[Don Pickett]

Most interesting parts to me are that PPC is almost completely gone. The reporting user base is 96% Intel-powered, 97% 64-bit, 68% laptops, and only 3% single CPU/single core. Almost no PPC in there.

Adium - Sparkle+ Information

[nonhuman]

I can't speak for anyone else, but PPC Macs are essentially useless for me. I could hack my way to a workable solution, but it simply isn't as easy to get my development workflow off the ground on a PPC machine, even if I run Linux instead of OS X (which is what I do on the G4 iBook we've got laying around).

I use homebrew extensively to install and maintain a fairly large number of utilities and apps (currently 33 on my home iMac, probably more on my MacBook Pro at work), and while it's possible to install those without homebrew it really isn't worth my time to do so, especially as it would require me to maintain two different workflows for installing/updating/removing those packages. Using Linux actually solves this problem quite nicely as I already have a workflow for dealing with Linux, as our webservers at work are Ubuntu-powered. I'm already familiar enough with the various Linux flavors out there that I'd be perfectly happy using any Debian- or Gentoo-based distro if this were the only issue.

The other big show stopper for me is that Chrome isn't (and won't be) available for PPC, on OS X or on Linux. Yes, there are obviously other browser, and yes I can use them if I need to, but, again, dealing with that workaround is an interruption in my workflow that reduces my productivity and makes my general computer usage experience less pleasant. I suppose there's a very remote chance that some non-Google developer will remedy this situation (it probably wouldn't be all THAT difficult, as the biggest incompatibility is Google's V8 JavaScript engine, so in theory someone could just rip that out and use a different engine that already works on PPC), but why would anyone bother doing all that work to support a dying platform?

[P]

Originally Posted by Don Pickett 

Most interesting parts to me are that PPC is almost completely gone. The reporting user base is 96% Intel-powered, 97% 64-bit, 68% laptops, and only 3% single CPU/single core. Almost no PPC in there.

Adium - Sparkle+ Information

It's been five years - that's a long time in computing. My old G5 still sees some use as an emergency TV, but it doesn't have network and certainly doesn't have IM on it. Because of the way IM is used, I suspect that it will be used on the main machine only. 1.3% PPC as main machine seems about right.

There is one freaky thing about this, though: 1.3% PPC, but a total of 3% single core. 1.7% is that single Core Solo Mac mini? More than the entire installed base of PPC? No way. Those stats must come from something else. Hackintoshed Atom 270 netbooks?

[Langdon]

If those stats are derived from the user base of Adium then the results are skewed. You would be looking at a heavily weighted "pro" group of Mac users. Your average computer user would be using iChat or some other run in the mill IM client. There's plenty of PPC Macs still being used by that group

Agree with Langdon - besides, 5 years ago people were doing pretty much the same jobs then as they do now. You can still do graphic design on PPC Macs. You can edit video, web development, use MS Office or accounting software, browse the web, read your email, etc. etc. Sure, you may not be able to use the latest versions, but people got by in the past without it, and they still can.

[P]

While I agree that the results are skewed towards enthusiasts, there are reasons to believe that the results are a reasonable estimate of the total population:

* 10.4 is still 5.6%, much more than the PPC sample. Some other usage statistics I googled up indicate that the actual 10.4 percentage is 7.7%. That's not heavily skewed.

*A significant number of Macs are laptops (it's about 60% now, don't know what it was 5 years ago), and after 5 years there is not much battery left.

* The last few years of the PPC era had G5s with troublesome power supplies and the capacitor plague. Many of those computers are dead by now.

* Mac sales in the last few years are much higher than they used to be. That fact alone is enough to significantly dilute the PPC share.

* There are common things that you actually cannot do well on most PPC machines - e.g watch Youtube.

There are probably more PPC computers out there that are not ever on the network, relegated to simple tasks - I have one myself, and I used to have another before it went bang - but as main computers, there probably isn't much left any more.

[olePigeon]

I find huge use out of G4 PPC Macs that can run OS 9 natively (1st gen MDD and older), especially when dealing with files that require resource forks. OS X completely murders those files, even if you use the resource fork copy option. Plus, 10.6 no longer has write capability to floppy disks.

I find G5s almost useless; you can't run OS 9 natively and you can't run the latest OS X. They've also depreciated the most of any Mac I've ever seen. You can regularly find G5s on Craigslist for a few hundred bucks.

[voodoo]

Agreed that the G5s have lost value faster than anything I've seen in recent years. A G4 tower that can run OS 9 natively has tremendous value!

I'm not surprised PPC machines are almost gone, but well not completely. My mother still uses her G4 12" PowerBook. And it works after almost 8 years of use (battery has been changed once or twice)

It doesn't work very well for wasting time (e.g. youtube) but to work and otherwise be in contact with the world, it's fine!

I actually have a 15" G4 PowerBook (2004) that I use from time to time, but like G5 machines it can't run OS 9 natively and is thus mostly useless, except as a drone. (Can't run OS 9 and can't run OS X of today)

... as for the single-cores, there was a single core MacBook also. It was crap, yes - but perhaps it was popular explaining the relatively high single core numbers.

[Laminar]

I recall no single core MacBook, and apple-history.com seems to agree with me. It was introduced with a 1.83 and 2.0 Core Duo. Even the MacBook Air was introduced with a 1.6 Mobile Core 2 Duo.

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I recall no single core MacBook, and apple-history.com seems to agree with me. It was introduced with a 1.83 and 2.0 Core Duo. Even the MacBook Air was introduced with a 1.6 Mobile Core 2 Duo.

Right it was the Core Duo, which is actually double core. In my mind I saw the '2' in Core 2 Duo to be for 2 cores.

[Laminar]

The word "Duo" always confuses me, too.

[The Final Dakar]

Processor naming conventions have always been stellar and clear.

[Laminar]

True, but I've never confused "Solo" and "Duo."

[The Final Dakar]

Han Duo is the one that shot after Greedo.

[tightsocks]

My mom uses a mid 2005 iBook G4.
It serves her rather well running 10.5.8

I am rather frustrated at the prospect of security updates stopping later this year.

She just does light surfing and emailing, but I like to keep things up-to-date in terms of security fixes. Adobe just stopped releasing security fixes for Flash on PPC...

[Don Pickett]

I don't agree that G5's have lost value. Last I checked I could see my dual 2 GHz G5 for close to $900 in its present configuration.

That said, yes, I know the results are just from Adium users, but it's an interesting snapshot all the same. Personally, because I've been using Macs for so long I tend to forget just how long ago the Intel transition was. In my mind it's still a relatively recent thing, even though the last of the Intel-powered machines was introduced in the summer of 2006. I also admit to having an emotional attachment to my G5 far out of proportion to its usefulness. I just can't bring myself to recycle it.

I also find the near ubiquity of 64-bit machines interesting, and I always find it a bit weird when I run into Windows or Linux machines which are 32-bit. I know the markets for those OSes are significantly different than Apple's ecosystem (especially with respect to Linux, which gets run on a lot of old, old hardware) but I also can't help thinking that 32-bit machines are just a little old fashioned.

[Salty]

My MacBook is 4.5 years old, and by upgrading the HDD a few times and upping the RAM to 2 gigs, it's still a very capable machine. To be honest until Sandybridge comes along I don't think that there's really been a 13 inch laptop that really warranted an upgrade.