6 ms·

It makes me laugh that 'insane backwards compatibility ' now adays means that 10 year old software still works.

by mempko 9y ago

ThrowAwayFSp 9y ago
Yep, how'bout some half-million lines cobol program written in the '70s authorizing your transaction today?
emilfihlman 9y ago
Yeah I was thinking the same. 2007 is not the dark ages.
- ggggtez 9y ago
  Considering smartphones didn't exist until 2007, I think lots of tech actually do consider 10 years to be the dark ages.
  - pmlnr 9y ago
    They did. Even the article mentions the Palm Treo, then there were the Nokia Communicators, etc. The iPhone was far from being the first smartphone, but it was the first to break the nerd-wall and sell to the masses.
    - digi_owl 9y ago
      The first iphone was not even a smartphone, it was a featurephone with a fancy UI. Only with the 3G could they start claiming it was a smartphone. Sadly didn't stop boneheads like a NYT writer to try to relabel it as a "superphone" because smartphone was apparently by then too pedestrian for something Apple made...
      - kuschku 9y ago
        This is indeed correct – the first iPhone with iOS 1 did not have any apps, or ways to install apps. The very defining feature of a smart phone are the apps, though. EDIT: Due to downvotes, here’s Apple’s own page advertising how iOS 2 (introduced with the iPhone 3G) adds apps to the iPhone: https://web.archive.org/web/20080912112138/http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/iphone2.html/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080912112138/http://www.apple....
        extra88 9y ago
        Of course it had apps, just no 3rd party apps. Email, texting, contacts, calendar, and by far the best web browsing experience made the very first iPhone plenty smart. Jobs pretended you didn't need 3rd party apps, everything could be done on the web; of course Apple always intended to allow 3rd party apps.
        kuschku 9y ago
        The whole point of a smartphone are third party apps. LG had more than a dozen phones with touch screen (resistive) at that time that had "apps" but no third party apps (except for JavaME apps). The game changer (as the linked site from Apple states as well) was an App Store allowing direct access to third party apps. And that's what created another modern tech revolution.
        extra88 9y ago
        > The whole point of a smartphone are third party apps. No. The point of a smartphone is to expand the scope of what can reasonably be done so they it can be considered more like a computer than a dedicated device with a narrow, defined set of capabilities. Jobs was right that the quality of the iPhone's browser was sufficient to raise it to that level. Of course having 3rd party apps raises it to another level. It would have been a death sentence if the iPhone proceeded for too long without them while competitors developed a robust app ecosystem but that was never the plan.
        realusername 9y ago
        > mail, texting, contacts, calendar, and by far the best web browsing experience made the very first iPhone plenty smart Back then pretty much every high end phone had that... The IPhone wasn't anything special at that time. The IPhone really took off then they allowed 3rd party apps.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
  - wernercd 9y ago
    Cell phones have only existed since the 80's... "smart phones" have existed since the 90s - back in a day when Palm, Nokia, Windows and Blackberry ruled... http://www.nicolasnova.net/pasta-and-vinegar/2015/6/28/some-smartphone-evolution-diagrams http://www.nicolasnova.net/pasta-and-vinegar/2015/6/28/some-... 10 years ago? As far as cell phones go? Most definitely the "Dark Ages"... Considering we are moving into a time frame when watches are starting to have cell connectivity: https://www.lifewire.com/smartwatches-with-cellular-connectivity-4107839 https://www.lifewire.com/smartwatches-with-cellular-connecti... Where are we going to be 5 years from now? 10? 20? Compare the Treo and BlackBerry to the current iPhone X, Note 8, etc...
    - digi_owl 9y ago
      > Compare the Treo and BlackBerry to the current iPhone X, Note 8, etc... And i see screens with more colors and pixels, but other than that not much new. It is still calendars and messages that rules.
      - floatboth 9y ago
        "more pixels" is quite an understatement. From 320x240 and 640x480 to 1920x1080 and beyond (Sony made a 4K phone!). But from EDGE to LTE, from weak single core processors to 64-bit 4/6/8 core beasts, from no GPU to what would be considered desktop grade back in the day, from shitty 3gp 144p videos to hardware accelerated 4K H.264/5/VP8/9… Yeah, people still do messages, but messages now include high quality multimedia edited on device. Also, web surfing rules. Opera Mini on J2ME and others sucked, it was nothing like the modern mobile web.
        digi_owl 9y ago
        And here i still find myself preferring OMini set for single column, as it also strips out all the "modals" and JS bloat found on this "modern" web of yours. As for editing videos or such on a mobile device, bah humbug. The interface is not there in any more than the most rudimentary way. If anything it has regressed unless one happen to have a Galaxy Note, as fingers simply do not offer the precision.
  - rospaya 9y ago
    I had a touchscreen phone that could hold hours of video or hundreds of songs, send instant messages, browse the web, get apps, use WiFi... In 2004. In 2005 you could alreday get GPS, more versatile hardware and better accessories. The much maligned N-Gage had a true multitasking OS with internet and apps in 2003, except Americans never got along with Nokia or Symbian OS.
    - microcolonel 9y ago
      It also had smooth (and more comfortable, due to love handles and buttons) realtime gaming with graphics a cut above the PS1. https://youtu.be/s3xsSwjQ1oA https://youtu.be/s3xsSwjQ1oA
- dfabulich 9y ago
  10 year old software is one thing, but 10 year old SERVICES supporting 10 year old software is certainly unusual.
  - majewsky 9y ago
    I'm going to make a guess here: You never worked in an enterprise environment.
glaberficken 9y ago
Came here to say the same =)
DoreenMichele 9y ago
It may make you laugh, but when I was homeless, someone gave me an outdated iPad thinking that would help me out. It was essentially useless. A lot of people who have old phones have them because they can't afford anything newer. The pressure to constantly update to newer hardware is a hardship for poor people. It de facto is one of the ways they get excluded from modern life. I am also real freaking tired of Google apps being a suite on my cheap phone that constantly updates and threatens that you may break other apps if you disable this one. It makes it very challenging to add any apps to my phone. And my wants and needs are not huge. But Google is eating a large share of the storage space and eats into my time for clearing the cache, etc, to keep the phone functional.
- pimlottc 9y ago
  My mom gave me an old iPad that’s limited to running iOS 9.something. Even though GarageBand existed back then, it refuses to install from the App Store. It took a decent bit of hacking, including an older version of iTunes and mitmproxy, just to get an older version installed that would still run on it.
  - akie 9y ago
    There’s an easier way (had the same issue with Spotify and iPhone 4): use the same iCloud account from the “old” device to login on a newer device. There, download the app you want to use on the older device. Once it’s installed, go back to the older device and go to the App Store to “purchased apps”. This will now include the app you just downloaded on the newer device. Click “download”. The App Store will recognize that this app won’t run on your crappy old iOS version, but since you purchased it, it will offer you to download the latest version that still works on your device... insane, I know, but less involved than a mitm-proxy...
    - pimlottc 9y ago
      That’s the first approach I found to be recommended, but nope, didn’t work in this case for some reason. The app appeared as one I had indeed installed previously (on my newer device) but still refused, saying a newer version of iOS was required. I wonder if it may have been because I had never downloaded the older version of GarageBand, only the latest one.

It makes me laugh that 'insane backwards compatibility ' now adays means that 10 year old software still works.

by mempko 9y ago

It makes me laugh that 'insane backwards compatibility ' now adays means that 10 year old software still works.

ThrowAwayFSp 9y ago

Yep, how'bout some half-million lines cobol program written in the '70s authorizing your transaction today?

emilfihlman 9y ago

Yeah I was thinking the same. 2007 is not the dark ages.

ggggtez 9y ago
Considering smartphones didn't exist until 2007, I think lots of tech actually do consider 10 years to be the dark ages.
- pmlnr 9y ago
  They did. Even the article mentions the Palm Treo, then there were the Nokia Communicators, etc. The iPhone was far from being the first smartphone, but it was the first to break the nerd-wall and sell to the masses.
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    The first iphone was not even a smartphone, it was a featurephone with a fancy UI. Only with the 3G could they start claiming it was a smartphone. Sadly didn't stop boneheads like a NYT writer to try to relabel it as a "superphone" because smartphone was apparently by then too pedestrian for something Apple made...
    - kuschku 9y ago
      This is indeed correct – the first iPhone with iOS 1 did not have any apps, or ways to install apps. The very defining feature of a smart phone are the apps, though. EDIT: Due to downvotes, here’s Apple’s own page advertising how iOS 2 (introduced with the iPhone 3G) adds apps to the iPhone: https://web.archive.org/web/20080912112138/http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/iphone2.html/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080912112138/http://www.apple....
      - extra88 9y ago
        Of course it had apps, just no 3rd party apps. Email, texting, contacts, calendar, and by far the best web browsing experience made the very first iPhone plenty smart. Jobs pretended you didn't need 3rd party apps, everything could be done on the web; of course Apple always intended to allow 3rd party apps.
        kuschku 9y ago
        The whole point of a smartphone are third party apps. LG had more than a dozen phones with touch screen (resistive) at that time that had "apps" but no third party apps (except for JavaME apps). The game changer (as the linked site from Apple states as well) was an App Store allowing direct access to third party apps. And that's what created another modern tech revolution.
        extra88 9y ago
        > The whole point of a smartphone are third party apps. No. The point of a smartphone is to expand the scope of what can reasonably be done so they it can be considered more like a computer than a dedicated device with a narrow, defined set of capabilities. Jobs was right that the quality of the iPhone's browser was sufficient to raise it to that level. Of course having 3rd party apps raises it to another level. It would have been a death sentence if the iPhone proceeded for too long without them while competitors developed a robust app ecosystem but that was never the plan.
        realusername 9y ago
        > mail, texting, contacts, calendar, and by far the best web browsing experience made the very first iPhone plenty smart Back then pretty much every high end phone had that... The IPhone wasn't anything special at that time. The IPhone really took off then they allowed 3rd party apps.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- wernercd 9y ago
  Cell phones have only existed since the 80's... "smart phones" have existed since the 90s - back in a day when Palm, Nokia, Windows and Blackberry ruled... http://www.nicolasnova.net/pasta-and-vinegar/2015/6/28/some-smartphone-evolution-diagrams http://www.nicolasnova.net/pasta-and-vinegar/2015/6/28/some-... 10 years ago? As far as cell phones go? Most definitely the "Dark Ages"... Considering we are moving into a time frame when watches are starting to have cell connectivity: https://www.lifewire.com/smartwatches-with-cellular-connectivity-4107839 https://www.lifewire.com/smartwatches-with-cellular-connecti... Where are we going to be 5 years from now? 10? 20? Compare the Treo and BlackBerry to the current iPhone X, Note 8, etc...
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    > Compare the Treo and BlackBerry to the current iPhone X, Note 8, etc... And i see screens with more colors and pixels, but other than that not much new. It is still calendars and messages that rules.
    - floatboth 9y ago
      "more pixels" is quite an understatement. From 320x240 and 640x480 to 1920x1080 and beyond (Sony made a 4K phone!). But from EDGE to LTE, from weak single core processors to 64-bit 4/6/8 core beasts, from no GPU to what would be considered desktop grade back in the day, from shitty 3gp 144p videos to hardware accelerated 4K H.264/5/VP8/9… Yeah, people still do messages, but messages now include high quality multimedia edited on device. Also, web surfing rules. Opera Mini on J2ME and others sucked, it was nothing like the modern mobile web.
      - digi_owl 9y ago
        And here i still find myself preferring OMini set for single column, as it also strips out all the "modals" and JS bloat found on this "modern" web of yours. As for editing videos or such on a mobile device, bah humbug. The interface is not there in any more than the most rudimentary way. If anything it has regressed unless one happen to have a Galaxy Note, as fingers simply do not offer the precision.
- rospaya 9y ago
  I had a touchscreen phone that could hold hours of video or hundreds of songs, send instant messages, browse the web, get apps, use WiFi... In 2004. In 2005 you could alreday get GPS, more versatile hardware and better accessories. The much maligned N-Gage had a true multitasking OS with internet and apps in 2003, except Americans never got along with Nokia or Symbian OS.
  - microcolonel 9y ago
    It also had smooth (and more comfortable, due to love handles and buttons) realtime gaming with graphics a cut above the PS1. https://youtu.be/s3xsSwjQ1oA https://youtu.be/s3xsSwjQ1oA
dfabulich 9y ago
10 year old software is one thing, but 10 year old SERVICES supporting 10 year old software is certainly unusual.
- majewsky 9y ago
  I'm going to make a guess here: You never worked in an enterprise environment.

glaberficken 9y ago

Came here to say the same =)

DoreenMichele 9y ago

It may make you laugh, but when I was homeless, someone gave me an outdated iPad thinking that would help me out. It was essentially useless. A lot of people who have old phones have them because they can't afford anything newer. The pressure to constantly update to newer hardware is a hardship for poor people. It de facto is one of the ways they get excluded from modern life. I am also real freaking tired of Google apps being a suite on my cheap phone that constantly updates and threatens that you may break other apps if you disable this one. It makes it very challenging to add any apps to my phone. And my wants and needs are not huge. But Google is eating a large share of the storage space and eats into my time for clearing the cache, etc, to keep the phone functional.

pimlottc 9y ago
My mom gave me an old iPad that’s limited to running iOS 9.something. Even though GarageBand existed back then, it refuses to install from the App Store. It took a decent bit of hacking, including an older version of iTunes and mitmproxy, just to get an older version installed that would still run on it.
- akie 9y ago
  There’s an easier way (had the same issue with Spotify and iPhone 4): use the same iCloud account from the “old” device to login on a newer device. There, download the app you want to use on the older device. Once it’s installed, go back to the older device and go to the App Store to “purchased apps”. This will now include the app you just downloaded on the newer device. Click “download”. The App Store will recognize that this app won’t run on your crappy old iOS version, but since you purchased it, it will offer you to download the latest version that still works on your device... insane, I know, but less involved than a mitm-proxy...
  - pimlottc 9y ago
    That’s the first approach I found to be recommended, but nope, didn’t work in this case for some reason. The app appeared as one I had indeed installed previously (on my newer device) but still refused, saying a newer version of iOS was required. I wonder if it may have been because I had never downloaded the older version of GarageBand, only the latest one.