Some Macs to Boot Mac OS 9 Through Mid-2003? Although Apple has not yet made a public statement, it seems some Macs that can boot into Mac OS 9 may remain available until mid-2003, contrary to Apple's announcement in September that new Macs would stop being able to boot Mac OS 9 in January of 2003.

<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/sep/ 10macosx.html>

According to News.com and MacCentral, Apple claims the move is for education users, who ostensibly are taking longer to move to Mac OS X than "the rest of us." Thus, Mac OS 9-capable Macs will reportedly include CRT-based iMacs, the eMac, and the iBook. It's not clear whether these systems will be available to the general public or just to education customers. However, Apple apparently also plans to continue selling a dual 1.25 GHz Power Mac G4 configuration which can boot into Mac OS 9 for professionals who need applications like QuarkXPress which aren't yet available for Mac OS X. (TidBITS confirmed that Quark has contacted some of its customers to inform them machines capable of booting Mac OS 9 will be available through mid-2003.) This high-end configuration is also of interest to music and audio professionals, most of whom have been unable to move to Mac OS X due to lack of drivers and host applications. [GD]

<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0212/ 13.boot.php>
<http://news.com.com/2100-1040-977881.html>