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AC, I am uncertain what you mean by multitask. Multitasking on a Macintosh was intruduced with system 6 in the late 1980's. On my work Mac I run and use at least 1 web browser with several windows open, 1 email client, and 1 text editor (BBEdit) for HTML/code editing. In addition I may have some or _all_ of the following running at once: Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat 4 (not reader), Distiller, IE 2/3/4/5. Please let me know if you have a definition of Multi-tasking that means something other than running and using multiple programs at one time.

As far as rebooting when fatal errors occur, I fail to see how this is much different from a BSOD.

As far as FPU performance, weren't pc users claiming that integer performance was more important a few years ago before the G3 & G4 started mopping the floor with your asses? Please note comparisons where a G3 beats dual PII machines and single PIIIs.

I would also strongly advise that if you checked carefully you would find your head was lodged so far up your rectum that you could kiss your own heart.

Good day, sir.

What do M$'s screwed-up defaults have to do with it? Maybe Apple got it right (strange concept, I know) for 99.9% of their users.

And shut up about faster clock!= faster execution. The G3 sucked at floating point and everybody and their uncle knows it.

Yeah, yeah, my dick's bigger than yours, too.

Sheesh.

(BTW, I've seen RC5 benchmarks ( Scroll down to G4/450 RC5 Results Verified - Faster than 1GHz Athlon and scroll down to More on G4 vs... ) that place the G4 slightly higher than the 1GHz Athlon. Not that that matters, I'm sure.)

Your mileage may vary

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What do M$'s screwed-up defaults have to do with it? Maybe Apple got it right (strange concept, I know) for 99.9% of their users.

And shut up about faster clock!= faster execution. The G3 sucked at floating point and everybody and their uncle knows it.

Yeah, yeah, my dick's bigger than yours, too.

Sheesh.

(BTW, I've seen RC5 benchmarks ( Scroll down to G4/450 RC5 Results Verified - Faster than 1GHz Athlon and scroll down to More on G4 vs... ) that place the G4 slightly higher than the 1GHz Athlon. Not that that matters, I'm sure.)

Your mileage may vary

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I do not know if many of you know this, but 3DFX has put out drivers (Beta, but still *very* good) for the Voodoo3 2000 PCI cards. I got one, flashed the rom, and I must say that it really kills ATI in all games, esp. Quake2 -- 52 fps compared to 25fps for the ATI Rage 128 at 1024x768

Apple has made a big mistake supporting ATI, and would be better off switching to 3DFX (think Voodoo4 AGP in every new G4) The price / performance ratio is amazing, even for these beta drivers.

For more info on Voodoo3 performance check XLR8 Your Mac

Here are a few Mac upgrade links....

http://www.newertech.com/

http://www.sonnettech.com/

http://www.XLR8YourMac.com/

http://www.macgurus.com/

I've read all the whitepapers, all press releases from xlr8.com --the only company to my knowledge working on a "workaround" I've read all the test reports of people trying to make this work with various models of G3 and OS iterations. All of them, Rafi. I haven't seen one claim that there will be any easy fix, on the contrary:

From thurs.

B&W G3 ROMs - No Going Back: I found the 1.02 Firmware update on my PowerBook, but the installer simply says the firmware is up to date and will not apply the 1.02 version. A 'Get Info' on the 1.02 firmware update file says it is v 1.1.4, dated April 10, 1999. [Update: there is said to be a workaround for this - more info later.]

That info never surfaces, even if it had it is mooted by what follows:

From Fri

OS 9 & BW G3 ROMs: This is the 3rd report of this I've gotten in the last week after the posts here on the B&W G3 G4 ROM checks: "In regards to your mention of getting around the G4 ROM check by using an older ROM revision in Yoses: OS9 b5c3 requires the 1.1f4 ROM on Yoses. Attempts at installation on earlier ROMs yields an out of date ROM error, stating that the ROM must be upgraded before installation can begin. There was no "unsupported install" option as on OS X Server. I have no information on other betas. The implications of this are obvious. Apple provides a high level of hardware & software integration in their computers, and can easily enforce any "requirements" they see fit. Getting a G4 into a Yose could require simply a ROM hack, or that hack could be the beginning of many necessary patches. [emphasis added]"

You can draw your own conclusions. I think you should think hard about what Apple is trying to do here and what their stonewall of silence before and after the fact means. Do you want your next Apple to be a dead-end machine? Right now that's what the Yosemite is, regardless of rom revision --but that's not how it was sold.

I've read all the whitepapers, all press releases from xlr8.com --the only company to my knowledge working on a "workaround" I've read all the test reports of people trying to make this work with various models of G3 and OS iterations. All of them, Rafi. I haven't seen one claim that there will be any easy fix, on the contrary:

From thurs.

B&W G3 ROMs - No Going Back: I found the 1.02 Firmware update on my PowerBook, but the installer simply says the firmware is up to date and will not apply the 1.02 version. A 'Get Info' on the 1.02 firmware update file says it is v 1.1.4, dated April 10, 1999. [Update: there is said to be a workaround for this - more info later.]

That info never surfaces, even if it had it is mooted by what follows:

From Fri

OS 9 & BW G3 ROMs: This is the 3rd report of this I've gotten in the last week after the posts here on the B&W G3 G4 ROM checks: "In regards to your mention of getting around the G4 ROM check by using an older ROM revision in Yoses: OS9 b5c3 requires the 1.1f4 ROM on Yoses. Attempts at installation on earlier ROMs yields an out of date ROM error, stating that the ROM must be upgraded before installation can begin. There was no "unsupported install" option as on OS X Server. I have no information on other betas. The implications of this are obvious. Apple provides a high level of hardware & software integration in their computers, and can easily enforce any "requirements" they see fit. Getting a G4 into a Yose could require simply a ROM hack, or that hack could be the beginning of many necessary patches. [emphasis added]"

You can draw your own conclusions. I think you should think hard about what Apple is trying to do here and what their stonewall of silence before and after the fact means. Do you want your next Apple to be a dead-end machine? Right now that's what the Yosemite is, regardless of rom revision --but that's not how it was sold.

Maybe they will fix it. If they do, it won't be because people stick their naked bums up in the air and say, Fair deal Mr.Jobs! i don't really care if you make my expensive Mac workstation disposable And it won't be the withering scorn of linux geeks that makes Apple come around. Only their best customers have that kind of power, and we are the ones who are up in arms about this. Hint: this isn't actually about defending the Mac way against the infidel, ok? That's next week.

Most powermacs (except the really old low end performas) can be upgraded to G3, just by adding a processor upgrade/zif-thing/whatever. No need to change the whole motherboard. As easy as installing more RAM.

Check out the xlr8yourmac for info on upgrading macs.

I think stylized computers are here to stay -- but not everyone will have one. It's kinda like cars. There's the Geo Metro (a $500 celeron system -- cheap but functional), racing cars/Indy 500 cars (custom built Pentium II 450 systems -- fast but not designed for the aesthetics), VW Bug (an iMac -- consumer oriented, more expensive than a Geo Metro, stylized), and the BMW (400 mhz Powermac G3 in a translucent case -- expensive, stylized, but not as fast or economical as a racing car).

On a different note, some people here are comparing their Pentium II systems to an iMac. Okay, a 233 mhz iMac isn't that great. But let's step back for a moment -- what does Apple offer to the geek crowd?

Today you can buy a 400 mhz G3 system (which is faster than a 450 mhz Pentium II system, according to the bytemark benchmark), Rage 128 graphics, Ultra2 SCSI, with up to a gig of memory. USB and firewire. Integrated 100base-TX networking. It can display on 2 to 4 monitors, if you happen to plug in more video cards. And it all happens to be in a stylized translucent case. That kicks ass!

And what can I run on this sweet machine? MacOS X Server aka Rhapsody aka OpenStep aka NeXTStep aka BSD 4.4. FreeBSD and OpenBSD and NetBSD users should rejoice! Unix users should rejoice! The fact that you can run BSD 4.4 (Rhapsody), MacOS 8.5, Redhat Linux for Intel, and NT on the same machine at the same time is pretty cool. When was the last time you could get Solaris or Linux bundled with your Compaq or Dell? When was the last time you got video/ethernet drivers for Linux/Solaris when you bought a video card or ethernet card? Well, Apple makes hardware and software that works under Unix. (And even open source unix -- MkLinux is mostly their doing) The fact that at least somebody in the mass market computing industry is trying to push this kind of technology (Unix) and philosophy (supporting open source) and aesthetics (translucent curved cases) should be reassuring.