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> the amount of work required to keep it working on newer versions of iOS costs more than ... My educated guess would that this is simply not true. It's a conv

> the amount of work required to keep it working on newer versions of iOS costs more than ... My educated guess would that this is simply not true. It's a convenient excuse, but a bullshit one. Either covering up engineering incompetence or the good old desire to sell the same thing more than once. And that's even if Prompt weren't a relatively expensive app with a large user base. In any case, this is not my problem as their client. My fairly basic assumption is that what they sell will last a reasonable amount of time and it's entirely their headache to work out the details behind that.

whywhywhywhy 5y ago
It’s not engineering incompetence when the floor is constantly changing under your feet. How many apps coded 5 years ago even run on modern iOS. Apple expects engineers to ship at least one new version a year and don’t care about backwards compatibility. Have a ton of apps on my phone that no longer launch for various reasons. Not saying I endorse it or agree with it. Just saying this is the world Apple built and don’t intend to change.
- MAGZine 5y ago
  I don't know why you're excusing their behavior. Apps on Android and windows run regardless of how many years ago they were written with very few exceptions. Let's call a duck a duck: Apple choose this right because it was easier and made them more money, at the expense of their users. It's a fact. It just is.
- huhtenberg 5y ago
  I am not saying that iOS doesn't change in a breaking way. That's given. I am saying that the upkeep is not as expensive as you said it was. I've lived through the W10 launch and that was a fucking dumpster fire. Still, adapting to whatever Microsoft broke with their brand new "update" wasn't that difficult even though these were genuine surprises. Things. Just. Broke. In comparison iOS changes are announced well in advance and they aren't too drastic. So while you can't compile an iOS app today and expect it to work in few years, keeping it updated is not that hard or time-consuming. Unless the code is a mess to begin with.

whywhywhywhy 5y ago

It’s not engineering incompetence when the floor is constantly changing under your feet. How many apps coded 5 years ago even run on modern iOS. Apple expects engineers to ship at least one new version a year and don’t care about backwards compatibility. Have a ton of apps on my phone that no longer launch for various reasons. Not saying I endorse it or agree with it. Just saying this is the world Apple built and don’t intend to change.

MAGZine 5y ago
I don't know why you're excusing their behavior. Apps on Android and windows run regardless of how many years ago they were written with very few exceptions. Let's call a duck a duck: Apple choose this right because it was easier and made them more money, at the expense of their users. It's a fact. It just is.
huhtenberg 5y ago
I am not saying that iOS doesn't change in a breaking way. That's given. I am saying that the upkeep is not as expensive as you said it was. I've lived through the W10 launch and that was a fucking dumpster fire. Still, adapting to whatever Microsoft broke with their brand new "update" wasn't that difficult even though these were genuine surprises. Things. Just. Broke. In comparison iOS changes are announced well in advance and they aren't too drastic. So while you can't compile an iOS app today and expect it to work in few years, keeping it updated is not that hard or time-consuming. Unless the code is a mess to begin with.