I don't think you can so easily dismiss the fragmentation argument, I think it's one of the biggest problems facing Apple right now and in the near future, in relation to OS X. I agree they can't be expected to support every new feature on every old device, within reason, and I'm not sure where that line is.
BUT, the fact remains that Lion adoption has plateaued at around 32% (http://bit.ly/ADPFIw), which isn't that great, IMO, considering how long it's been out. For whatever reason... don't like it, don't need it, older hardware, new high-bandwidth upgrade mechanism, w/e. I worry the fragmentation will get even worse with Mountain Lion, with only mostly current Lion users adopting, and not necessarily all of them.
The fact is, Apple builds beautiful high-quality hardware. It's been one of its greatest selling points, but it becomes moot if the software outgrows the hardware too fast and people are left with beautiful high-quality door stops (OK, that's not fair, those old machines will still work, just not with what is billed as Apple's future... iCloud).
All of a sudden the advantage of the interoperability of all of my Apple devices becomes irrelevant because only three of the current eight Apple devices I use can upgrade to iOS 5 or Lion.
I truly wonder how many of these decisions are based on technical limitations of old hardware, the time and resources required to develop for and support older devices, or the drive to coerce people to buy new hardware.
Nice viewpoint, but your older hardware still runs on Snow Leopard, and perhaps even Lion. Just not Mountain Lion. Your stuff still works ... you just can't expect all the new bells and whistles the latest hardware can cope with.
Dropping support for 4+ year old machines isn't fragmentation. Fragmentation is when the device you just got can't run the new OS to be released next month, or which was even released before you purchased. This is called keeping the OS lean and efficient by not having to support a million older configurations. IMO dropping new OS support for anything beyond 3 years is fair game and acceptable.
I'm always extremely disappointed when I read stuff like this.
Apple is dropping support for these machines because they choose to, just like they could choose to support them. There's no amazing new fantastic thing in the minor OS point upgrade that absolutely needs a new graphics card or new processor.
Apple's business model is to force users to upgrade every 2-3 years. That is it in a nutshell.
I know a lot of you refuse to question Apple's actions because you own Apple stock or whatever.
They need to support OpenGL 3.x and those Integrated GPUs do not.
Hmm.. So there are things in the OS that require OpenGL 3.x?
Would that mean even better performance in graphics? One can hope.
At the same time it makes me wonder how all games that are using older than OpenGL 3.x will run.
I guess they should be fine still. Apple probably just don't want to have to adjust to too many graphic cards. Fair enough I'd say as long as it mens those being supported will run well.
If you have 100 billion in the bank, you could surely continue support for a five year old Mac.
The support lies in the resell value. You really think that come September 21 when this thing is released that all these Macs that can still run Lion, with all its great iCloud integration already, won't still fetch a handsome sum?
Same old story with Apple. If its over 3 years old they don't care, its time you spent some money with them again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody
The only thing that's the "same old story" here is this comment.
Every time a new OS or program comes out and old hardware is deprecated we get people like this saying that it's a scam or that it has to do with politics or money and that they really could support the older hardware if they wanted to.
The fact is though, I don't think there is a single documented case of this actually being true despite it being said every single time. It always turns out that there is a valid hardware-related reason for not supporting the old hardware, but that never stops folks like this from making this same "fantasy gripe" every single time.
I agree completely, Prof, and I'm on the cusp of getting excluded with my mid-09 17" MBP - I daresay it won't make the cut for 2013's 10.9. But truly, I shouldn't expect 4 year old hardware to be able to run brand a new OS. If I keep this mbp beyond that, it will still run both SL and Mountain Lion perfectly well, however.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KazKam
I don't think you can so easily dismiss the fragmentation argument, I think it's one of the biggest problems facing Apple right now and in the near future, in relation to OS X. I agree they can't be expected to support every new feature on every old device, within reason, and I'm not sure where that line is.
I don't think that 3-4 years is an insufficient duration for being able to support the latest OS features.
Funny how the tables have turned, Microsoft is talking up how Windows 8 can run like a champ on an old PC with 1gb of ram (the demo at the launch event had 512MB), meaning that Windows 8 will run on lower end hardware than Win 7, which had lower needs than Vista...
Now after a decade of bringing greater performance and a "faster mac" feeling on every build, now tehy are going bloat and killing off great hardware...With proper drivers, a 2008 Macbook, like the one on my dining room table, would be a fantastic windows 8 PC.
I dont care about"support" running unsupported doesnt bother me, the question is will technical measures be taken to stop me from installing at my own risk?
Either way, a new computer isnt in the cards for at least another 10-12 months so I may be behind the latest OS release for a while for the first time in years...so sad.
I'm always extremely disappointed when I read stuff like this.
Apple is dropping support for these machines because they choose to, just like they could choose to support them. There's no amazing new fantastic thing in the minor OS point upgrade that absolutely needs a new graphics card or new processor.
Apple's business model is to force users to upgrade every 2-3 years. That is it in a nutshell.
I know a lot of you refuse to question Apple's actions because you own Apple stock or whatever.
If you really feel this way you need to contact the BBB to let them know Apple is forcing you to buy a new Mac.
I have hung on to 2 beautiful 24" white 2006 iMacs because they have antiglare screens. They run Lion. They will not run Mountain Lion.
If Apple decides to offer antiglare screens on their current iMacs (like they do on MacBook Pros), I will be happy to upgrade. Otherwise, I will need to decide what to do this summer.
I have hung on to 2 beautiful 24" white 2006 iMacs because they have antiglare screens. They run Lion. They will not run Mountain Lion.
If Apple decides to offer antiglare screens on their current iMacs (like they do on MacBook Pros), I will be happy to upgrade. Otherwise, I will need to decide what to do this summer.
I'm always extremely disappointed when I read stuff like this.
Apple is dropping support for these machines because they choose to, just like they could choose to support them. There's no amazing new fantastic thing in the minor OS point upgrade that absolutely needs a new graphics card or new processor.
Apple's business model is to force users to upgrade every 2-3 years. That is it in a nutshell.
I know a lot of you refuse to question Apple's actions because you own Apple stock or whatever.
Well you can take your 4 year old Mac, (if you actually have one) and install the latest version of Windows 7 on it. Or just keep it on Snow Leopard or Lion which will run for many more years just fine. You could buy a new one and then donate it to a school and write it off on your taxes, turn it into a home server, put it in the kitchen as an occasional use machine. Take it out to the firing range and shoot it to pieces and put the video online and collect the Adsense click money. Bury it in the back yard for future anthropologists to discover. Sell it on eBay.
My late 2008 aluminum MacBook (one of the first unibody models) is still supported!
I have the same MacBook. It looks like according to this story, it wouldn't be supported because it has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Am I reading it wrong?
I have hung on to 2 beautiful 24" white 2006 iMacs because they have antiglare screens. They run Lion. They will not run Mountain Lion.
I'm not sure why you expect a 6 year old -obsolete- computer to be able to run a brand new OS. My old Pismo is stuck on 10.4.8 - should I complain about that?
I'm always extremely disappointed when I read stuff like this.
Apple is dropping support for these machines because they choose to, just like they could choose to support them. There's no amazing new fantastic thing in the minor OS point upgrade that absolutely needs a new graphics card or new processor.
Apple's business model is to force users to upgrade every 2-3 years. That is it in a nutshell.
I know a lot of you refuse to question Apple's actions because you own Apple stock or whatever.
Please explain to me how the hell you're 'forced' to upgrade just because your mac can't run the latest OS? I have a 7 year old powerbook that is still running Tiger perfectly. It didn't self-destruct or become useless once Leopard was released, and still still does exactly what I bought it to do to this day. Enough with this 'forced upgrade' garbage. I personally don't know a single real-world mac owner who would feel 'forced' to upgrade based on a new OS. It's mostly a message board myth. Unfortunately I don't own Apple stock, but nice to know you plan on dismissing any alternate opinions because that might be the case.
I'm not sure why you expect a 6 year old -obsolete- computer to be able to run a brand new OS. My old Pismo is stuck on 10.4.8 - should I complain about that?
I have the same MacBook. It looks like according to this story, it wouldn't be supported because it has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Am I reading it wrong?
You are reading it wrong.
Core 2 duo CPUs are 64 bit, which is a requirement. What is not supported are the old on board graphic chipsets like the x3100 and prior gfx chips.
Got it 2nd hand, someone had dropped a G4 in it! It hit a sweet spot on 4.8 (or was it 4.9, I forget), so I didn't bother any with any more updates. I should boot it up again, it's been a while, the PRAM battery will go flat...
If you have 100 billion in the bank, you could surely continue support for a five year old Mac.
Hey, let's start a new internet meme. Every time any anything goes wrong in the world our answer should be "Well Apple has a $100 Billion in the bank, they could solve it."
Example: Crisis in Greece. "Apple has a $100 Billion in the bank, why don't they just save Greece?"
Comments
I don't think you can so easily dismiss the fragmentation argument, I think it's one of the biggest problems facing Apple right now and in the near future, in relation to OS X. I agree they can't be expected to support every new feature on every old device, within reason, and I'm not sure where that line is.
BUT, the fact remains that Lion adoption has plateaued at around 32% (http://bit.ly/ADPFIw), which isn't that great, IMO, considering how long it's been out. For whatever reason... don't like it, don't need it, older hardware, new high-bandwidth upgrade mechanism, w/e. I worry the fragmentation will get even worse with Mountain Lion, with only mostly current Lion users adopting, and not necessarily all of them.
The fact is, Apple builds beautiful high-quality hardware. It's been one of its greatest selling points, but it becomes moot if the software outgrows the hardware too fast and people are left with beautiful high-quality door stops (OK, that's not fair, those old machines will still work, just not with what is billed as Apple's future... iCloud).
All of a sudden the advantage of the interoperability of all of my Apple devices becomes irrelevant because only three of the current eight Apple devices I use can upgrade to iOS 5 or Lion.
I truly wonder how many of these decisions are based on technical limitations of old hardware, the time and resources required to develop for and support older devices, or the drive to coerce people to buy new hardware.
Nice viewpoint, but your older hardware still runs on Snow Leopard, and perhaps even Lion. Just not Mountain Lion. Your stuff still works ... you just can't expect all the new bells and whistles the latest hardware can cope with.
Dropping support for 4+ year old machines isn't fragmentation. Fragmentation is when the device you just got can't run the new OS to be released next month, or which was even released before you purchased. This is called keeping the OS lean and efficient by not having to support a million older configurations. IMO dropping new OS support for anything beyond 3 years is fair game and acceptable.
I'm always extremely disappointed when I read stuff like this.
Apple is dropping support for these machines because they choose to, just like they could choose to support them. There's no amazing new fantastic thing in the minor OS point upgrade that absolutely needs a new graphics card or new processor.
Apple's business model is to force users to upgrade every 2-3 years. That is it in a nutshell.
I know a lot of you refuse to question Apple's actions because you own Apple stock or whatever.
They need to support OpenGL 3.x and those Integrated GPUs do not.
Hmm.. So there are things in the OS that require OpenGL 3.x?
Would that mean even better performance in graphics? One can hope.
At the same time it makes me wonder how all games that are using older than OpenGL 3.x will run.
I guess they should be fine still. Apple probably just don't want to have to adjust to too many graphic cards. Fair enough I'd say as long as it mens those being supported will run well.
If you have 100 billion in the bank, you could surely continue support for a five year old Mac.
The support lies in the resell value. You really think that come September 21 when this thing is released that all these Macs that can still run Lion, with all its great iCloud integration already, won't still fetch a handsome sum?
Same old story with Apple. If its over 3 years old they don't care, its time you spent some money with them again.
The only thing that's the "same old story" here is this comment.
Every time a new OS or program comes out and old hardware is deprecated we get people like this saying that it's a scam or that it has to do with politics or money and that they really could support the older hardware if they wanted to.
The fact is though, I don't think there is a single documented case of this actually being true despite it being said every single time. It always turns out that there is a valid hardware-related reason for not supporting the old hardware, but that never stops folks like this from making this same "fantasy gripe" every single time.
I agree completely, Prof, and I'm on the cusp of getting excluded with my mid-09 17" MBP - I daresay it won't make the cut for 2013's 10.9. But truly, I shouldn't expect 4 year old hardware to be able to run brand a new OS. If I keep this mbp beyond that, it will still run both SL and Mountain Lion perfectly well, however.
I don't think you can so easily dismiss the fragmentation argument, I think it's one of the biggest problems facing Apple right now and in the near future, in relation to OS X. I agree they can't be expected to support every new feature on every old device, within reason, and I'm not sure where that line is.
I don't think that 3-4 years is an insufficient duration for being able to support the latest OS features.
Same old story with Apple. If its over 3 years old they don't care, its time you spent some money with them again.
Or you can just keep on running Lion 10.7 on your 4+ year old Mac. It could have more than 10 years of life left in it.
Now after a decade of bringing greater performance and a "faster mac" feeling on every build, now tehy are going bloat and killing off great hardware...With proper drivers, a 2008 Macbook, like the one on my dining room table, would be a fantastic windows 8 PC.
I dont care about"support" running unsupported doesnt bother me, the question is will technical measures be taken to stop me from installing at my own risk?
Either way, a new computer isnt in the cards for at least another 10-12 months so I may be behind the latest OS release for a while for the first time in years...so sad.
I'm always extremely disappointed when I read stuff like this.
Apple is dropping support for these machines because they choose to, just like they could choose to support them. There's no amazing new fantastic thing in the minor OS point upgrade that absolutely needs a new graphics card or new processor.
Apple's business model is to force users to upgrade every 2-3 years. That is it in a nutshell.
I know a lot of you refuse to question Apple's actions because you own Apple stock or whatever.
If you really feel this way you need to contact the BBB to let them know Apple is forcing you to buy a new Mac.
If Apple decides to offer antiglare screens on their current iMacs (like they do on MacBook Pros), I will be happy to upgrade. Otherwise, I will need to decide what to do this summer.
That's a flat out lie. Siri was successfully ported to work on older iPhones, and yet Apple shut them down just this week.
Wrong. There is a hardware imperative for Apple to have Siri run on the 4S only:
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/06/...s-exclusivity/
I have hung on to 2 beautiful 24" white 2006 iMacs because they have antiglare screens. They run Lion. They will not run Mountain Lion.
If Apple decides to offer antiglare screens on their current iMacs (like they do on MacBook Pros), I will be happy to upgrade. Otherwise, I will need to decide what to do this summer.
Might I proffer a suggestion?
Get over it.
If you have 100 billion in the bank, you could surely continue support for a five year old Mac.
You do - said 5 year old mac will still run SL perfectly well, which is a great OS.
I'm always extremely disappointed when I read stuff like this.
Apple is dropping support for these machines because they choose to, just like they could choose to support them. There's no amazing new fantastic thing in the minor OS point upgrade that absolutely needs a new graphics card or new processor.
Apple's business model is to force users to upgrade every 2-3 years. That is it in a nutshell.
I know a lot of you refuse to question Apple's actions because you own Apple stock or whatever.
Well you can take your 4 year old Mac, (if you actually have one) and install the latest version of Windows 7 on it. Or just keep it on Snow Leopard or Lion which will run for many more years just fine. You could buy a new one and then donate it to a school and write it off on your taxes, turn it into a home server, put it in the kitchen as an occasional use machine. Take it out to the firing range and shoot it to pieces and put the video online and collect the Adsense click money. Bury it in the back yard for future anthropologists to discover. Sell it on eBay.
My late 2008 aluminum MacBook (one of the first unibody models) is still supported!
I have the same MacBook. It looks like according to this story, it wouldn't be supported because it has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Am I reading it wrong?
I have hung on to 2 beautiful 24" white 2006 iMacs because they have antiglare screens. They run Lion. They will not run Mountain Lion.
I'm not sure why you expect a 6 year old -obsolete- computer to be able to run a brand new OS. My old Pismo is stuck on 10.4.8 - should I complain about that?
I'm always extremely disappointed when I read stuff like this.
Apple is dropping support for these machines because they choose to, just like they could choose to support them. There's no amazing new fantastic thing in the minor OS point upgrade that absolutely needs a new graphics card or new processor.
Apple's business model is to force users to upgrade every 2-3 years. That is it in a nutshell.
I know a lot of you refuse to question Apple's actions because you own Apple stock or whatever.
Please explain to me how the hell you're 'forced' to upgrade just because your mac can't run the latest OS? I have a 7 year old powerbook that is still running Tiger perfectly. It didn't self-destruct or become useless once Leopard was released, and still still does exactly what I bought it to do to this day. Enough with this 'forced upgrade' garbage. I personally don't know a single real-world mac owner who would feel 'forced' to upgrade based on a new OS. It's mostly a message board myth. Unfortunately I don't own Apple stock, but nice to know you plan on dismissing any alternate opinions because that might be the case.
I'm not sure why you expect a 6 year old -obsolete- computer to be able to run a brand new OS. My old Pismo is stuck on 10.4.8 - should I complain about that?
Pismo! Yay! I loved those!
Not… 10.4.11?
I have the same MacBook. It looks like according to this story, it wouldn't be supported because it has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Am I reading it wrong?
You are reading it wrong.
Core 2 duo CPUs are 64 bit, which is a requirement. What is not supported are the old on board graphic chipsets like the x3100 and prior gfx chips.
Edit: you also require a 64 bit EFI
Pismo! Yay! I loved those!
Not… 10.4.11?
Got it 2nd hand, someone had dropped a G4 in it! It hit a sweet spot on 4.8 (or was it 4.9, I forget), so I didn't bother any with any more updates. I should boot it up again, it's been a while, the PRAM battery will go flat...
If you have 100 billion in the bank, you could surely continue support for a five year old Mac.
Hey, let's start a new internet meme. Every time any anything goes wrong in the world our answer should be "Well Apple has a $100 Billion in the bank, they could solve it."
Example: Crisis in Greece. "Apple has a $100 Billion in the bank, why don't they just save Greece?"