This makes things difficult for repair shops like ours, as well. We Can’t Provide Support When The OEM Doesn’t
There are two key reasons Apple ends support for older products: one is that at a certain age, the older hardware struggles to provide a quality experience in using modern software – even accessing the internet slows down as older CPUs can’t process newer, streamlined code in the same way! The other is that the more hardware products you have to support, the thinner you have to spread your software engineering team to make sure things are running smoothly – it’s much easier to support a smaller range of products, which is why there is a limited variety of Macs available to purchase at any given time. By doing this, they can make sure their customers have the best experience possible.
Some have noticed that Windows products usually stay in support longer than Apple, which brings up an interesting point about how Apple does business: they have an entirely closed system, where they design the hardware, software, and many of the applications. In the case of operating systems reaching End-Of-Life (EOL) status, usually software developers (the people that make the “apps” you run, like web browsers or word processors) will stop building with support for that OS, as well. Therefore after a (usually predesignated) period of time, support will be dropped for any given version of a program. Paying software engineers and tech support specialists to maintain one or two versions of a product is one thing. These companies can’t support products forever.
This support comes not only in the form of technical support, but in the form of security updates/repairs, bugfixes, and threat mitigation. As a result, the companies that produce these products have to provide support for them. Whether you personally want it or not, these new things will happen. Hardware will always continue to improve, and it follows that software developers will never stop developing: there will always be a new version (or an outright replacement) for whatever it is you’re using now, at some point in the future. One fact we have to face is that innovators will never stop innovating. Many of our customers, when we tell them that their current OS or software has reached “end-of-life” or is “out of support” and that they need to upgrade, have many questions – the major two being “why does support end?” and “why should I upgrade, if this doesn’t offer me anything I think I need?” We’re going to try to explain both of these here in a simple way. Microsoft doesn’t just push out Windows updates to change things around on you, but they’re also working hard behind the scenes to make sure your computer system is as secure as possible from threats both within and without.
MacOS (previously known as OSX) receives a major upgrade every year.įor two, it has made receiving updates a much more important fact of life: the increased connectivity we crave also exposes us all to enormous risk, from the possibility of hackers, scammers, malware, and viruses. Chrome OS gets major updates every two weeks. Windows now receives weekly updates and monthly cumulative patches, as well as a periodic major “feature updates”. For one, it has made delivery of updates and fixes both easier and faster. The spread of the internet has changed all that.
In those days, updating your software wasn’t always necessary, if you didn’t need new features or support for new technologies. Major productivity software like Microsoft Office might receive a new release every three to four years. Two decades ago, an OS like Windows might see a new major iteration every five to six years or so. Local Resources for Mobile Device RepairĪs technology relentlessly marches on, hardware engineers toil away at faster, more efficient processing capabilities, and software developers work hard in creating the next generation of operating systems (OSes) and software for end users to make use of.Unsupported Software/”End-Of-Life” – What Does it Mean?.Computers: Explained (Layperson’s Guide).