[Rockies-Edu] The new OS, new hardware pattern
[Rockies-Edu] The new OS, new hardware pattern
- Subject: [Rockies-Edu] The new OS, new hardware pattern
- From: Corey Carson <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:45:50 -0600
All,
With Lion shipping in the current month, and the ever-present rumor mill taking it's guesses at which hardware families will be updated next, I wanted to point out a couple of things that may help you plan for this summer and fall. I'll state once again that your Apple Education team in the field gets no advanced warning on when products will ship or when new products will be announced. The only hint I've shared with others is that product refresh cycles have historically been between 9-14 months. That's about as good as I can make my guesses and assumptions, both of which are rarely safe! The best tool to keep track of what shipped, and when it shipped, is MacTracker (Mac/iOS).
The point of my email is to point out that, historically, Apple has *required* the latest OS on shipping hardware once it refreshes after a major OS release. For example, Mac OS X 10.6 began shipping in August 2009. All hardware that was shipping in August and September of 2009 began to ship with 10.6 on them, but since it was the same hardware from the summer and spring, it could easily be downgraded to 10.5. However, when the Mac Mini, iMac, etc. got a *hardware* refresh (newer CPUs, firmware, etc) in October 2009, those new systems required 10.6 and simply would not run 10.5. Some customers were able to hack their systems to run 10.5, but it's not supported by AppleCare and caused far more headaches than it was worth.
This has been a pretty consistent pattern for Apple, at least during my time with the company. And as you probably have noticed, Lion still has a ship date of July. That could mean tomorrow, or that could mean July 30. Once Lion ships, based on past practices, any new hardware refreshes could require Lion. Have you tested it? Run it through it's paces? Do you even have access to it?
If you require that Snow Leopard be on your systems throughout this summer/fall, purchasing that new hardware should be done very, very soon. If new hardware were to arrive along with an announcement that "Lion is now shipping," there's a good chance that Snow Leopard will not be an option.
Again, all of this information is based on past patterns, and could have nothing to do with what happens this month. Just wanting everybody to be informed.
Thanks,
Corey
--------------------------------------------------------
Corey Carson • Systems Engineer
☎ 303 378-7193 • ☎ 800 800-2775 (Support)
Apple Education • CO/WY/ID
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