Re: OS9+Cellquest

From: Rob McCord (rob.mccord@kcl.ac.uk)
Date: Tue Mar 07 2000 - 17:47:52 EST


I'm sorry if I'm a bit out of line in this response, but why hasn't Becton
Dickinson come out with a functional version of CellQuest?  Doesn't it
bother people that OS 9 has been out for 5 months now and that BD has yet
to release the software to support the new OS?  And before OS 9 was
released, BD had at least three months to try beta versions of the OS to
fix any potential bugs that were present with the new system release.

OS 9 gives G4s the ability to run properly.  I'm not sure that downgrading
OS's is the best idea for you.  There are a number of hardware differences
between the newer machines and those that came out with OS 8.6 when it was
a current version.  You may run into problems in the downgrading that will
render your computer less-than-functional.

I may be jaded in my beliefs, based on my poor customer support experiences
with BD, but I know that relatively few companies can get away with not
updating their software to a workable condition when new operating systems
are released, and I see BD as no exception.  A delay of a few months after
the OS's release *may* be acceptable, but half a year?

My two pence,

Rob McCord


At 00:07 08/03/00 +1100, you wrote:


>>In answer to your query:  Failing that does anyone know how to remove OS9 in
>>order to install OS8.6, Our computer
>>manager is having a tough time getting Cellquest to run on a new G4 MAC.
>>
>>I've been told that once you upgrade to OS9, you can't go back to older
>>versions.  It seems that OS9 makes changes to your BIOS that are irreparable.
>>Interesting, no?
>
>Extremely, given that Macs don't have a BIOS...
>(ok, the new ones have ROM in RAM which I suppose is very remotely similar...)
>
>And incorrect...
>I personally know people who have gone back to OS8.6 from OS9.0 or
>even maintain two hard disk partitions with different OS versions (I
>even think Adaptec recommends this a workaround for some current
>problems with Toast).
>
>What you may be referring to is what David Chambers described a while back...
>
>At 9:26 AM -0800 11/1/2000, David Chambers wrote:
>>Except.... THE NEW G4's WILL ONLY RUN MacOS 9.0 or LATER.  It is
>>totally impossible to install 8.6 on them
>
>
>As to original problem of CellQuest on a G4 I can see two solutions -
>give up on CellQuest (give FlowJo a try!) or keep pestering BD to
>come up with the patch to allow CellQuest to work with OS9.0.
>
>Adrian
>
>Disclaimer - I have been beta testing for Treestar and they have
>given me a great T-shirt (except for the fact that my wife won't let
>me wear it :) )



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Mar 10 2001 - 19:31:11 EST