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I don't think that's what is being asked, although I totally agree with what you said. I think also the question and your answer somewhat reduces down what App

I don't think that's what is being asked, although I totally agree with what you said. I think also the question and your answer somewhat reduces down what Apple are doing to just producing hardware and software - as if that's all that Apple were about. No matter how big a player the competitor might be, Apple have got users locked-in without them even feeling it, and other companies have got a very long way to go before they even get close to having that kind of buy-in. Apple would have to have a major major screw up to lose that advantage. I actually experienced the power of that lock-in recently. I'm writing a technical book on a macbook air. Although it's on OSX 10.6.8 I hadn't upgraded to Lion because I didn't want to lose the support of Rosetta for a couple of programs I still use. I'd been using Pages to write the book because of it's compatibility with ePub and Amazon, and when Apple released iBooks Author I saw the potential for my book. The problem is that it's Lion only. Now I have a dilemma, upgrade to Lion and lose Rosetta (and several key coding programs) or just stay where I am and lose iBooks Author.... or buy another Mac. Wow. That is power. Name me another company that has that.

captaincrowbar 15y ago
How is that Apple's fault? You'd have exactly the same false dilemma on any system where you wanted to run old and new software that weren't compatible with the same OS version. What if you were on Windows and wanted to run a new app that needed .NET and an old one that only worked on Win9x? It's a false dilemma anyway, because you've ignored obvious solutions like virtual machines or dual booting. Again, exactly the same options you'd have on Windows, Linux, or whatever.
- chris_dcosta 15y ago
  Was I blaming Apple? No. I was just pointing out that from a consumer perspective, Apple have got all bases covered and every decision is pretty cleverly put together. I admire it, but the questioner seemed not to see it that far hence I made the point. HNers of course are going to find hacks and work-arounds to my dilemma which is not exactly end-of-the-world anyway.
steventruong 15y ago
1. Stay on Snow Leopard 2. Install and run VirtualBox, and install Lion (approved by Apple EULA). 3. ????? 4. Profit
- chris_dcosta 15y ago
  Honestly my dilemma is a non-issue. As I said above I was making the point from a consumer perspective. I'm too far down the line with the book in this version anyways.
shinratdr 15y ago
> Now I have a dilemma, upgrade to Lion and lose Rosetta (and several key coding programs) or just stay where I am and lose iBooks Author.... or buy another Mac. Wow. That is power. Name me another company that has that. Or install the older OS to another partition. Not a hack or a workaround, it's actually what you are supposed to do if you require access to two versions of Mac OS X on the same computer I really don't think this demonstrates the power of lock in, or anything at all really. Just classic "time marches on" software incompatibility. Not unique to Apple or any other vendor.

captaincrowbar 15y ago

How is that Apple's fault? You'd have exactly the same false dilemma on any system where you wanted to run old and new software that weren't compatible with the same OS version. What if you were on Windows and wanted to run a new app that needed .NET and an old one that only worked on Win9x? It's a false dilemma anyway, because you've ignored obvious solutions like virtual machines or dual booting. Again, exactly the same options you'd have on Windows, Linux, or whatever.

chris_dcosta 15y ago
Was I blaming Apple? No. I was just pointing out that from a consumer perspective, Apple have got all bases covered and every decision is pretty cleverly put together. I admire it, but the questioner seemed not to see it that far hence I made the point. HNers of course are going to find hacks and work-arounds to my dilemma which is not exactly end-of-the-world anyway.

steventruong 15y ago

1. Stay on Snow Leopard 2. Install and run VirtualBox, and install Lion (approved by Apple EULA). 3. ????? 4. Profit

chris_dcosta 15y ago
Honestly my dilemma is a non-issue. As I said above I was making the point from a consumer perspective. I'm too far down the line with the book in this version anyways.

shinratdr 15y ago

> Now I have a dilemma, upgrade to Lion and lose Rosetta (and several key coding programs) or just stay where I am and lose iBooks Author.... or buy another Mac. Wow. That is power. Name me another company that has that. Or install the older OS to another partition. Not a hack or a workaround, it's actually what you are supposed to do if you require access to two versions of Mac OS X on the same computer I really don't think this demonstrates the power of lock in, or anything at all really. Just classic "time marches on" software incompatibility. Not unique to Apple or any other vendor.