Back |
Software |
Mac OS X PowerPC |
Mac OS X Intel |
Carbon applications |
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Classic applications
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Mac
OS X Intel does not support Classic applications. |
Cocoa applications |
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Darwin applications |
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Dashboard widgets |
Dashboard widgets are not
applications in the classical sense and run
unmodified on both platforms.
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Java applications |
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Other applications |
Microsoft
Virtual PC allows the running of operating systems for Intel-based
computers on the Macintosh desktop. Windows applications are supported
and run in emulation. |
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Application
type |
Considerations |
What
to do |
Apple
bundled applications |
Apple
have built these applications for PowerPC and Intel for the last five
years. |
Mac
OS X Intel will come with the usual bundled applications. Thus do
nothing. |
Other
Apple applications |
Apple
have complete control over these applications and most of them should
already be running on Intel computers. |
Apple
will definitely sell Intel versions of their applications. Free updates
might be available. |
Word
processors, editors, spreadsheets, and other productivity applications |
Productivity
applications tend not to be very processor-intensive and should run
well on Rosetta. |
Use
the PowerPC versions of the software and update to Intel or universal
versions whenever convenient. |
Productivity
applications (Classic) |
Classic
applications do not run on Intel processors. |
Upgrade
to Carbonized versions of the software or keep a PowerPC Mac around. |
Original
Macintosh games |
Macintosh
games might be hard to port. |
These
games will probably not run well on Rosetta. |
Ported
Macintosh games |
These
games tend to be portable. |
Updates
to Intel versions might be available for free. |
Macintosh
games (Classic) |
Classic
applications do not run on Intel processors. |
Update
to Carbonized versions of the games or keep a PowerPC Mac around. |
Multimedia
applications |
Multimedia
applications (like video players) tend to be very portable and are
usually ported to Mac OS from Linux or Windows. |
Download
Intel versions of the software which should be available very soon. |
Darwin
and open source applications |
Open
source applications are usually very portable. They are often installed
as source code and compiled on the target system or available as binary
packages for the specific platform. |
Install
open source software like you would on any Linux/Unix/Macintosh
computer. |
Unix
applications with Carbon or Cocoa interface |
Non-free
Unix applications are usually easily ported and only require work on
the user interface. |
Expect
Intel versions soon, possibly as free updates. |
Application type |
Considerations |
Likely
outcome |
Apple
bundled applications |
Apple
control these applications. |
Bundled
applications will be on par on both PowerPC and Intel. |
Other
Apple applications |
Apple
control these applications. |
Depending
on how the PowerPC and Intel architectures develop such applications
might be released for Intel only or for both PowerPC and Intel. |
Productivity
applications |
Productivity
applications are rarely CPU-specific. |
As
long as developers will have PowerPC machines, productivity
applications will be released for both PowerPC and Intel. |
Original
Macintosh games |
Macintosh
games are usually not CPU-specific (if Carbon). |
These
games will be available for both PowerPC and Intel. |
Ported
Macintosh games |
These
games are usually Windows ports. |
Intel
only. |
Windows
games |
Such
are games that run under Wine but have not been ported at all. |
Intel
only. |
Multimedia
applications |
Multimedia
applications are released very much according to very current demand. |
Very
new proprietary technologies will be Intel only. Most multimedia
software will be cross-platform with versions for PowerPC and Intel. |
Darwin
and open source applications |
These
applications are very portable. |
Open
source very much ignores the underlying architecture. PowerPC and Intel. |
Unix
applications with Carbon or Cocoa interface |
These
applications are very portable. |
PowerPC
and Intel for some time. Depending on development maybe Intel only in a
few years. |