This Apple tech doc is making the rounds on the Mac blogs today. That's right folks, more than 5 years after Steve declared OS 9 dead (that's Classic to those of you who have only known OS X) it seems that Classic really is dead. Leopard will no longer run Classic apps, and Apple suggests you upgrade to OS X compatible applications.

Are people out there still using OS 9 applications? If so, what are you forced to run in OS 9?

Remember when Apple ditched the clamshell iBooks and created the sleeker "icebook" form factor? My wife calls them Chiclets. Well we have 3 of them: a 500 MHz G3 from 2001 with a 10GB drive, a 800MHz G4 with a 60GB drive but a busted optical drive, and a 1.2GHz G4 with a 30GB drive but working CDR/DVD drive. The 800MHz machine is still my old personal machine, although between hacks and apps and data overload it is very slow. The other two have found new life.

The oldest iBook actually has the best build quality, I think. The keyboard feels good, and none of the keys have rubbed off. It is fast and solid. However, since it is so old, I decided to use OS 9 as the primary OS. We inherited a bunch of old educational CD's from the 90's and the iBook plays almost all of them better than the PPC-based Mac mini in the den. Perhaps the biggest drawback? The smell of burning plastic that is emitted from the possibly-not-covered-by-recall motherboard. Oops.

The newest iBook is zippy enough to handle video from apps like VLC (for the playlists) without a hitch, so we're using it as a video jukebox of sorts. Connected to the network I can either stream or move videos to it for the kids, plus it runs all the OS X educational software we've got. Oh, and TuxPaint, which also runs on my personal machine in case they both want to draw at the same time. The working optical drive on the 1.2GHz came in handy at the beach recently, when the TV in the kids room didn't work. So we used the iBook as a DVD player.

Of course, if you work in primary education this is probably a snoozefest to you. Apple sold quite a few (though not nearly enough) iBooks to the educational markets back in the day. So it should come as no surprise that my wife and I recycle our old work machines as kid machines. What makes the iBook so special is the ability to run OS 9 natively and the form factor. Sure, iMacs are great, but you can't take them on vacation. The old clamshells are OK as well, but a little bulky. Then again, maybe I just can't bear to throw anything away.

UPDATE: Added a gallery.

We have covered SheepShaver before here on TUAW, the PowerPC emulator that makes running Classic a possibility on Intel Macs so, but we just pointed out that it exists. The good folks at UNEASYsilence have gone through the trouble of putting together a tutorial on how to get Classic up and running on your Intel Mac using SheepShaver.

Check it out if you still need a Classic app or two, but you crave the speed of the latest and greatest Mac hardware.

Inside Mac Games reports that GameRanger, the online Mac gaming service,  will stop supporting booting GameRanger client in OS 9 at some point this year. This should surprise no one since OS 9 hasn't been commercially available for years. Now, for you game crazy OS 9 holdouts, fear not. The client will still run in Classic (which itself isn't supported on newer Macs, but lucky there are solutions for that).

I'm curious, how many TUAW readers are still using OS 9? Do you have plans to upgrade any time soon?

Ah, a walk down memory lane. Sit back and watch his Steveness conduct OS 9's funeral at 2002's WWDC.

So you've done the formerly impossible and unnecessary: installed Winders on a Mac. Cool, best of both worlds. But there you are, staring at that awful primary color, jumbo crayon, sickly plasticky XP theme. Yeah, you could use one of the many mods featured on Download Squad (please, feel free). Or you could turn your XP rig back into a Mac. At least, you can make XP look a lot more like a Mac. Engadget did this nearly 2 years ago, although Aqua-Soft is still updating their content. Or why not go old school with an OS 9 flavor? Ah, that's better.