Re: MCL's gone, now what?

[jwbaxter@olympus.net (John W. Baxter)]

According to the subject, all your MCL CDs melt the day the Macintosh on
powerPC rolls out.  NOT!

It doesn't go native powerPC unless (1) Apple changes its mind (it's
happened before) or (2) Apple finds the willing 3rd party to take on MCL
and do the port (such 3rd parties do exist...DAL recently found such a
home...also a niche product).

What to do (assuming your MCL CDs don't actually melt).

1.  Short term:  don't buy a powerPC Mac.  Buy an existing Quadra model,
and accept the powerPC upgrade card.  When you want to run MCL fast,
restart said Quadra as a 68040 Mac.

2.  Long term:  that's the problem, and it's real.  After the Quadras you
just bought in #1 wear out or you need more, there is a need for something
to have happened.  So...if Apple said they WERE going to produce a native
MCL, would you have bet the company on that?  Each organization's answer
will be different.

But...in today's market, 5 year plans are pure bunk, anyhow...they are
created because the MBAs in the closet say they should be.  4 years ago,
would you have based an MCL buy decision on whether powerPC native MCL
would exist?

Rich Lynch says,

>So, now that the death bell is tolling, what should a poor guy do?
>I've already sunk more into MACL/MCL than I can afford:

>Become an APDA member before you can even buy MACL.
$20 at the time.  So?

>Buy MACL.
I skipped this step...

>Oh, we've dropped the membership requirement now.
>Pay hundreds of $s to upgrade to MCL. *

...So I don't know how painful this progression was.

...
>So, what's it cost to get a decent c environment?  [shudder]

About the same as MCL.  The decent one seems to be about to be CodeWarrior
from MetroWerks.

Symantec doesn't seem anxious to remove the bugs from Think C.

Prograph deserves a hard look (it has for a long time).  Dynamic, OOP, and
all.  Also about the same price.

   --John

--
jwbaxter@pt.olympus.net (John W. Baxter)  Port Ludlow, WA
The opinions expressed here are those of a large tree in my back yard.
finger me to prove I'm all wet (Port Ludlow rainfall numbers).