(no subject)

[chhotii]

Well excuse us for being early adopters of Apple Computer technology. Apparently this makes us too square for Apple Inc. (Ipod Inc.?) to deal with.

So my co-workers have tons of work that was done in an old Macintosh program that was never ported to OS X. Apple Inc. is no longer in the business of selling computers that run Macintosh programs. If you have the latest and greatest-- an Intel mac and/or 10.5-- no Classic environment, no more 20th century software for you.

I'm trying to get SheepShaver to work. It's tantalizingly close to working, except that all the OS 9.0 CDs I have are ones that originally came with computers. No "generic" OS 9.0 CDs. Apple is giving away versions 7.5 to 8.1, but not 9.0. Can't I buy OS 9.0? No? Duh, silly me! Computers aren't for continuing work started 10 years ago! Computers are for downloading music!

P.S. Any packrats out there who can loan me a generic Mac OS 9.0 CD? (Has to be 9.0, not 9.2, alas.)

Comments

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

I appear to have one. It just says OS 9 on it, but there's no qualifications, even in the readme, so I assume it's 9.0. You'll have to stop by here for it if you want it.

It's a copy - not an original. I don't know if that matters.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

That might be very helpful, although, it might be one that's tied to a particular model model of Mac. They never mention it in the readme if it is. There's no way of knowing before trying to install it, if we don't have the original disk label.

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

I suspect it is generic, actually, but I can't be 100% certain of that. I have it here in Arlington, if you decide you want it.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

I think I found what I need from a reasonably reliable on-line source, saving me the rainy-night drive, but thanks!

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's unreasonable to desupport old software eventually. Even IBM does it. It does present a problem for archivists, though.

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

Well excuse us for being early adopters of Apple Computer technology. Apparently this makes us too square for Apple Inc. (Ipod Inc.?) to deal with.

I don't want to diminish your quite real aggravation here, but you do realize that supporting Classic -- which Apple announced nearly a decade ago was being deprecated, and over five years ago would soon no longer be supported -- costs Real Money, right? Dozens to hundreds of engineers, hundreds to thousands of call center employees, all drawing salaries, and all stuck supporting an OS that was so unstable and unmaintainable that it drove the majority of their customer and developer base directly to Windows. (Also: opportunity costs. Engineers devoted full-time to keeping Classic somehow almost functional are engineers who can't do anything else.)

It's annoying, to be sure, but it's not like they're doing it to spite people. I think your ire might be better directed at the software vendor who, having years of advance notice, decided to leave their customers in the lurch.

(What program, out of curiosity? PageMaker?)

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Nathan, I understand that. I do not expect even support, let alone further development, from Apple. I would just like it if they would distribute it. Just as they do distribute System 7.5.3 and System 8.1, on-line, for free, totally unsupported but there. I agree that the old Mac OS was a terrible OS and that it's best to leave it behind if possible, of course, but if we want to limp along in a limited way for certain software that hasn't been ported, why do we have to rummage through people's basements? Surely Apple has a copy of the magic CD, why can't they just upload an image?

OH, and believe me, tremendous rage IS directed at the software vendor that bought the old software vendor just to kill off the product to force people into using their inferior yet more expensive product.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i would like it if apple released an OSX app environment that let you "click" to choose a flavor of OS9, VM style perhaps, to run some old apps and games; not unlike wine/crossover. a very light-weight thing, and NOT supported (well the OS9 part anyway)... perhaps not even like the "classic environment" but somehow more lightweight/apped/something.

i mean, right now i can run dosbox and crossover, and run many, but not all windows apps. without any windows. geez! if not apple, then someone should "get this done"...

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[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Well, SheepShaver-- and the other one, that lets you run 7.5-- are open-source. If YOU think the old apps are worth it, and you think old Mac apps could be run in a light-weight style, download the source and get hacking!

You will still need to get your hand on some super-secret ROM and System bits from Apple, though.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

oh, i didn't catch that the first time. i thought sheepshaver was some old screen saver or other app for os9.

sweet. mmm, so apple provides a free rom... but no way to extract it in os9. nice :) well, i can mount the image in osx. there has to be a way to read the bugger without. mmm.

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