Why Tiger?

I figured since Apple released it's latest Mac OS X 10.5.8 update to Leopard today, I'll take the time to explain why I'm still using Tiger.

Since its beta days I've been a staunch supporter of Mac OS X, purchasing every new iteration usually the same day it became available. I usually bought the software using my educational discount up until Leopard was released in October 2007. For some reason Apple didn't give as big of a student discount on this version so I held on upgrading until I was able to secure more funds for the purchase. Well a few days became a few weeks, which then turned into a few months and then eventually years later I was still was using Tiger.

It wasn't that I didn't want Leopard (I wanted to use Time Machine and Spaces) but Tiger seemed to be good enough. All my apps ran fine on it and I liked the fact I could still use Classic with it on my G5. There were also minor issues like my Canon scanner not working with Leopard but that could have been resolved by using VueScan (or by buying a new scanner).

I was about to pull the trigger when Apple released the Mac Box Set. With the Amazon discount it was almost like getting iLife and iWork for free but again my iLife '08 software suite was doing the job.

Another thing causing me to procrastinate was the fact Snow Leopard was just around the corner. Why buy now when I can skip a generation and go straight to 10.6? Well Apple ruined those plans when it was confirmed that Snow Leopard would be an Intel only product. Yes I knew from last year that the developer editions had this limitation but I was hoping PowerPC support would be in the final shipping version (wishful thinking on my part).

Now here we are in August 2009 and I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. Upgrade my G5 which is getting long in tooth to an operating system that may not even be on the shelf next month or stay firm and go down with the ship? During the interim I'll have to continue to endure the ribbing from my Mac friends who still wonder in amazement that I'm still using Tiger. Perhaps I'll cough up the cash after I put Leopard through its paces whenever I finally get a MacBook Pro. Time will tell.