/video work the Mac is the preferred platform.
  • Reply 8 of 47
    Yes, the point was it was not really developed with the existing majority Mac base in mind (otherwise it would have been released as a beta for PPC as well). This is not a good sign for the vast majority of Apple computer owners.
  • Reply 9 of 47
    If the software is labeled Universal Binary, it means it would work on both Intel and PPC platform. Does it really require two sets of codes for UB apps? I thought UB apps can be created using Xcode.
  • Reply 10 of 47
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    It's too soon to tell yet. For one, it's just one app that is only in beta. It might be updated to UB once it is released. There may be some low-level optimizations that



    Once Adobe has all their apps go UB then the advantage that the G5s have is gone. Right now, that is about six months away.



    I'm not sure why Apple has their current G5s still at a premium price though, the refurbished G5 Quad is still $2700.



    BTW: I am writing this as a new Mac Pro user, my PMG5 2x2.0 is over three years old so the value has gone down considerably already, so I'm not too invested in the PPC platform.
  • Reply 11 of 47
    baygbmbaygbm Posts: 147member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM


    I'm not sure why Apple has their current G5s still at a premium price though, the refurbished G5 Quad is still $2700.





    lol
  • Reply 12 of 47
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    If Adobe is only releasing it for Mac Intel, they are nuts. If they code it on Xcode with Core Audio, all the work is done for them - all they have to do is check a checkbox.



    And there is still a great market for used G5s from graphic designers who need to use native Adobe apps. My next Mac Pro is only going to cost me about $600-$800 once I sell my Rev A G5 and use my $500 ADC discount.
  • Reply 13 of 47
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lundy


    And there is still a great market for used G5s from graphic designers who need to use native Adobe apps. My next Mac Pro is only going to cost me about $600-$800 once I sell my Rev A G5 and use my $500 ADC discount.



    I think that's optimistic on the resale value. I just sold a dual 2.5GHz G5 with a year and a half of Apple Care left for $1400. A PMG5 original is probably going to go for a lot less than that unless you've really stuffed it with upgrades.
  • Reply 14 of 47
    An Adobe blogger commented on this: http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2006/10...o_powerpc.html



    I still think it's silly. Even if you don't optimize for PPC, you can still RELEASE it for PPC.
  • Reply 15 of 47
    baygbmbaygbm Posts: 147member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM


    I think that's optimistic on the resale value. .





    Very!
  • Reply 16 of 47
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gregmightdothat


    An Adobe blogger commented on this: http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2006/10...o_powerpc.html



    I still think it's silly. Even if you don't optimize for PPC, you can still RELEASE it for PPC.





    I don't think that makes much sense either. I would expect that a lot more than half of the Mac installed base is PPC. Apple isn't making new PPC models, but even they still support them. Besides, when you develop software, you at least start with an unoptimized version to prove and refine the concept before optimizing it, machine code optimization should be the last thing to do. They should still have the code.
  • Reply 17 of 47
    OK, I'm new to this, but I thought that a universal binary app worked on both MacTel and PPC. Is this not true?



    And for one Adobe employee's take on this, go here:



    John Nack's Adobe Blog
  • Reply 18 of 47
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by donebylee


    OK, I'm new to this, but I thought that a universal binary app worked on both MacTel and PPC. Is this not true?



    Yes. Soundbooth is not universal.



    Quote:

    And for one Adobe employee's take on this, go here:



    John Nack's Adobe Blog



    Typical apologetic nonsense, and several factual inaccuracies. Should I even bother with this?
  • Reply 19 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker


    Yes. Soundbooth is not universal.



    Sorry, I thought I read somewhere that it was a UB app. Oh well....
  • Reply 20 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker


    Yes. Soundbooth is not universal.







    Typical apologetic nonsense, and several factual inaccuracies. Should I even bother with this?



    Out of curiosity, I disagree with John Nack's premise as well, but what were his inaccuracies?
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