Apple to End Support for AIM iChat Logins on Older Versions of OS X Starting June 30

[Hugh]

I can understand Apple now wanting to have to maintain Rosetta forever, as they considered it a technology just to ease the PPC to x86/x64 transition. However, I wish Apple would have made the code Open Source.

The code was never Apple's code. The code belonged to another company called 'Transsetta something' I can remember the full name. IBM bought them out, thus making the code part of IBM now. Now one can think that Apple could easily bought the code from IBM, assuming that IBM is willing to see the code off.

Hugh

 

[roadbloc]

I think they're idiots. Really not a valid reason to run a circa 2001 MS (read inherently insecure) OS in 2014. None whatsoever.

Windows XP set a HORRIBLE expectation for OS longevity.

Just because Windows XP lasted as long as it did doesn't mean every OS should be expected to last that long.

Technology moves at such a fast pace that updating an OS at least several times a year (if not more frequently) should be considered a normal part of safe computer usage.

Using Windows XP that long was like using a really old car. It looked great when it first came out, but instead of upgrading to a newer (and safer) car down the road, you repaired that car over and over drove it into the ground, figuratively speaking.

Think that if you wish. But at the end of the day Microsoft chose to support XP and the rest of their OSs for a longer time. Windows 98 didn't lose support until 2006, Windows 7 won't lose support until 2020, it isn't just XP getting this treatment. And at the end of the day, regardless of how old it is, you can boot up a 2001 XP PC and still launch the latest versions of iTunes, Chrome, Steam and many more, all functioning fine. OS X Tiger can't run any latest versions of them, making it increasingly useless in the modern world. For a computer that cost 2-3x more than the Windows equivalent, that is bad.

Personally, I dislike Apple's continued software support lifecycle. It was far too short, but at least the blow has been softened with free OS upgrades.

 

[CharlesS]

I can understand Apple now wanting to have to maintain Rosetta forever, as they considered it a technology just to ease the PPC to x86/x64 transition. However, I wish Apple would have made the code Open Source.

The code was only part of the deal with Rosetta. The other part was that every single library and framework on the system had to be compiled for both PPC and Intel in order for it to work. Unless Apple supplied the source code to basically the whole OS so we could compile the whole thing for ourselves, the Rosetta code wouldn't have helped anyone much.

 

[ratsg]

The other part was that every single library and framework on the system had to be compiled for both PPC and Intel in order for it to work.

But thats the deal, that it was no big deal to compile for both x86 and PPC. It was a check box in Xcode.

Steve said so himself on stage.

 

[2984839]

Yeah well if you have an 8 year old Mac, I don't think owners can moan about Apple cutting online services to them. Especially after the OpenSSL fiasco (which Apple "wasn't" affected by), being on the latest OS with the latest security updates is essential.

The latest versions of OpensSSL were the ones that were vulnerable to Heartbleed.

But I agree with you, even if I also understand the desire to use a PPC machine today. If I was keeping OS X, I would want one that was still supported with security updates.

 

[Gochugogi]

I'm too young to remember the PPC days.

Haha, probably AIM too. It's heyday was early 1990s AOL dial-up, but a residue of it somehow survived. I don't think I've used AIM since the advent of the new millennium.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Did they do this with previous versions of OS X in the past? And is this more AOL or Apple?

 

[ratsg]

I have never *voluntary* used AIM.

At $WORK, I play a Unix system admin, and have been forced into using the protocol in (2) separate lifetimes because my end users, application support teams, had decided that the AIM protocol was how they were going to communicate.

I believe that I had used the "Pidgin" IM application which supported the AIM protocol, and many others.

Haha, probably AIM too. It's heyday was early 1990s AOL dial-up, but a residue of it somehow survived. I don't think I've used AIM since the advent of the new millennium.

 

[MichaelLAX]

heck I just bought another copy of snow leopard server a couple weeks ago directly from Apple to put in a VM for this very reason.

For sale for $20 by Apple (1.800.MYAPPLE (1.800.692.7753) - Apple Part Number: MC588Z/A; telephone orders only), EVERYONE should buy a copy of Snow Leopard Server and put it up on the shelf for that day if and when you might need to run it in virtualization to access some legacy PowerPC app.

It was not that long ago that Apple sold SLS for $499 and when they stop selling it for $20 or any price, its price on eBay and Amazon will go up significantly!

 

[adam.brydon1]

I'm too young to remember the PPC days.

I'm not