- Joined
- Jun 12, 2011
- Messages
- 9,690
- Reaction score
- 1,879
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia and Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
- Your Mac's Specs
- 2021 M1 MacBook Pro 14" macOS 14.4.1, Mid 2010MacBook 13" iPhone 13 Pro max, iPad 6, Apple Watch SE.
About 6 months ago my iPhone 4 downloaded iOS 7 overnight without any action on my part. Despite automatic updates being switched off I was confronted with a downloaded version ready to instal. This has also happened with my wife's iPhone 4 for subsequent updates to iOS7.
I did instal the new iOS as did my wife only to find on our next sync to iTunes that the new iOS was not compatible with our version of iTunes. So we downloaded the new version of iTunes, as you do.
At that point we were both running Mountain Lion so no problems encountered but it raises a few questions.
A recent thread I read illustrates the problems that can occur with updates.
This guy buys a new iPhone 5S because his old iPhone is broken. When he goes to sync it with his old G5 laptop guess what? I'm sure you can guess.
He doesn't really have enough RAM to run the latest OSX but he must update to instal the required version of iTunes, unfortunately this will render a number of 3rd party, paid for apps unusable.
These days iPhones and iPads are almost stand alone devices and a lot of people use them this way. So it's no wonder that Apple constantly pushes the idea of keeping all your devices up to date but what happens when the operating system exceeds your hardware ability to run it.
The simple answer is buy new hardware, either upgrade your RAM/HD or buy a new device.
I know there are ways around these problems of compatibility but many of these "work arounds" are beyond the skills of the average user (hence this forum).
It seems to me that either Apple or at least the seller should inform people of the minimum requirements of a new device eg. "Requires iTunes 11 and OSX 10.8.1"
The new security measures that were introduced with iOS 7 can also cause some problems for resellers albeit they are good measures designed to discourage theft and protect user data.
If I bought a second hand iPhone on say eBay I would much rather it came with iOS6. iOS 7 requires a fairly complex set of steps prior to resale to ensure it is removed from iCloud services an device registration, iTunes and iChat. How many people will do a search on "How to Prepare my old iPhone for Sale" and be able to follow all of the steps.
As all of these pre sale steps must now be carried out by the seller will buyers simply decide it's all too hard and buy a new one? Let me tell you it's difficult to get help from an interstate seller where their Apple ID is required to sync your purchased item to your iTunes Library because they forgot to turn off "Find my iPhone"
So, to sum up, compulsory OS updates, upgrades and new hardware required without any information from Apple prior to sale about what this might mean to users of multiple devices.
Is this progress? Yes. Is it limited to Apple? No.
Can I install an old OSX on a new device? Not unless you have the original instal disks or wish to buy them.
Is this (planned) obsolescence? Maybe.
What do you think?
I did instal the new iOS as did my wife only to find on our next sync to iTunes that the new iOS was not compatible with our version of iTunes. So we downloaded the new version of iTunes, as you do.
At that point we were both running Mountain Lion so no problems encountered but it raises a few questions.
A recent thread I read illustrates the problems that can occur with updates.
This guy buys a new iPhone 5S because his old iPhone is broken. When he goes to sync it with his old G5 laptop guess what? I'm sure you can guess.
He doesn't really have enough RAM to run the latest OSX but he must update to instal the required version of iTunes, unfortunately this will render a number of 3rd party, paid for apps unusable.
These days iPhones and iPads are almost stand alone devices and a lot of people use them this way. So it's no wonder that Apple constantly pushes the idea of keeping all your devices up to date but what happens when the operating system exceeds your hardware ability to run it.
The simple answer is buy new hardware, either upgrade your RAM/HD or buy a new device.
I know there are ways around these problems of compatibility but many of these "work arounds" are beyond the skills of the average user (hence this forum).
It seems to me that either Apple or at least the seller should inform people of the minimum requirements of a new device eg. "Requires iTunes 11 and OSX 10.8.1"
The new security measures that were introduced with iOS 7 can also cause some problems for resellers albeit they are good measures designed to discourage theft and protect user data.
If I bought a second hand iPhone on say eBay I would much rather it came with iOS6. iOS 7 requires a fairly complex set of steps prior to resale to ensure it is removed from iCloud services an device registration, iTunes and iChat. How many people will do a search on "How to Prepare my old iPhone for Sale" and be able to follow all of the steps.
As all of these pre sale steps must now be carried out by the seller will buyers simply decide it's all too hard and buy a new one? Let me tell you it's difficult to get help from an interstate seller where their Apple ID is required to sync your purchased item to your iTunes Library because they forgot to turn off "Find my iPhone"
So, to sum up, compulsory OS updates, upgrades and new hardware required without any information from Apple prior to sale about what this might mean to users of multiple devices.
Is this progress? Yes. Is it limited to Apple? No.
Can I install an old OSX on a new device? Not unless you have the original instal disks or wish to buy them.
Is this (planned) obsolescence? Maybe.
What do you think?
