AW: Support for Mac OSX 10.5

[Tiemo Hollmann TB]

Though I can follow the arguments for concentrating the efforts on new and
faster platforms, I actually can't believe that only 3,8% of Mac users would
be affected (if you count notebooks to desktops). I myself have beside my
iMac a MacBook from around 2007 which is not upgradebale on OS X 10.6
anymore and I am sure there are a lot of those machines out there with 10.5,
from my feeling much more than 3,8%. So I would be very unhappy to tell all
my clients out there with these kind of machines, sorry you either can't buy
new software from me nore updates to existing software anymore. And I can't
afford to compile and supply two different versions of my software.

So from my side thumb down

Tiemo


> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: use-livecode [mailto:use-livecode-bounces at lists.runrev.com] Im
Auftrag
> von Benjamin Beaumont
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 25. Februar 2014 17:19
> An: LiveCode Developer List; How to use LiveCode
> Betreff: Support for Mac OSX 10.5
> 
> Dear List Members,
> 
> As many of you will know, we have been overhauling the LiveCode engine for
the
> last 12 months or so. For those of you who are watching the LiveCode
Github
> repository, you'll notice that:
> 
> - LiveCode 7 (Unicode) is nearing a workable engine.
> - LiveCode 6.7 (Cocoa) is nearing a workable engine.
> 
> As we approach a DP we have a decision to make in regards to our
continuing
> support for older platforms, in particular, Mac OSX 10.5. LiveCode 6.7
> requires considerable additional development resource to enable us to
continue
> supporting Mac OSX 10.5. The cocoa port is all but complete for MacOS 10.6
and
> above. Our current plan is to put out a DP of LiveCode 6.7 as soon on the
> final elements are running and then return to round out Mac OSX 10.5
support
> in subsequent DPs. LiveCode 7.0 has also required us to spend considerable
> amounts of time ensuring compatibility with 10.5 and has complicated our
build
> process. As the 7.0 project matures, we'll have to continue investing
> development resource to ensure that Mac OSX 10.5 is fully support, above
and
> beyond the resources used to support 10.6 and above.
> 
> So we'd like to consult the community to gauge whether now is the
appropriate
> time to cease our support for Mac OS X 10.5. It would mean that LiveCode
6.6
> would be the final Mac OSX 10.5 compatible version. We're keen to get the
> right balance between investing our development resources in progress and
> platform support.
> 
> Are there compelling reasons to support MacOS X 10.5 in LiveCode 6.7 and
> above? If so, we'd love to hear them.
> 
> Also, if we don't drop support at this point, when would it be appropriate
for
> us to do so?
> 
> Below is our list of concerns and also reasons we feel it benefits our
team
> and the community to drop support at this time.
> 
> Concerns
> MacOS 10.5 is the final version to support PowerPC. As a result, owners of
> PowerPC based Macs would not be able to use LiveCode 6.7 or above.
However,
> only 3.8% of Mac desktop computers are running MacOS X 10.5 according to
> netmarketshare.com:
> 
>
http://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=11&qpaf=&qpcustom=Mac+OS+X+1
0.
> 5&qpcustomb=0
> 
> Users of LiveCode would be able to continue supporting their PowerPC
customers
> by building with LiveCode 6.6, but as a result would have to start
shipping
> two mac installers.
> 
> Pros
> Dropping support has the following advantages for the LiveCode team and
the
> community:
> 
>    1. We spend less time back porting the 10.6 cocoa implementation to
>    support 10.5 (10.5's Cocoa APIs are less mature than 10.6's and it
isn't
>    possible to completely eliminate Carbon usage for a 10.5 port). We
estimate
>    it will take 3-4 weeks to get the core engine working on 10.5. This
saving
>    also applies to all future projects.
>    2. We spend less time getting new developments to build and run under
>    10.5. For example, the new libraries to support unicode took a
considerable
>    investment of engineering resource to compile for 10.5.
>    3. We can use newer compilers on Mac that have improved optimisation
>    features, the result being a faster LiveCode engine.
>    4. Implementing desktop features for Mac becomes simpler (and as a
>    result quicker) with the API's being relatively consistent from
10.6-10.9.
>    This enables us to deliver features faster. The remainder of the
stretch
>    goals for the kickstarter project are 'feature' implementations.
Supporting
>    10.5 requires us to implement the features for more than one API, in
many
>    cases doubling the amount of work we have to do.
>    5. Building and feature additions become easier for open-source
>    contributors.
> 
> Thanks for reading up to this point. We appreciate your feedback as it
will
> help us in our decision making process.
> 
> Warm regards,
> 
> Ben
> 
> _____________________________________________
> 
> Benjamin Beaumont . RunRev Ltd
> 
> LiveCode Product Manager
> mail : 25a Thistle Street Lane South West, Edinburgh, EH2 1EW email :
> ben at runrev.com company : +44(0) 845 219 89 23 fax : +44(0) 845 458 8487
web :
> www.runrev.com
> 
> LiveCode - Programming made simple
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