Very Computer

Is anyone using FoxPro Mac 2.5c with System 7.5b2?
I've just been doing so and noticed that Fox behaves a little oddly,
giving me nonsensical syntax errors when running a simple .prg.
I tried rebooting without extensions and it worked a little better; however
the program froze while scrolling through a text file.    

I wonder if it will be necessary for MS to release a maintenance rev when
7.5 is released.

Ah, now we know that Foxpro has become a true Microsoft product -- it
breaks with every new System release :-)

Maybe we should all chip in and buy Microsoft a set of Inside Mac
manuals.

--
Steve Kanefsky

What makes you think they would use them?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Aaron L. Bratcher                |    
     University of Chicago            |        This space for rent.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

: >Is anyone using FoxPro Mac 2.5c with System 7.5b2?
: >I've just been doing so and noticed that Fox behaves a little oddly,
: >giving me nonsensical syntax errors when running a simple .prg.
: >I tried rebooting without extensions and it worked a little better; however
: >the program froze while scrolling through a text file.    
: >
: >I wonder if it will be necessary for MS to release a maintenance rev when
: >7.5 is released.

: Ah, now we know that Foxpro has become a true Microsoft product -- it
: breaks with every new System release :-)

: Maybe we should all chip in and buy Microsoft a set of Inside Mac
: manuals.

Couldn't possibly be a problem on the Mac side?  Apple is also well known
for non-compatibility with prior releases.  

In DOS, I have upgraded at least half a dozen times starting with Foxbase
Plus, and have not experienced anything I would call a product breakdown.
In fact, I can run FP 2.6 Win in DOS 3.3 on my 386 SX/16 that I bought 5
years ago (not that I would, but I could).

Is there any current release of any Mac software product that will
run on a Mac purchased 5 years ago?

Quote:

> Couldn't possibly be a problem on the Mac side?  Apple is also well known
> for non-compatibility with prior releases.  

> In DOS, I have upgraded at least half a dozen times starting with Foxbase
> Plus, and have not experienced anything I would call a product breakdown.
> In fact, I can run FP 2.6 Win in DOS 3.3 on my 386 SX/16 that I bought 5
> years ago (not that I would, but I could).

> Is there any current release of any Mac software product that will
> run on a Mac purchased 5 years ago?

Allen,

My Huge-ol' Quark Xpress 3.2 program runs on an old Mac Plus with a faulty
power supply and a screen burned in like an ATM (albeit--slooooowly).

Also, the original Filemaker program from some 6 - 7 years ago runs on the
current system.

Steve.
--

How is it that any Apple System release is incompatable with prior
releases?  System releases aren't compatable with each other,
except in the sense that they run on older machines and that disks
and so forth work across versions of the system, and in that sense  
they are all highly compatable.  It's applications that fail to be
compatable with the system. Apple warns software developers to
follow their guidelines as published in Inside Macintosh, and when  
those guidelines are followed software is amazingly forward and
backward compatable between systems.  Unfortunately, some software
developers (like Microsoft) bypass all the Apple guidelines
whenever they feel like it.  In Microsoft's case, I think they
figure that they're so big that Apple will have to change for
them, rather than the other way around.

Quote:>In DOS, I have upgraded at least half a dozen times starting with Foxbase
>Plus, and have not experienced anything I would call a product breakdown.
>In fact, I can run FP 2.6 Win in DOS 3.3 on my 386 SX/16 that I bought 5
>years ago (not that I would, but I could).

There are dozens if not hundreds of 10-year-old apps I can still    
run even on a Mac with an entirely different CPU architecture
(PowerPC) and with the latest version of the system.  That even
includes a lot of games.  They can take advantage of all the
memory I have too as well as big hi-res monitors, the latest
printers, disk drives, networks, etc.  And you can run the
latest version of the system on a 10-year-old Mac too (I think 7.5
will be the first version that you need at least a 68020 for, so it
won't work on a Mac Plus).  Can you print to a color dye sublimation
printer or directly to a fax modem from a 10 year old DOS word
processor?

DOS pretty much exists *only* to be compatable with old apps, and
because of this it is still an extremely primitive OS, with
ridiculous limits like 640K and 8.3 filenames.  Apple's system
software started off as a much more advanced system and has
advanced even from that point more than DOS has.  Apple completely    
changed the filesystem at one point, gone to 32-bit apps, and now    
they have changed to a new CPU architecture with a much better      
price/performance ratio than either the Motorola 680x0 or Intel 'x86
architectures, while still maintaining a very high degree of compatability.  
How many Windows 1.0 apps work under 3.1 and vice versa?

--
Steve Kanefsky

-snip-

Quote:> DOS pretty much exists *only* to be compatable with old apps, and
> because of this it is still an extremely primitive OS, with
> ridiculous limits like 640K and 8.3 filenames.  Apple's system
> software started off as a much more advanced system and has
> advanced even from that point more than DOS has.  Apple completely    
> changed the filesystem at one point, gone to 32-bit apps, and now    
> they have changed to a new CPU architecture with a much better      
> price/performance ratio than either the Motorola 680x0 or Intel 'x86
> architectures, while still maintaining a very high degree of compatability.  
> How many Windows 1.0 apps work under 3.1 and vice versa?

> --
> Steve Kanefsky

I could not agree with you more Steve. However, I smell a flame war coming
here and like most wars it probably won't have any decent resolution. So,
for the sake of the information that's passed back and forth here how
about a truce?

BTW - I use Macs exclusively. Wish I had a Power Mac, but I am very, very
happy with my Quadra.

--

   : >Is anyone using FoxPro Mac 2.5c with System 7.5b2?
   : >I've just been doing so and noticed that Fox behaves a little oddly,
   : >giving me nonsensical syntax errors when running a simple .prg.
   : >I tried rebooting without extensions and it worked a little better; however
   : >the program froze while scrolling through a text file.    
   : >
   : >I wonder if it will be necessary for MS to release a maintenance rev when
   : >7.5 is released.

   : Ah, now we know that Foxpro has become a true Microsoft product -- it
   : breaks with every new System release :-)

   : Maybe we should all chip in and buy Microsoft a set of Inside Mac
   : manuals.

   Couldn't possibly be a problem on the Mac side?  Apple is also well known
   for non-compatibility with prior releases.  

   In DOS, I have upgraded at least half a dozen times starting with Foxbase
   Plus, and have not experienced anything I would call a product breakdown.
   In fact, I can run FP 2.6 Win in DOS 3.3 on my 386 SX/16 that I bought 5
   years ago (not that I would, but I could).

   Is there any current release of any Mac software product that will
   run on a Mac purchased 5 years ago?
Yes. It is very easy to run stripped down System 7 on an SE, or even
to run a great number  programs under System 6, although Apple is
really encouraging upgrading to System 7. I have had no problems with
FoxPro under 7.5b2c2, aside from the usual hogging of the System heap
that FoxPro is associated with. I've found it's generally held wisdom
that you should restart after using FoxPro to maintain optimal memory
usage in everything else. Why is this? It's a Windows port. You can
tell by the way it looks. So they didn't bother to clean up the memory
architecture. That could contribute to the problem that you're experiencing.

--

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