Re: What if there actually IS a new Mac Pro?

[Craig Seeman] "The ATI 1900 supported OpenCL but the ATI 2600 did not? "

The X1900 never supported OpenCL. My guess is in keeping with the sloppy launch of FCPX, that card was omitted from whatever plist tells the App Store what is and isn't supported hardware. That it was corrected in 10.0.1 underscores that idea.

That's the only thing that restricts App Store distribution, not the app itself and its dependencies, but a check of the host system prior to install. You can install FCP7 on a G5 if you modify the scripts in the install pkg. You'll find parts of it not working properly, same as you would with FCPX on hardware that does not support OpenCL.

[Craig Seeman] "Apparently the Intel HD 3000 isn't OpenCL either but ti works.
OpenCL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later
(bold emphasis added by me)."

OpenCL can be used in addressing both GPUs and CPUs. From what little I could find out there, OpenCL on OS X can address the CPU if it supports AVX, which debuted on Sandy Bridge, home of the HD 3000. My guess (again) is that the engineers told the marketing guys "just tell them they need an HD 3000 or Open CL GPU".

[Craig Seeman] "There is a difference when a piece of hardware can't run something vs a piece of hardware Apple feels no longer meets their idea of acceptable results and they, block the installation. Apple shouldn't have to "support" what they don't want to, but if something works good enough for the end user, they shouldn't block the install. I know there are are FCPX users who managed to get it on unsupported systems by copying over the install from another system (thanks to self contained apps) and they're OK with the modest performance they're getting. "

This is the App Store protecting users from themselves. You're saying Apple should sell software to customers who don't have the hardware to properly run he software, and then just shrug and say caveat emptor when those customers deluge them with support calls? The whole point of the App Store is to take the guesswork out of buying apps. It shouldn't sell you something you aren't equipped to run.

[Craig Seeman] "Engineer may decide what's qualified but blocking the user who may be OK with working on an "unqualified" but functional system is coming from another place."

Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Best,
Andy