It begins: Soundbooth, an audio editing app by Adobe, will be released in the middle of 2007 with no support for PowerPC Macs, only the new Intel Macs that have been released this year.
Will there be a PowerPC version?
No. Apple is quickly moving its focus towards Intel Macs, and no longer sells Power PC systems in many places. By focusing on Apple’s future, we have been able to bring this powerful application to the Mac platform much more rapidly, and with a stronger feature set.
When Apple announced that they were switching to Intel chips, the first question on many people’s lips was, “How soon will it be before they drop support for PowerPC Macs?” The fact is that Macs tend to stick around for a long time: they hold their value well, and there are plenty of professionals working on Macs that are five years old or more.
Apple knows this, which is why the next version of OS X is going to be Universal (compatible with both Intel and PowerPC Macs). Even Adobe knows that their core customers — graphics and design professionals — will have PowerPC Macs in use for a good few years yet, which is why they are making the next version of their flagship product, Creative Suite, Universal.
It’s inevitable that PowerPC support will one day fade away entirely, but it’s a bit sad to see it start happening so soon.