Gee, everyone's been fuming so much about the "PowerBook availability" problem and the "iMac Non-Expandability" problem that the recent "G3-Only Mac OS X" issue seems to have taken a back seat. Luckily, Reality hasn't let the subject drop, and offers evidence that, yes, Apple's current plans are to support Mac OS X only on "Power Macintosh G3" systems. Even systems as recent as the 9600-- even with a G3 upgrade card-- will not be officially supported. Consternation! Uproar!

Now, before you get your knickers in a twist, it's not quite as bad as it sounds. In order to save money, Apple is planning only to certify Mac OS X for use with Power Macintosh G3 hardware. Mac OS X will, in all likelihood, still run on any system that would have run Rhapsody, but Apple isn't planning to spend the time and money proving that officially. (Sounds sort of similar to how Apple is no longer marketing its newer systems as "processor-upgradeable," even if the chip is in a ZIF socket-- it's a legal thing, and a resources thing.) Personally, we bet that Apple will broaden the list of supported hardware before the operating system ships-- it is a year and a half away, after all. We'll see if the new PowerBooks and the iMac provide a decent influx of cash.

Don't forget, even if Apple doesn't change its mind about this, if your system can't run Mac OS X (or you don't want to run an "unsupported" operating system on your machine), there will still be Allegro and Sonata. All Mac OS X applications that are written with the Carbon API's will run just fine on those versions of the Mac OS; you won't, however, be able to take advantage of any of Mac OS X's modern features. As for us, we at AtAT are more than willing to take a chance by running Mac OS X on our PowerTower Pro, which by then will almost certainly have a G3 upgrade installed-- though we admit, this whole thing gives us yet another reason for buying a new Mac... Guess we'll wait and see how those G3 Pro machines turn out this November.