Comment by Watabou | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Watabou | Hacker News Reader

> Apple on Tuesday made it clear that it will no longer patch OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, when it again declined to offer a security update for the four-and-a-half-year-old operating system.

Well, The SSL bug only affected Mavericks. Additionally, I don't think we know if the security updates released for mountain lion and lion also affected Snow Leopard. And if it did, well, Apple moves quicker than Microsoft does anyway with new OS release every year.

If there are still people running Snow Leopard, either they have an old computer that is more than 5 years old, or they specifically don't want to upgrade to Lion. For the former, Apple knows most people will have upgraded their old computers by now, or will soon in the future. For the latter group, most know what they're doing by not upgrading.

Snow Leopard is 4 years old. And the last update for it was September 2013, just 5 months ago. It clearly was Apple's XP, if you will, and the longest supported out of all releases, I think.

My $2700 Cintiq is 7 years old and works dandy, but Wacom will not be making Maverick drivers -- ever. So I won't be upgrading ever. My TV is 10 years old and working. We have a 15 year old TV in the office. My 2001 ibook is going strong and my six year could use it -- but it can't even be updated to the new wireless networking protocols, and linux abandoned the G3.

I can't tell if you're complaining about Apple abandoning support for Snow Leopard, or just making a statement supporting why people still stick to old(er) hardware.

If the latter, then I completely understand, and you make a valid point.

If the former, though, then my question would be why would one be content with sticking to old(er) hardware, but not be content with sticking to old(er) software?

Again, not saying you fall into that boat, but in general, anybody protesting this decision should be asked that question.

And it's a genuine question -- maybe there is a valid reason. I just can't think of one.

> If the former, though, then my question would be why would one be content with sticking to old(er) hardware, but not be content with sticking to old(er) software?

Security, and network effects.

Supporting deployment back to 10.6 / iOS 6 / etc isn't inherently difficult, but the fast pace of Apple's deployment, the lack of support for downgrading on iOS devices, and the now-constant API churn makes it seem like more hassle than it's worth.

Apple is intentionally driving new demand by pushing early obsolescence of old software and hardware.

> Wacom will not be making Maverick drivers -- ever

For the Cintiq, or in general?

Are they necessary?

I ask because I have an Intuos Pro and haven't had a problem on Mavericks.

It's Wacom. They announced it on their site. I could try it, but at this point I'm not up for the trials and tribulation of trying mavericks and having to revert.

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