We have been working on the AppleScript-enabled OS X RADE and are nearly ready to release the first, partial implementation of this new program. But we have encountered a situation that requires your input.

In short: currently you can write and run AppleScripts in Helix RADE in OS X 10.5 and later, but you can only run scripts in OS X 10.4. This sets up a classic Catch-22:

• You can not take advantage of the new RADE until you upgrade your computer.
• Upgrading your computer means you can no longer run Classic Helix RADE.

This is a problem for those of you who have only one computer, which you keep in OS X 10.4 so you can run Classic RADE. Of course, you can add a second hard drive or partition your drive, install 10.5 on a second volume, and switch back and forth, but that’s inconvenient at best.

But before we abandon the idea of making our scripting work with OS X 10.4, we thought we would find out how many of you this would actually affect. If the majority of you have the ability to run RADE in 10.5 or later, we could leave 10.4 without scripting capabilities.

This survey starts April 5, 2011 and runs until May 1, 2011 April 19, 2011.

After looking at the first few responses, it was seen that most people would not be impacted if we could not fully support scripting in OS X 10.4. However, there is a small subset for whom this would be devastating.

In a practical sense, being able to script in OS X 10.4 is highly desirable, as it allows you to switch back and forth between OS X RADE and Classic RADE on a single machine.

So here's the good news: after starting the survey, we sent a query off to Mark Aldritt, the author of Script Debugger, asking if he had any information that might help us out. Between his replies and a couple hours of sleuthing, we now have scripting in OS X RADE on OS X 10.4 and later. Those PowerPC Macs that can still run Classic RADE won’t be shut out after all.

Thank you to all who participated.