Is Apple Fixing To Quietly Snuff The Last Of The OS 9-Booting Mohicans?

By Charles W. Moore Friday, June 11, 2004.
Tags: OSX Odyssey ď

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783 Nearly two years after Steve Jobs' mock "funeral" for OS 9 at WWDC 2002, has the plug finally been pulled on the last available Mac that could still boot directly into OS 9? Macworld UK reports that:

"Apple's announcement about the newly refreshed Power Mac G5 also marks the demise of the Power Mac G4 1.25GHz.

"Apple says that the 1.25GHz Power Mac G4 will be available while stocks last on the Apple Store and at Apple Authorised Resellers."


However, digitmag.co.uk says that:

"In announcing the new Power Mac G5 models, Apple also indicated that its single-processor Power Mac G4 models have been taken out of production. Since the Power Mac G5's introduction Apple has continued to manufacture and offer 1.25GHz Power Mac G4 systems in single and dual-processor versions. Apple said the ÂŁ850 Power Mac G4 "will no longer be in production and is available for purchase while supplies last."


So there is still some ambiguity. That would seem to imply that the dual-processor 1.25 GHz G4 Power Mac may still be with us for a while yet. Or perhaps not.




I suppose it has to happen sooner or later, but I'm not sure that it should be this soon. Demand for the Classic-booting G4 Power Macs has reportedly remained steady, and for some of Apple's traditional core markets in education, prepress, and publishing for example, there are still many users who resist switching to OS X for software compatibility or upgrading cost reasons.

Even some veteran consumer Mac users are reluctant to part with OS 9 booting. A friend of mine bought one of the 1.25 GHz G4 towers back in February specifically because he did not want to have a machine that could not boot OS 9, although he is now gradually making the transition to OS X at his own pace, much as I did. Longtime readers of this column will recall that my own incremental switch from OS 9 to OS X took about 17 months.

These days, both of my production Macs are running OS X 10.3.x, and I very rarely boot either them into OS 9 any more, but I'm still very happy to have it there. OS 9 can be a lot more tractable than X when you're doing troubleshooting and disk maintenance, and it's just a great comfort to have an alternate booting environment available.

I still fairly frequently get letters from readers who have purchased new OS X - only Macs, then discover that there is some favorite application that refuses to run in Classic Mode. As I noted here in Odyssey 573, there are a couple of Classic applications I find it hard to live without: the text-only browser, WannaBe, and Color It! 4.1, although both work fine in Classic Mode.

In any case, the handwriting appears to be on the wall, and if you want a new OS 9 - bootable Mac, you probably shouldn't let the grass grow under your feet. As of this morning, both the US and Canadian Apple Stores are still listing three different G4 Power Mac OS 9 bootable models:




1.25GHz PowerPC G4
1MB L3 cache
256MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo Drive
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
Mac OS 9 boot supported
US$1,299.00

Dual 1.25GHz PowerPC G4
2MB L3 cache/processor
256MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo Drive
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
Mac OS 9 boot supported
US$1,599.00

Dual 1.25GHz PowerPC G4
2MB L3 cache/processor
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA drive
SuperDrive
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
Mac OS 9 boot supported
US$1,774.00

Get 'em while they're hot, folks. They may not be around for much longer.


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†Posted By Mark Shapiro On† Friday, June 11, 2004 †at† 06:55 PM

I will stay an OS9.22 user for a LONG time - I need the Chooser, the location manager , the Control Strip, the super-easy ability to backup and restore, old super good programs like the Late John McMullen’s Early Bird reminder, AudioShop, and tons of other stuff. I like Windows XP and OSX about the same… I bought 4 Pismo powerbooks so I can run OS9 for many years.

†Posted By mike On† Friday, June 11, 2004 †at† 07:39 PM

Let’s face it… OS 9 users are now LOSERS, especially if their macs can run 10.3. If you want to run some ancient app, get a $100 beige g3 and keep it around. But to buy four powerbooks just to keep running OS9? A complete waste of money and time. Why not just set your money on fire?

The new G5’s are Apple’s best price/power ratio ever. All of the major and minor apps have arrived for X. To continue to cling to OS9 just shows that you are unable to learn new technologies and ideas. X is not perfect, but really, OS9 is dead. Just hold down your mouse button and watch your OS grind to a halt, waiting for you to release it. That’s some great productivity there.

Buying one of these new G4 towers because they still boot OS9? You must have rocks for brains. A few hundred more will purchase a machine that is twice as fast, holds twice the ram, and almost EIGHT TIMES the bus speed.

Yesterday is dead. Think about tomorrow for a change.

†Posted By ks@moosepass On† Friday, June 11, 2004 †at† 10:42 PM

A budget small business enterprise operation could easily buy the PowerMac G4 dual processor 1.25 dual-booting computer and a ton of practical software (and a few titles still made for OS 9.2) for just the cost of pegging out the RAM slots in a DP PowerMac G5!! Retail or wholesale, that’s a bunch of money sitting on a desk…

Sure, you can fill all the slots and run 8GB of 400MHz or higher RAM in a G5; but do You need it? Many users do not care about gaming speeds; they want a workstation at home and/or work that just works. OSX 10.3 isn’t there yet; 10.4? Maybe by OSX 12?

All OS9.2.2 needed was for some open source people to get their hands on it for a year; a refreshening and the ability to sell it direct on the internet would have done wonders. The code is still good.

Rocks for brains? I’ve handled gold nuggets and other investments worthy of consideration while you buy aluminum, plastic, and advertising at a premium.

†Posted By Pete B. On† Saturday, June 12, 2004 †at† 01:47 AM

Hey Shapiro -
Liked your comment. I, too, am a diehard Early Bird user and that is one reason I will not make the switch to OS X.

I also LOVE my Agent DA calendar/reminder software—lean (204k - imagine!), mean and full-featured. Came out ~1990 and it still beats the pants off of most other calendar/reminders. Of course it, too, won’t run under OS X.

Same goes for my trusty Visioneer sheet-fed scanner and its top-notch Paperport software.

And so on.

I have a Performa 6115 CD, an iBook G3/300 and an Imac DV/400, all running OS 9. Plan to upgrade to a G4 soon, but will stick with 9.

I’m a happy Mac OS<X camper and don’t anticipate switching to OS>=X for years to come. Not worth the $$$ investment OS-wise, hardware-wise, or application-wise.

†Posted By Brice Bilmy On† Saturday, June 12, 2004 †at† 05:35 PM

Blimey! Somebody out there other than the local elementary schools still use OS 9???? Haw haw chortle chortle guffaw! What do you have in the basement, a Commodore 64? Come on, quit being so damn cheap and come into the 21st century. MAC OS 9 is DEAD! Long live OS X, and it’s 4th gen. coming this summer!

†Posted By Scott Brown On† Saturday, June 12, 2004 †at† 11:28 PM

Hi Folks:

I understand the desire to stay with the older OS. I too was at that point last year when someone made me a too attractive offer on a Pismo PB that was loaded with OS X.2 (Jag). After a day of using it I was hooked. No crashes, stunning interface, multitasking that works beautifully; all of it was great. The only downside for me was that HyperCard is not OSX native or even carbon, but it does run in Classic.
I do take exception to stating OS X is the same as Win XP. Far from it! XP crashes, it still launches extra copies of the same app if you double click the icon (of an app already running), it makes you go through three dialog boxes to correctly remove a USB flash drive, it’s error messages are brain dead, among about a million other things. XP is what X would have been, if it was around then, about 9 years ago. In fact, pretty much all of the features MS is touting for their next OS, Longhorn, are already here in X (except for the ugliness and stuipd failures).
Anyway, I’ll sum it up this way: OS 9 is nice, and it’s great to keep machines around that boot into it as many of you said you have apps you use that won’t run in X. In addition, just because Apple is no longer producing machines that boot into 9 doesn’t mean yours will stop working, and there will be quite a few hanging around on eBay and such if you need to replace. However, time does march on and you will need to eventually move on as well. OS X is the future of the Macintosh computer, and I honestly feel that it is superior to the older OS’s in many ways. 

†Posted By Scott Brown On† Saturday, June 12, 2004 †at† 11:29 PM

Oh, I forgot to ask: Mark, why do you need the Chooser, if you don’t mind me asking? And the control strip, while we are at it? Not an attack, I’m just curious as to people’s needs and how they use their computers.

†Posted By Mark Shapiro On† Sunday, June 13, 2004 †at† 12:07 AM

Scott asked why do I need the Chooser
1) It’s the best way on earth to test network wiring. I use the Chooser to keep open as I plug into various ethernet ports. Unlike OSX and Windows , “chatty” Appletalk almost instanty shows me printers and servers - proving network wiring is good.

2) It’s an all-in-one place to find servers and printers - locally connected or over the network.

3) It’s always where I can find it, it has a consistant interface.

4) After using it for so many years, it pains me to have to play the “Go” or connect things and do the UNC stuff just like on windows.

5) It is simple, it hides the details I don’t need to see unless I want to.

And you are right, OSX is more stable than XP, but for me, XP is tons easier to set up sharing and add users, and such.

I still use a hand-operated can-opener, I know the new electric ones are cool, and OS9 is something I can use and depend on. And my Pismo has a G4-550 chip in it, a gig of Ram, and a 7200 RPM 60-gig hard drive, partitioned into 30 gigs for OS9, and 30 for Panther. I like OS9 much better, thanks!

†Posted By Alex On† Sunday, June 13, 2004 †at† 02:49 AM

A good friend of mine passed away last February. The Christmas before, I had installed OSX on his B&W;G3 and he used it to do the simple stuff - web browsing and email. Smart guy he was - picked it up right away.

One of his last words to me thanked me for giving him a glimpse into the future, even though he would not be there to see it through.

I don’t think he would have switched by himself. I see a lot of him in the words of these OS9 diehards.

†Posted By Robert On† Sunday, June 13, 2004 †at† 08:13 AM

There are many, many reasons not to “upgrade” to an OS that looks like a XP clone, security holes and all.

I think it’s time to start organizing a Mac OS 9 subculture to help each other keep using the most elegant OS Apple ever made.

How about posting some OS 9-centric Web sites? What’s out there?

†Posted By Pete B. On† Sunday, June 13, 2004 †at† 08:48 PM

Hey Robert. Good idea. Maybe we Niners could start archiving some of the best OS 9 apps and make them available to others, while encouraging those with programming skills to port them to OS X. Some of my most useful, dependable and elegant apps came out 14 years ago. Haven’t found anything in OS X that comes close to these. When, and only when, OS X becomes as easy to use, secure, elegant and has as many apps with these same qualities will I make the switch.

†Posted By metho4u On† Monday, June 14, 2004 †at† 01:08 AM

I suppose if there was a bunch of System 6 devotees, there was likely to be some MacOS 9 fans.
My reasons for only occasional Mac OS X use are:
1) It seems to me that 10.2.8 is still very US-centric. In Australia A4 is our paper size but I have great difficulty getting my text out to the margins for my standard letters. It seems that the “A4� default is not quite what it seems. It will enable a thin hairline out to 4mm from the edges but the text may want to conclude suspiciously like at the end of a US Letter page.
2) Filemaker Pro 6 (a number of licences and the Server), which runs the backbone of our business, works fine on our network of Mac OS 9.22 machines. Prompt sync with my Palm
3) Despite all the obvious tweaks, the keyboard and scrolling resposiveness of 10.2.8 is slower than 9.2.2. My main machine is a Pismo PB 500Mhz, 7200rpm 60GB HD, and just upgraded RAM to 512.
4) Training time. The office staff have finally mastered 9.2.2 after 2-3 years.
5) I finally conquered the incoming fax demon. FaxSTF Pro 5.2 sits on a ruby red iMac which is on the network. Via a simple alias we can all see the incoming faxes and rename the easily (which you can’t do with FaxSTF pro). We only need to print a fraction of the faxes. We use the inkjet fax only for outgoing faxes. (incomng:outgoing = 5:1). This harmonious relationship won’t work in Classic on 10.2.8
Lee
Put me down for the Club of 9’s

†Posted By Scott Brown On† Monday, June 14, 2004 †at† 12:06 PM

I’m not sure I agree with the “easier to set up users on XP than X” (but to each his own, right?), and I certainly don’t agree that X is an XP clone, as it does not have near the security holes nor is it as ugly, and the interface is far better. Okay, end of that, we’ll agree to disagree. ;-{)}
As for sticking with 9.x, I have no problem with that. It’s just that I don’t think dissing X is the answer. For example, I upgraded from 7.5 to 8.6 (skipped 8.1 and 9), and stayed there until my Pismo came loaded with X. Frankly, I didn’t really care for the rounded 3-D look of the buttons and such of the later OS’s prior to X. I found the simple double-line-one-thicker-than-the-other look of default buttons and such easier to view and really far more elegant.
I also think you are correct about a web site or two for die-hard 9 users. Maybe I’ll post it...what kind of stuff would you like to see on such a site?

†Posted By Mark Shapiro On† Monday, June 14, 2004 †at† 12:58 PM

When Jobs had a funeral for OS9, I thought about registering OS9Forever.com, but found it was in use already - but it’s limited to helping very old Macs run OS9.

†Posted By metho4u On† Monday, June 14, 2004 †at† 04:35 PM

Dear Scott
a) Experiences with software that runs better on 9 than X
b) Sources of software
c) Shared experiences
d) Optimal hardware for different OS9 apps
e) Further testimonials of non-changers. why?

Would be helpful tidbits for me on the web
Lee

†Posted By Robert On† Monday, June 14, 2004 †at† 06:08 PM

metho4u, what an awesome domain name for OS 9 users: “clubofnines.com”.

Since I own a Web site design and hostinging business, I went ahead and registered that name. Since you were the one to come up with the name, I will transfer ownership to you if you wish.

Otherwise, I will host clubofnines.com for free, and accept any and all ideas, designs, suggestions and submissions to help build our online OS 9 support site.

Email me at (Give the domain name until June 15th or 16th to propagate the Internet.)

†Posted By Pete B. On† Monday, June 14, 2004 †at† 10:17 PM

Read this horror story…

“Mac OS X: The best of times, the worst of times” (http://www.macsimumperspective.com/more.php?id=197_0_1_0_C)

Things may rarely go wrong in X, but when they do, they go Xtra wrong. Just for the record, I think OS X really IS the future. It’s just that for me, it hasn’t reached there yet.
///////////////////////////
Scott - I agree with metho4u as to what an OS 9 web site might contain. I’d be happy to contribute.

†Posted By metho4u On† Tuesday, June 15, 2004 †at† 08:23 AM

Clubofnines it is.
Maybe we could make a pack of 52 cards with the worst X features. On second thoughts....

†Posted By Robert On† Wednesday, June 16, 2004 †at† 08:50 PM

It’s awfully nice of Charles to let us use his site as a bulletin board, but I think we should continue this discussion elsewhere.

I have set up a phpBB bulletin board on ‘clubofnines’, and am inviting Lee, Scott, Pete, and anyone else interested to join us at: http://www.clubofnines.com/board/

If you guys are willing to help, I think we can offer a great service to the OS 9 community!

†Posted By Mark Shapiro On† Wednesday, June 16, 2004 †at† 09:10 PM

Well, I bought an iSight, and despite it being OSX only, and demanding a 600 Mhz G4, it worked right away on a 400 Mhz G4 - and it sure is neat. I think OSX will win us over eventually, but I will always keep using OS9! Now onto http://www.clubofnines.com/board/

†Posted By Emma On† Saturday, July 03, 2004 †at† 01:51 AM

I’m *desperately* searching for a scott a brown. I noticed one has posted on this board. PLEASE dont get angry at me for posting this! I need to find this guy!
He knows who is is....can that Scott Brown on here please give me an email back?
Emma

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