There will be support for now. But the PPC's lifespan is coming to an end soon (at least as far as dedicated support goes). Snow Leopard will be released soon and I understand that it will be Intel Mac only. When that happens support for Tiger and Leopard (and PPC Macs) will begin to slowly decrease. The downside to this continued support though is increased cost. Apps have to be tested on both platforms. And that cost is passed along to you. And IMO since a development focus is on two different versions of whatever app we happen to be talking about there is less attention that is able to be spared to both. Which means, more bugs. Which means more testing and more costs to fix those bugs.
I've been looking at it in light of the old 64K/PPC (Fat) switch. It's the same thing.
As to your point on the logic board I don't see it happening. That would require a level of sophistication to install that frankly you aren't going to find in the average Mac user. "I did it in Adobe!" being one of the most common statements I have heard from this group. Then you have to think about the case. Apple COULD do this, but the chances that your older case is going to have the same pre-fabricated cutouts that the new motherboard needs is probably not likely. Sure, Apple could say, bring it in to the Apple store and we'll do it for you, but I just don't see too many sales in that approach.
I don't think the impact on new software will be too bad. Most apps released today are Universal. And since Snow Leopard will only run on Intel Macs, you'd have to purchase a new Intel Mac anyway – but your Universal software most likely would still be able to run on the new Mac.
I'm not trying to shoot you down. I'm just pointing out what I see. Yes, $5000+ is a lot of investment, but the advancement of tech never seems to care about that.
Erik Youngren (Click my name to email me, or the Contact button above.)Composing: Pueblo Publishers
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