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Yes, and the result is people using old software on those old OS versions which... well, have blatant security issues. Apple shipping minimal security fixes to

by jkrems 8y ago

Yes, and the result is people using old software on those old OS versions which... well, have blatant security issues. Apple shipping minimal security fixes to old OS versions has ripple effects that are really unfortunate and expecting every small app developer to support 5 major versions of the OS feature matrix isn't practical.

evol262 8y ago
Nobody is obligating app developers to support umpteen versions of iOS. There are 2 possibilities: 1. Users who want to stay on old versions without access to the newer app store stay. This happens all the time with people who have old iPads they want to hand off to their kids/grandparents/whatever. 2. Apple stops pretending that there are enough new features every year to merit a major version of iOS, and gates updates for newer packages to only users of the newest phone. They already have the capability to do this for iPads, iPhone X, and others.
jake_the_third 8y ago
> Apple shipping minimal security fixes to old OS versions has ripple effects that are really unfortunate and expecting every small app developer to support 5 major versions of the OS feature matrix isn't practical. I think this is a case where Apple has to make a choice between their developers' convenience or their users' UX. I personally think developers should cater to multiple versions just like any other platform (targeting Android APIs, Windows releases, kernel versions). Apple developers aren't special snowflakes. They can handle what other developers have been doing for as long as programmable computers existed.
- dwaite 8y ago
  They have made a decision for the User's UX - the user does not get a choice of installing 10.4.7, 11.3.2, or 12.0.1 - they just get the choice to install the latest OS their hardware supports.
  - jake_the_third 8y ago
    I wouldn't count degrading users' experience when using their previously-normal phones a decision for User UX.

by jkrems 8y ago

evol262 8y ago

Nobody is obligating app developers to support umpteen versions of iOS. There are 2 possibilities: 1. Users who want to stay on old versions without access to the newer app store stay. This happens all the time with people who have old iPads they want to hand off to their kids/grandparents/whatever. 2. Apple stops pretending that there are enough new features every year to merit a major version of iOS, and gates updates for newer packages to only users of the newest phone. They already have the capability to do this for iPads, iPhone X, and others.

jake_the_third 8y ago

> Apple shipping minimal security fixes to old OS versions has ripple effects that are really unfortunate and expecting every small app developer to support 5 major versions of the OS feature matrix isn't practical. I think this is a case where Apple has to make a choice between their developers' convenience or their users' UX. I personally think developers should cater to multiple versions just like any other platform (targeting Android APIs, Windows releases, kernel versions). Apple developers aren't special snowflakes. They can handle what other developers have been doing for as long as programmable computers existed.

dwaite 8y ago
They have made a decision for the User's UX - the user does not get a choice of installing 10.4.7, 11.3.2, or 12.0.1 - they just get the choice to install the latest OS their hardware supports.
- jake_the_third 8y ago
  I wouldn't count degrading users' experience when using their previously-normal phones a decision for User UX.