david@sherpa.UUCP (Dave Quarles) (04/19/91)
Here is some information on what some are doing with their software and system 7.0 soon release. Bits and pieces from MacWEEK. Even though sys 7 will be out soon and has been tested by nearly every- one, not all third party applications will be ready when the new system comes out May 13. Apple is taking steps to prepare users for the move help people decide when to upgrade, based on whether apps they use can run under sys 7. Last week, company engineers were testing a second `final candidate' (7.0FC2 ?) version of the new os. The latest versions are supposed to fix bugs that truned up in the late betas sent to developers a month ago. The changes have also made the system compatible with several apps. that did not do properly with prev. versions. Many vendors are working very hard to update their apps and utils. to be able to work with sys7. CE software is to have said, "We had to scramble to update our products . When beta4 arrived and we say it was so solid, we pushed ahead to make sure everything was ready. It's `just-in-time compatibility.'" Compatibility with existing software is expected to be a concern for users trying to decide whether and when to upgrade their systems. Apple has already posted a prerelease version of Compatibility checker, a HyperCard stack to be included with the 7.0 upgrades, on AppleLink. The stack examines users' hard disks and reports on the compatibility of apps. and system extensions it finds. The report produced by the stack separates apps into several categories. MacWEEK apparently tested the stack. Tests showed that recent releases of most major apps are classified as fully compatible with sys7, but some older progs. (naturally), especially shareware, are not included in the stack's internal database. Such software is listed at the end of the user report as "unknown", along with progs. known to be incompat- ible. The incompatibility of in-house apps and some 3rd party progs, especially ones that are no longer suported, will at least for now deter some users from going to sys7. (I have a cartridge drive and will probably put sys7 on one SyQuest, booting from it for practice until I find an acceptable mixture of my favorite INITs and CDEVs that will work as well as the apps I use.) Some will refuse to upgrade because of the compatibility problem. Some feel that the changeover to sys7 will not be real dramatic, "Take a look at anybody's machine. They have one or two significant programs that are going to work, but one or two that are no linger supported or the developer can't afford to focus on. If those are incompatible, users are out of luck." (CE's Skeie) Apple reportedly is not adding its own test results to the compatibility stack, relying on developers to supply information about their own pro- grams. Fewer that 400 programs were included in the prerelease list examined by MacWEEK. Apple last week send developers a message strongly urging them to supply compatibility information by April 22 for the release ver. of the stack. (Most of the above was supplied by Raines Cohen of MacWEEK for those of us that DON'T get MacWEEK. I hope you found it useful.)