If you already sell $1K phones and then announce a $6K desktop, you may as well create a $5K display. I used to be an ardent supporter of the Macintosh line and their recent narcissistic approach has been off-putting at best. Mojave and their new file system has handicapped older machines with traditional (and difficult to replace) hard drives. Apple used to support and "honor" long time devotees. Not anymore. Cash cows is right.
Apple used to support and "honor" long time devotees. Not anymore.
No. Apple never cared about backwards compatibility. Apple ][ users were abandoned by the Mac. The 68k binaries were abandoned to PowerPC, which was abandoned to x86. Mac OS X gave legacy users of OS 9 a choice of upgrade or fade away.
Apple's "courage" to abandon the old and move on, has helped them avoid bloat and port proliferation, enabling clean designs. But be prepared to get screwed occasionally.
If you want backwards compatibility, stick with Microsoft.
Apples "Courage", is also replacing a tested technology with a new technology that isn't fully worked out. When the iMac came out without a Floppy Disk, I was in College at the time, While I was (in a computer science program) proficient enough to transfer files over the network most other students were not, even with an easy to use Mac, Because they were transferring files over to a Vax, (Ok it was an Alpha Server with OpenVMS) Most computer labs required users to bring and save onto floppy disk. USB Stic
I would further add that, today, USB has become the perfect 'good enough' port. Sure it's not great. It's not absurdly fast, and having to rotate it 3 times before you can stick it in is a pain, but for all that, it's good enough for the exact tasks people want to do: attach peripherals (which typically don't require that high bandwidth anyway) and conveniently sharing files in the form of USB keys.
USB-C is great but it's a massive uphill climb because it provides no real tangible benefit to the above use cases, while having huge downsides, like active cables that you need to check a spreadsheet to verify it's quality, and two USB-C devices won't necessarily even be compatible.
The USB UG really screwed up with USB-C, hampering adoption and extending the life of USB-A while people wait for the dust to settle.
Ridiculous ? (Score:4, Insightful)
The only ridiculous thing for Apple would be to refrain from milking their cash cows.
Re: (Score:0)
If you already sell $1K phones and then announce a $6K desktop, you may as well create a $5K display. I used to be an ardent supporter of the Macintosh line and their recent narcissistic approach has been off-putting at best. Mojave and their new file system has handicapped older machines with traditional (and difficult to replace) hard drives. Apple used to support and "honor" long time devotees. Not anymore. Cash cows is right.
Mod this post up.
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple used to support and "honor" long time devotees. Not anymore.
No. Apple never cared about backwards compatibility. Apple ][ users were abandoned by the Mac. The 68k binaries were abandoned to PowerPC, which was abandoned to x86. Mac OS X gave legacy users of OS 9 a choice of upgrade or fade away.
Apple's "courage" to abandon the old and move on, has helped them avoid bloat and port proliferation, enabling clean designs. But be prepared to get screwed occasionally.
If you want backwards compatibility, stick with Microsoft.
Re: (Score:3)
Apples "Courage", is also replacing a tested technology with a new technology that isn't fully worked out.
When the iMac came out without a Floppy Disk, I was in College at the time, While I was (in a computer science program) proficient enough to transfer files over the network most other students were not, even with an easy to use Mac, Because they were transferring files over to a Vax, (Ok it was an Alpha Server with OpenVMS) Most computer labs required users to bring and save onto floppy disk. USB Stic
Re:Ridiculous ? (Score:2)
I would further add that, today, USB has become the perfect 'good enough' port. Sure it's not great. It's not absurdly fast, and having to rotate it 3 times before you can stick it in is a pain, but for all that, it's good enough for the exact tasks people want to do: attach peripherals (which typically don't require that high bandwidth anyway) and conveniently sharing files in the form of USB keys.
USB-C is great but it's a massive uphill climb because it provides no real tangible benefit to the above use cases, while having huge downsides, like active cables that you need to check a spreadsheet to verify it's quality, and two USB-C devices won't necessarily even be compatible.
The USB UG really screwed up with USB-C, hampering adoption and extending the life of USB-A while people wait for the dust to settle.