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How is Metrowerk's Powerplant the horror story? Any apps programmed using the classic Mac OS APIs were just as incompatible come OSX. Are we seriously talking

How is Metrowerk's Powerplant the horror story? Any apps programmed using the classic Mac OS APIs were just as incompatible come OSX. Are we seriously talking about Apps not being updated with the latest features five years down the track as a reason to ban middleware? Those Apps aren't going to be updated anyway, and if they are they'll probably need a complete rewrite anyway.

wmf 17y ago
I think Gruber's point is that regular Mac apps could be ported to Carbon relatively easily, but PowerPlant apps couldn't.
- aero142 17y ago
  I agree that is what he is saying, but as far as I can tell, that is crap. What is so magical about native apis? If a middleware application calls an api and it changes, it breaks, but the same is true for a native application.
  - dmnd 17y ago
    An author of a native application can update the app himself. An author of an app which is dependent on middleware must wait until the middleware is updated.
    - greendestiny 17y ago
      That's very unlikely to be true these days, almost all frameworks are designed to be extensible.
    - webXL 17y ago
      And in either case, the author needs to be involved. From an end-user perspective, there's one or two parties that could prevent my app working on a new OS version. So don't you always run that risk when you buy software from a small vendor?
    - barrkel 17y ago
      Getting all the applications that work with any given middleware piece is easier than getting all applications working, which each use their own idiosyncratic home-baked middle layers. These common bits of middleware reduce the number of moving parts. That Apple needs to work hard to keep applications working - well, that's what it's like when you're a popular platform vendor. Ask MS how hard they had to work to get DOS and Win 3.1 apps running on Windows 95. That's the way the game is played when you're playing in the major league.

wmf 17y ago

I think Gruber's point is that regular Mac apps could be ported to Carbon relatively easily, but PowerPlant apps couldn't.

aero142 17y ago
I agree that is what he is saying, but as far as I can tell, that is crap. What is so magical about native apis? If a middleware application calls an api and it changes, it breaks, but the same is true for a native application.
- dmnd 17y ago
  An author of a native application can update the app himself. An author of an app which is dependent on middleware must wait until the middleware is updated.
  - greendestiny 17y ago
    That's very unlikely to be true these days, almost all frameworks are designed to be extensible.
  - webXL 17y ago
    And in either case, the author needs to be involved. From an end-user perspective, there's one or two parties that could prevent my app working on a new OS version. So don't you always run that risk when you buy software from a small vendor?
  - barrkel 17y ago
    Getting all the applications that work with any given middleware piece is easier than getting all applications working, which each use their own idiosyncratic home-baked middle layers. These common bits of middleware reduce the number of moving parts. That Apple needs to work hard to keep applications working - well, that's what it's like when you're a popular platform vendor. Ask MS how hard they had to work to get DOS and Win 3.1 apps running on Windows 95. That's the way the game is played when you're playing in the major league.