The days of “the only things Macs are good for are graphic design and newspapers” appear to be coming to a close. It seems like a smart move, as the years of product placement in movies like “You’ve Got Mail” haven’t helped Apple regain the ground it lost to Microsoft in the 90’s.
The Rosetta software will provide cross-compatibility in the future, meaning that Windows as well as Mac operating systems could be installed concurrently. But the new Macs will not support OS 9 or earlier versions.
Though Apple will not sell or support other operating systems but acknowledges the ability to run other systems.
“Mac OS X is cross-platform by design,” Jobs said.
A dual-system machine may prove to be a crowd pleaser indeed. But Jobs support of the new hardware seems a bit contradictory. Jobs still maintains that the Power PC architecture will always be superior, even with the acknowledgement that the G5 has power consumption and heat issues.
At any rate, the only constant in life is change (unless you’re Kant), and this may prove to be a positive one, especially if families can’t agree on which kind of computer to buy. Now they can buy one and have both.
