4 ms·

1) iOS is not free, it's included in the price of the device. 2) Vista with DX10 support on Core 2 Duo is very different than Windows 8.1 with DX11 support on i

1) iOS is not free, it's included in the price of the device. 2) Vista with DX10 support on Core 2 Duo is very different than Windows 8.1 with DX11 support on i7 with SSD instead of HDD. But it doesn't matter that your argument is flawed. Supporting 4yo hardware is a waste of time from any hardware vendor POV if there were 2 new generations of devices released since. It's not a gaming console with a lifespan of 5-10 years for people to expect support after half a decade.

Karunamon 12y ago
It's still free. As is Android. Zero-cost OSes driving general purpose computing devices is starting to become the norm, rather than the exception. The only major holdout nowadays is Microsoft. What about updates? The cost of the device has nothing to do with the 2-4 software updates an average user can expect.
- newscracker 12y ago
  See my reply above about "subscription accounting" - the cost of the device really pays for updates.
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    I think we're in violent agreement here. However, it's unclear (I'd say to the point of not worth discussing) what the cost of the OS is. As far as the end user is concerned, the OS is free as are the updates. They pay the same amount for the phone regardless if it gets 1 update or if it gets 10 (and you don't know how many in advance). Phones at full retail price have sat comfortably at the $600ish price point for quite a while.
    - DominikD 12y ago
      Litmus test, IMO, is this: would iOS be free if we were able to run it on a device that's not manufactured by Apple? I'd say no, so it's not free. The argument you're making is in fact manufacturer's POV, not consumer's one. Microsoft have made a similar claim about Windows Media Player and several other pieces of software that it was requested to remove from Windows for different markets (EU, Korea, probably others). Being cynical I reject the idea of getting something for free in cases like these. It's not free, it's included in the asking price.

Karunamon 12y ago

It's still free. As is Android. Zero-cost OSes driving general purpose computing devices is starting to become the norm, rather than the exception. The only major holdout nowadays is Microsoft. What about updates? The cost of the device has nothing to do with the 2-4 software updates an average user can expect.

newscracker 12y ago
See my reply above about "subscription accounting" - the cost of the device really pays for updates.
- Karunamon 12y ago
  I think we're in violent agreement here. However, it's unclear (I'd say to the point of not worth discussing) what the cost of the OS is. As far as the end user is concerned, the OS is free as are the updates. They pay the same amount for the phone regardless if it gets 1 update or if it gets 10 (and you don't know how many in advance). Phones at full retail price have sat comfortably at the $600ish price point for quite a while.
  - DominikD 12y ago
    Litmus test, IMO, is this: would iOS be free if we were able to run it on a device that's not manufactured by Apple? I'd say no, so it's not free. The argument you're making is in fact manufacturer's POV, not consumer's one. Microsoft have made a similar claim about Windows Media Player and several other pieces of software that it was requested to remove from Windows for different markets (EU, Korea, probably others). Being cynical I reject the idea of getting something for free in cases like these. It's not free, it's included in the asking price.