Duration of non supported applications

[Ken Ray]

On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:23:45 +0100, Signe Marie Sanne wrote:

> So far I have used MetaCard and engine 2.6.6. The programs make use 
> of a portal stack (thanks to Sivakatirswami) which downloads/opens 
> the various educational programs. This downloading is done by http.
> 
> My questions to the group:
> If the institute and the students are happy with the programs as 
> they  are with no urgent need to change anything,  for how many years 
> can we count on their functioning? 5? 10?

Well, that would depend on how often the computers they're running on 
get upgraded with new operating systems, etc. If they never get 
upgraded, they will last as long as the computer can last at the 
institute. Unfortunately, if they *do* get upgraded, there's no way to 
tell whether something in a new OS will cause a program to fail - for 
example, the latest post about the Daylight Savings Time bug would 
cause date-oriented applications to fail unless they are patched to 
work. 

> Should I convert them all to latest version of Revolution? Would this 
> secure a longer life for them?

Well, for *Macs*, I'd say you should upgrade them. The reason is that 
2.6.6 is not Intel or Universal Binary, so it's currently running under 
Rosetta. Eventually Apple will discontinue Rosetta support (much as it 
discontinued Classic support), so if you upgrade to the latest Rev you 
will at least be sure that if Rosetta goes away it won't affect your 
program.
 
> Can we  count on a contiuous existence of QuickTime and Microsoft 
> Multimedia Tools when new systems arrive?

Once again, it's hard to project too far into the future, but I'd have 
to say that Apple has such a strategic investment in QuickTime, so that 
would indicate to me that QT will be here for a LONG time. As to 
Microsoft Multimedia Tools - that's anyone's guess. If you're talking 
specifically about Windows Media Player, I would say based on past 
history that some form of WMP will be around for a long time as well.

Hope this helps,

Ken Ray
Sons of Thunder Software, Inc.
Email: kray at sonsothunder.com
Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/