I have a request for a contracting gig and one of the requirements in the first draft of the specs says the software (a GUI application for end-users) should run on Win 2000 and Mac OS 7.5. I have no idea why they would want to support such ancient systems, but I guess it leaves me with Java as the only option other than raw C, or doesn’t it?
So if it would be Java, are there restrictions on what Java version I can use on those targets?
Also, though it wouldn’t be strictly on topic, I’d appreciate comments on strategies for making software run on both targets. Actually, supporing those ancient systems as well as modern ones might even be harder than supporting Mac and Win, right?
As another sideline, I’d also appreciate facts that could be used to talk the client out of this and make him go with OS X and XP. Like ‘hey, only 2% of all Macs in use today still use OS older than X’.
Edit: My main purpose here is to be well prepared technically to negotiate what the specs really should be.
Things like that are often the result of some manager thinking ‘gee, my aunt still uses OS 9 and I bet, there’s people even more old-fashioned, so let’s just play it safe and write down 7.5’. There’s no technical judgement whatsoever involved, and that’s OK. It’s just that, in those cases, you have to explain carefully what tradeoffs there are and if you succeed, it usually gets you much more realistic specs. It’s not even unlikely that they’d ditch Mac OS altogether if they have to bet money on it.
With that kind of specs, if you don’t actively help the client reshape them, what’s going to happen is, you put the number in the offer that would pay for all the crazy stuff and then yet some, and less experienced competitors won’t see all the implications and put a lower number in their offer, get the gig and it all ends in tears for everybody. You can go ‘heh heh, told you so’, but don’t get the cash, either.
Edit: Thanks for still posting facts and advice although I already accepted an answer to my original question. I’ll keep upvoting that stuff, and it certainly helps. Also thanks for empathizing with me and trying to save me from signing a bad contract! But don’t worry, I’m not actually going to code for Mac OS 7.5 … 😉 Really, really overseeing all the implications would be well out of my depth anyway.
It’s up to 1.1.8 for all Mac OS Classic (not X)