Probably because there does not seem to be many Apple fans here.
Apples policies have not changed in over a decade. They update their OS every year, and generally speaking they don’t push out breaking changes that aren’t tied to new hardware.
The original 2014 platforms supported both 32-bit and 64-bit software, but one of the OS updates removed support for 32-bits. I will not upgrade to that OS so as to not lose access to several 32-bit apps — they cost a lot to update.
The next major change was adding support for Apples M-series CPUs. The OS overlapped Intel and Mx for a couple of releases, then they dropped Intel, so that’s as far as you can go with OS updates.
Their official policy is they only support the last three releases. But I continue to get update notices for my 2014 systems, although I Just ignore them.
The bigger problem, however, is when there are some hardware changes. To generate apps for their platforms, you need to run XCode, and it gets up dates regularly. It’s always updated for new OS releases as well. You cannot publish new software with older versions of XCode.
That means at some point when a vendor issues an update of an app you have, it won’t run on an older OS version. I think that’s where their “3 last OS releases” comes in, because XCode seems to enforce it.
So if you don’t want to lose your apps, you just stop installing updates especially if they want you to upgrade the OS.
It’s worse on things that run iOS.
If you know, you know, and stop installing updates. If you don’t, you lose access to some stuff or you’re told you can’t update any further.
MS makes a lot of noise for their major transitions, which happen every 5 years or so. They got jammed-up when so many people refused to pay to upgrade Windows which is why they switched to free updates — so they can force people to update their OS. Apple does the same thing, but they don’t make a big deal about it.
-David Schwartz
> On May 9, 2025, at 7:16 AM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>
> Eric and everyone,
>
> Win10 EOL is being taken as a big deal because it will no longer be supported, unless one buys extended support.
>
> There is lots of talk about old Apple hardware however I am not hearing about any concern for lack of support. Why is that?
>
> - Keith
>
>
>
> On 2025-05-08 13:41, Eric Oyen via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>> David,
>> You’re not the only one! My Mac mini is circa 2012 and it still
>> functions well with its original OS, however, things are starting to
>> come to the point where I’m going to have to install LINUX on it.
>> There’s some things I can’t do with it anymore. (some webpages
>> won’t load properly which means they won’t load inside the screen
>> reader either. However, I’m looking at the open core project, which
>> will probably give me some options as far as updating is concerned.
>> And yes, because I’m on an exceedingly limited income (disability),
>> I am like you in that I cannot afford new equipment every time
>> somebody forces us through the upgrade cycle.
>> Anyway, that’s probably the beauty about Apple hardware is that it
>> lasts a long time.
>> Eric
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> On May 8, 2025, at 12:01 PM, David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss
>>> <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>>> I truly appreciate your concern and encouragement to spend money
>>> needlessly. I typically keep my hardware until it dies. If you
>>> prefer to replace yours on a schedule even if it’s still working,
>>> that’s up to you. So far, my Mac hardware has lasted far longer
>>> than anything running Windows. I doubt it’s the OS.
>>> (My first iMac died not long after the Apple Care expired — a chip
>>> on the video card failed and they wanted nearly $700 to replace it.
>>> That didn’t seem like a wise investment, so I pulled out the RAM
>>> and HD, and sold the carcass for nearly $400. I could have gotten
>>> more than that by parting out the case, PS, LCD display, and logic
>>> board separately, but that would have taken longer.)
>>> However, I also know that Windows attracts more than an order of
>>> magnitude more attempts to hack the system versus all other
>>> platforms combined, so I CHOOSE to avoid it in large part for that
>>> reason alone. I also prefer *nix to Windows as it’s far more
>>> stable.
>>> Value is measured over time. My experience with Apple’s hardware
>>> is that it lasts far longer than anything I’ve had that runs
>>> Windows. And it does not depreciate nearly as quickly. I’m quite
>>> happy with the value I’ve gotten for my money.
>>> -David Schwartz
>>> On May 7, 2025, at 10:02 AM, Matthew Gibson via PLUG-discuss
>>> <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>>> My wife's macbook died. Multiple times. Several were hard drive
>>> failures. We replaced, with Apple-nazi sanctioned hardware. The
>>> final death was when the graphics card stopped working. Could get a
>>> framebuffer on it. But anything more intensive? nope. Thing said
>>> 'Newp!' So I said 'good-riddance'.
>>> You can like whatever hardware you want. As for me and my house? I
>>> don't run Apple crap.
>>> Too much headache. Too much engineered obsolescence. Too much money
>>> for what it's worth.
>>> Even with the "better hardware" rationale for fanboys paying out
>>> every time a new phone comes out which only improves slightly on a
>>> camera, or better, adds a feature that android has had for years.
>>> I wouldn't want to do any serious work on your old macs that are
>>> ancient. Have you done any vulnerability scans on them? "Might want
>>> to look into that" ~Tony Stark, as he bonks the head of the bad guy
>>> in Iron Man I.
>>> Anyways, I'm not going to change your mind, and this conversation
>>> grows ancient. Like your macs.
>>> T.T.F.N.
>>> On Tue, May 6, 2025 at 6:03 PM David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss
>>> <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>>> On May 4, 2025, at 7:36 PM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss
>>> <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>>>> I did not know there was a bias on the list.
>>>> - Keith
>>> It’s when people mention “the Apple tax” that the bias shows
>>> up.
>>> At least my older Macs don’t turn into door-stops when Apple stops
>>> supporting them. Two of them cannot be upgraded to the latest
>>> versions of MacOS, but they are fully functional.
>>> From all of the warnings I’m reading about Windows 10, I’m
>>> really not sure what to expect. I have two computers that I can’t
>>> upgrade to Win 11.
>>> -David Schwartz
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