Script Debugger 4 and Mac OS 9

Hi Folks,

I have a big question for Script Debugger users to ponder. How important is Mac OS 9 support for Script Debugger 4?

Continuing to support Mac OS 9 (9.2.2 to be specific) has been part of the Script Debugger 4 plan from the outset, but I’m wondering if I should be investing my limited resources in this. If we were to drop Mac OS 9 support, Script Debugger 4 would run on 10.1 onward. Doing this would eliminate a vast amount of testing and free me to use Mac OS X only technologies in the User Interface (e.g. Drawers and X-native UI widgets). I’m thinking that I would include a copy of Script Debugger 3 with Script Debugger 4 for those that need to do work on pre-X systems.

I’m prompted to ask this question because after reviewing my customer support logs for the last year, Mac OS 9 users represent a rapidly shrinking group. It seems that Quark is is the primary reason for most of these users staying on Mac OS 9.

So the question is this: how many of you need Script Debugger 4 on Mac OS 9?

Dear alldrit,

I think that you should do two things. Mac OS 9 users will migrate to Mac OS X sooner or later. You should release a version of Script Debugger that works with Mac OS 9 (but not with Mac OS X) as freeware and from then on target Mac OS X users exclusively.

Regards,
ErikN

I think your idea of targeting SD 4 at X only, but bundling SD 3 for 9 users is pretty sound. I can’t remember the last time I booted into 9, and I would rather your resources go into building a better product for a single platform. The bundling proposition continues support for 9, and my opinion is that the writing has been on the wall for quite a while anyway.

Tim King

Script Debugger 4? Has it been announced? SD version 3 has been out for a while but I’ve seen no mention of Script Debugger 4. Of course I really don’t keep up on AppleScript related issues like I once did.

Script Debugger 4 has NOT been announced or released. We are about to release Script Debugger 3.0.8 which is a maintenance release that improves compatibility with DTI’s FaceSpan 4 among other things. Script Debugger 4 is currently in development.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for pitching your request on Macscripter. I hope you get some good feedback that will help you make this decision.

I believe continuing with SD4 as OSX only is a wonderful idea. I can see so much ‘stuff’ it could support and utilize if that were the case.

As far as retaining support for MacOS 9, I have to agree the writing is on the wall. On the other hand, there are some folks who just can’t migrate to X, for one reason or another. Leaving them out altogether probably wouldn’t be a very good idea marketing wise. In an effort not to alienate those who are OS9 bound, providing a copy of SD3 on the CD is very very good IMHO.

As another suggestion; stripping out all the OSX/Carbon stuff in 3, so that it only runs on OS9 [or suitable backwards compatibility]. If the user wishes to do OSX, then they have 4. If you could unserialize 3, and strip out the Carbon stuff, it could easily be seen as promoting good faith to OS 9 users, with the caveat that there would no longer be support for 3 - that would be the trade off. Of course, 3 would only ship with 4 on the CD.

Later on after the dust settles, you could even think about having 3 as a separate download from your webiste. The would only be an end game for 3, probably years down the road.

My two cents worth. I would be interested in what others have to say too.