Apple Pulls Older Software From 'Purchased' Tab in Mac App Store

[bmac89]

I feared the day this would happen!

 

[0007776]

Given that it's still possible to buy a redemption code for OS X Lion, I'm pretty confident that the old OSes will be back: http://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6106Z/A/os-x-lion

I hope so, but I'll wait for confirmation before I start thinking about trusting paid software from the app store again.

 

[Porco]

Folks, this was linked earlier in the thread, but it's still being missed. This is an unintentional change and will be resolved.
http://www.imore.com/iphoto-and-aperture-temporarily-disappear-app-store

Yes, that is clearly worth repeating.

However, the problem is bigger than just Aperture and iPhoto, so hopefully it will be resolved for everything, not just those two applications.

 

[Bubba Satori]

The hyperbole is getting waste deep.

The metaphors are cosmic.

 

[Jessica Lares]

This is why a lot of people still buy directly from developers. This is just another reason why.

 

[0007776]

I think it's the right time to begin requesting refunds.

Unfortunately that will get you nowhere as you agreed to this.

As an accommodation to you, subsequent to acquiring Eligible Content, you may download certain of such previously-acquired Eligible Content onto any Associated Device. Some Eligible Content that you previously acquired may not be available for subsequent download at any given time, and Apple shall have no liability to you in such event. As you may not be able to subsequently download certain previously-acquired Eligible Content, once you download an item of Eligible Content, it is your responsibility not to lose, destroy, or damage it, and you may want to back it up.

link.

Of course you could try to sue and get that invalidated but I don't think you'd get to far. I do think Apple should be more upfront that you don't have permanent access to your purchases instead of burying it pages into the text of the EULA.

 

[MacinMan]

this is one major shortcoming of the internet, People read something and go off on a tangent before there is any real proof. Mind you, there have been things that set people off that truly have been solid fact. something like this it could go either way. Something like this, though it just doesn't seem like it would be a done deal without notification. Apple has always go given some sort of former notifications when something big happens that would affect so many people.

However, I and many of you most likely do as well, that Apple made some really bad choices after Steve was gone the first time and it almost cost them the company, Now that steve isn't returning this time and is gone, it's also possible for history to re3peat4 itself in time.

We could speculate and fume and fuss all night, but what's the point, there isn't any real proof from apple itself those purchases have been pulled, it's not the first time the mac app store hasn't had problems either. You also know that El capitan comes out in a couple days and preparations are being made to the store. it's possible someone did something wrong or something out of everyone's control happened.

My point is People should calm down, and wait for proof from apple officially. As the name of this sight suggests it's a "rumors" site don't take it seriously until there are solid facts in place to back up what's written here.

 

[smoking monkey]

Never trust the cloud. I think it's the healthiest way to approach this whole thing. Music, photos, apps. I simply won't pay any subscription service for something I really want unless it's the only option. In saying that, if there are apps you really want, keep them on your machine permanently (until the IOS no longer supports that app). IF your machine stuffs up, well, it's time to move on. ALL things move forward... especially technology. I understand more than most the pain of being forced to upgrade. I had to upgrade (actually remake) 100s of drawing documents created in Appleworks as AW was abandoned in OS X 8ish. It was a massive PITA and took me a long time, but it's the nature of the beast and you either have to get with the times or get left behind. Anybody relying on old software in a situation vital to your livelihood is asking for trouble unfortunately.

 

[DailySlow]

I believe this has happened before in the days leading to new OS X releases. It's still possible to buy OS X Lion and Snow Leopard from Apple, so I would expect these will reappear.

I hope so = I have an original macBook white 2008 that runs well, has some great apps, two versions of Quicktime, iDVD, and other stuff that is very useful at times and a great travel laptop for wifi/browse/email. I DID buy a copy of Lion installer and have it on a tiny USB drive for emergency. Same with Yosemite. So those are in a safe so I am ok there but this is bad news and Apple should make them available to those who have paid for the systems - any incompatibilities and lack of support is the user's problem and they know it. Apple getting very "nanny" here.

 

[OneMike]

Sucks. I saw this happening so I kept backups of the versions I may need in the future though.

 

[Rigby]

Unfortunately that will get you nowhere as you agreed to this.
link.

... it is your responsibility not to lose, destroy, or damage it, and you may want to back it up ...

I doubt that this would stand up in a legal argument, especially for the OS installers which do not provide an easy way to back them up that would be obvious to a non-technical user (usually you never even see the installer if you don't know where to look, and it self-deletes during the installation).

 

[AppleDeviceUser]

So thanks a lot Apple, I paid a decent amount of money for Logic 9 and Aperture and now you are gonna remove them? Basically stealing $300 from me. Wow what am I gonna do now to install those apps on my new mac I am gonna get soon.
And before anyone says it, the new Photos app does not have anywhere near the amount of editing features that aperture has. I mean I still have adobe I guess (Although their stupid new creative cloud is another stupid idea and a whole new thread topic)

 

[Falcon16]

I believe this has happened before in the days leading to new OS X releases. It's still possible to buy OS X Lion and Snow Leopard from Apple, so I would expect these will reappear.

This ^^ Even if Apple has removed the option to digitally download the OS I would imagine that if you phoned in and asked nicely seeing as you've already paid for it they may send you a set of disks or at least a download code to get it through the Apple website and then all you'd need to do would be to save the installer somewhere for safe keeping. Personally I love Yosemite as I use it at work but with that in mind I cut my teeth on 10.4.11 and my personal all time favorite OS X is 10.6.8 don't ask why it just is

 

[Falcon16]

Bad move. I need Lion for an old Mac Mini that I use as a server, since newer OS X versions don't run on the hardware. Looks like I'm screwed if I ever need to reinstall it. What did I pay for, Apple?

On older mac hardware if you couldn't reinstall Lion just go Ubuntu Linux or one of it's variants. Presuming it's a file server usimg SMB shares Linux works exactly the same and there are even GUI front ends to set the whole thing up if you don't want to mess with the smb.conf file

 

[jigzaw]

The way Apple makes older versions of their OS poof and be pretty much impossible to reacquire through the official source is what hurts its attractiveness for businesses. Apple is still very popular in film/TV production simply because of the culture, but these kinds of moves makes even those people shake their heads. Imagine a production company that invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in an Avid Unity system and 30 Mac towers with Avid on them linked up to the bank of shared hard drives in the Unity. Now, as time goes by, Avid changes their specs and comes out with Isis (yeah, ****** name nowadays), which replaces the Unity. Eventually Avid's more recent versions of Media Composer no longer support Unity, so this company has stayed on a 3-year-old version of Avid on all of their towers. Now that 3-year-old version of Avid is optimized for Snow Leopard but can be rigged to mostly work on Mountain Lion, so it's handy to keep that installer easily accessible for the occasional needed re-install or new computer (they have to buy used since Apple's new computers are basically impossible to install old OS's on). At least Avid is good enough to continue to offer installers of its older versions. Is this company expected to spend half a million dollars on all new equipment and computers every couple years because Apple has this utopian Lucasian vision of their almighty ever-changing OS without regard for the consequences of scrubbing past versions from existence? They're just begging businesses to go with Windows.

 

[MacinMan]

Never trust the cloud. I think it's the healthiest way to approach this whole thing. Music, photos, apps. I simply won't pay any subscription service for something I really want unless it's the only option. In saying that, if there are apps you really want, keep them on your machine permanently (until the IOS no longer supports that app). IF your machine stuffs up, well, it's time to move on. ALL things move forward... especially technology. I understand more than most the pain of being forced to upgrade. I had to upgrade (actually remake) 100s of drawing documents created in Appleworks as AW was abandoned in OS X 8ish. It was a massive PITA and took me a long time, but it's the nature of the beast and you either have to get with the times or get left behind. Anybody relying on old software in a situation vital to your livelihood is asking for trouble unfortunately.

I can understand where you're coming from, I am used to the old style Final cut pro, I own FCE 4 HD which was discontinued in 2011, while I was still able to use it on my white Macbook after that machine died, i bought a late 2013 13" macbook pro with Retina. Anyway my software was completely obsolete because the old software update is gone and the hardware is too new to run older, and it wasn't worth trying to get it with a virtual machine. I did eventually get it and got the updates, but the end result wasn't worth it.

While i have the option of buying FCP x the way apple seemingly treats the pro market those days seems to be much different then when Steve was in charge and started the company. I never4 upgraded because none of the old style people seemed to like it. I learned Television production when old school stuff was used When I finished in 2010, the station Where i was taught was just in the process of upgrading to HD everything and digital. It really depends on who you talk to of course. For me Video production used to mean more when you learned special skills and were a unique group of people. Now they've consumerized it too much on one hand it's good as it puts tools into peoples hands that would never have the chance. On the other hand it makes those of us who worked hard to get the skills less special.

Either way technology changes too fast sometime and for someone like me who used computers from the 80's until now i still think the classics were better then today for certain things, and then again today has things that are helpful and useful they didn't have back then.

 

[Rigby]

On older mac hardware if you couldn't reinstall Lion just go Ubuntu Linux or one of it's variants. Presuming it's a file server usimg SMB shares Linux works exactly the same and there are even GUI front ends to set the whole thing up if you don't want to mess with the smb.conf file

I know, but that's not an option since I use it, among other things, as an iTunes Homesharing server.

 

[jakebrosy]

This is EXACTLY why people don't want to use vendor-controlled download libraries.

With years of Aperture experience and tons of Aperture editing time we stuck with it because it worked for us and I didn't need to retrain an assistant.

We have an iMac that's undergoing an upgrade to a new SSD: we use it solely to edit images in Aperture. Before we pulled the HDD I reviewed the installed software and found nothing I couldn't download from The App Store - until I went to restore the system today.

Now I have to find the archive disk with all the App Store software I previously downloaded...WTF Apple?!?!?

 

[Falcon16]

I know, but that's not an option since I use it, among other things, as an iTunes Homesharing server.

for an itunes home sharing server grab a WD MyBookLive or MyCloud drive. They support that feature right in the drive firmware. have a drive hooked to the network dedicated for that purpose. outside of that unless anything you use is Mac specific going Linux may make sense not like there is a big learning curve if you already know how to use terminal OS X is Unix at it's heart and Linux is a Unix derivative

 

[ThunderSkunk]

not to be harsh, but people need to move on and not use outdated software anymore, especially if there is no more support for them and further development (patches and updates)...

This is precisely why we need our older software. When there is no capable support, it's up to you to grab a machine, install an old OS &/or application, recover your files from backup archives, and process as needed.

We've got over a hundred thousand dollars worth of large format printers and imaging equipment that every new OS X release breaks for a year, which we must keep at least one previous OS around to run during that time. If Apple would communicate with peripheral vendors on a more timely basis, we might be happy to have all our systems on the same page, but as it is, we do not have that luxury.

That said, anyone experiencing this should already have local installers of their OS's and apps, & not be relying on downloading installers from the AppStore every time you need to blow a machine away.

 

[Rigby]

for an itunes home sharing server grab a WD MyBookLive or MyCloud drive. They support that feature right in the drive firmware.

Last I checked they didn't. They do support iTunes library sharing, but that's different from Homesharing (and doesn't work with the Apple TV, for example). To my knowledge, no 3rd party software supports it.

But this is all besides the point anyway. I paid for the Lion upgrade, and I want to be able to use it. Period.

 

[mdlooker]

Does it hurt anything to leave all of the older software up? Is it a move to persuade old mac owners to upgrade to a newer model? Seems like a passive aggressive move to bring in more revenue.

 

[adam9c1]

So how do I archive (other than OS) app purchases from the App Store?

 

[Mainyehc]

I am so pissed at Apple right now that I personally wrote the biggest, long-a** e-mail to Tim Cook himself. Here it is quoted in its full glory, for your reading pleasure:

Hi Tim,

This is a very hard letter for me to write, but sometimes you just have to stand up against your own idols. Unfortunately, this is one of those times, and I hope you find the time to actually plow through it yourself; even though I am terribly mad right now, I will try to keep it as civil and constructive as I can, out of the admiration I have for you.

I must start off with a short introduction: I am a BIG Apple fan. My nickname, actually, is João dos Macs (João being my given name, and “dos” being the portuguese possessive determiner “of the”). Pretty much everyone from my professional circles and most friends know me by that nickname, so you can *really* tell that from any first introduction.

Well, you can’t say I didn’t earn the title; I switched from Windows shortly after enrolling at the Fine Arts Faculty of the University of Lisbon, in Communication Design, in Dec.’03. I bought an iMac G4… And I’ve instantly become an advocate. [you may skip this part if you don’t care for the list of Apple products I acquired over the years, but two of them matter a lot for this particular topic; more on that later] 4 Macs (a 20’’ iMac G5 Rev. A, a ’09 27’’ iMac, a second-hand white ’08 MacBook and a second-hand ’11 13’’ MacBook Pro), 7 iPods (a 20GB 3G iPod, a 60 GB 5G iPod, a 1GB 1G iPod Shuffle, a 2GB 2G iPod Shuffle, an 80 GB iPod Classic, a 64 GB iPod Touch 4 and a 64 GB iPod Touch 5), 2 iPads (a 16 GB iPad 2 and a 32 GB iPad 3 Retina), a a 64GB iPhone 5S, two iSights, a Mighty Mouse and a box of iPod Socks later, I can safely claim I am a GREAT costumer.

Meanwhile, I went on to become the Mac Room Monitor at said Faculty, where I assisted numerous switchers on their transition and afterwards. That’s also where I learned the dark side of IT on the Mac, but little did I know that it was about to take a turn for the worse. Much worse.

I should add that I am not the average, run-of-the-mill Apple customer. I know the ins and outs of the company’s history since ’76 and, along with it, the whole of the IT industry from its inception with ENIAC and Engelbart’s seminal work. I mean, I’ve seriously studied it on an academic level, but I did that before and would’ve kept doing so anyway out of sheer curiosity. I know fully well how important Apple was (and is) in shaping the current world as we know it. As such, I deeply admired Steve Jobs and, though I can’t claim a personal connection with him as you and your colleagues, was as shocked by his illness and passing as anyone else who takes an interest in this industry.

While on the topic, unlike the eternal doomsayers and FUD-spreaders, I kept a cautious but optimistic approach on your tenure, figuring that it would be best to let history take its course before making any harsh judgments and decisions. So far, Tim, I have not been too disappointed, quite the contrary. Mostly, it has been business as usual at Apple, but I have been pleasantly surprised as often as before. Some of its quirks endured, some cool new tech was introduced (I am still thinking on getting an Apple Watch, and the Apple Pencil is the quintessential apparent U-turn-that-isn’t but which even its harshest critics will end up craving in the end) and, above all, some taboos were broken for the better. Charity; environmental issues, especially energetic sustainability; consumer privacy; Health Kit; Foxconn and labour rights; your coming-out; women in tech… I mean, I could go on and on, but I must recognize that Apple and even you personally have been giving your fair share of contributions to the advance of mankind, yes.

But, Tim, seriously… At Apple, you should all collectively do some self-evaluation, some deep introspective soul-searching on the matter of planned obsolescence, sustainability and, especially, your relationship towards your MOST loyal customers: us. The geeks. The tech-heads. Heck, the Mac-heads! I could even wax nostalgic and mention “the troublemakers” and “the round pegs in the square holes”, but I’m aware that that includes prosumers. But, with all due respect to the latter, which are, admittedly, great word-of-mouthers, you know all too well that the geeks *are* the true “hubs”, the actual trend-setters. Quoting a famous villain, you know it to be true, Tim. If you rub us off the wrong way one too many times you may end up where Microsoft is today, I’m sorry to say.

Anything less than that soul-searching is sheer hypocrisy, and the one of the possibly self-destructive, hubristic kind. No, Tim, I don’t think that you are a hypocrite for caring about Steve’s character and legacy (for the record, I intensely disliked Isaacson’s book, though I will probably watch Sorkin/Boyle’s movie), and no, Tim, I don’t think that you are failing to address, in a constructive fashion, the most evident criticism that is hurled day in and day out at Apple. In fact, you are probably the best CEO, bar none, that Apple could’ve gotten for 2011 and beyond. But…

Because there’s always a “but”, right?

Let me put it bluntly: I cannot, WILL NOT, stand by your choice of removing old versions of OS X and Aperture from the “Purchased” tab in the Mac App Store. Tim, honestly I don’t give a damn about what the EULAs say; you know, more than anyone else, how trust works, right? You nurture it, by proactively addressing your crowd in a respectful way. *Especially* when you are about to take potentially impopular measures. This is a SNAFU on an epic scale. You should summon Eddy, Phil and Steve Dowling immediately to discuss this issue, and act accordingly.

Do you even understand the implications, the ramifications of your seemingly benign decision? Well, maybe you even discussed it and approved it in some VP meeting or whatever. Still, Tim, I am sorry to tell you, but the way Apple wants the Mac community to work is not the way it works, nor the way the community itself wants to work in the future, nor the way it should work at all, because a) it’s technologically and environmentally unsustainable (staying on the bleeding edge is not always the best choice; in fact, it rarely is), b) unfair (oh, you will get why so very, very soon) and c) detrimental to trust (I never thought you could really add insult to injury but, alas, you did).

Let me elaborate further: not just IT departments but also tech-savvy users need access to your old OS versions. I, for instance, run a small, freelance Mac repair business (I am not an AASP; I deal with vintage or otherwise out-of-warranty Macs only, which should still have some value for you as a company – take my example, I am on a budget when it comes to new Macs, but keep investing in your shiny new gadgets regardless, and so do many of my customers), and know a few people that can restore their own Macs to working condition by themselves and that might not wish to upgrade to the latest-and-greatest for some reason. I am aware of the security implications of such an approach, but that’s what safeguards and best practices are for; a user who is on a budget or needs an older version of OS X to use an unsupported or incompatible peripheral or app may prefer investing on third-party anti-malware protection or virtualization software instead. So, there ARE legitimate and somewhat safe use cases for Lion and above, and no matter how much you argue about that, you will never convince me or those users otherwise.

And while I am aware that users buy (or download, in the case of the free Mavericks and Yosemite) licenses to use software and not the actual bits themselves, Apple has so far hosted their own TRUSTED software on their TRUSTED servers for users to download at will, which was a very welcome, secure and client-friendly convenience. Shutting them out of this service, without any advance warning, on the very same week that the XcodeGhost scandal erupted has got to be one of the most myopic decisions ever made by Apple, period. Trust me (ha!) on this, Tim: there *will* be people downloading copies of older versions of OS X from torrent sites, some of which may have been tampered with by unscrupulous, black-hat hackers. I don’t expect Apple to host legacy operating systems forever (Hey, where’s Mac OS 9.2.2 or even the ever-popular Snow Leopard? They were deployed on physical media in the first place, and I never expected them to be perpetually available on Apple’s servers), but I at least expected a reasonable EOL notice.

While on the subject of EOL notices… What about Aperture? That has to be the most galling example, as it actually involves money transactions, and people really depending on your software to make a living. Tim, having you promote your eternal frenemies Adobe and Microsoft by putting their subscription-based software on a pedestal really rubs me off the wrong way, but I give you a pass as you also came forward with the fairly fair (if technically limited and stifling, because of the lack of paid upgrades) MAS model and regularly reward perpetually-licensed software (the Apple Design Award to the stellar Affinity Designer comes to mind). But I can’t fathom how can you allow us to download old-a** software from third-parties on the iOS App Store, and not allow Mac users to download the well-loved and, for some, essential Aperture. I didn’t personally buy it, as I am not a photographer, but the fact that you prevented actual paying customers from re-downloading it without warning (and two full days before introducing El Capitan, meaning, before its final support EOL date) makes me NOT trust you at all. In fact, it makes me think that if you fudged this one so badly, you may end up failing to keep your promises on way bigger issues like user privacy. You are aware that, in the minds of customers (and humans in general), trust issues are inherently contagious, right?

Is that a place where you, personally, would like to be as a customer? For me, Tim, it isn’t. And it’s giving me pause. I am actually having second thoughts about my heretofore unbroken allegiance to Apple and its platforms. I am seriously considering breaking off from it some day in the future, and I will probably bring some 300 people along for the ride, because that’s how we geeks roll. And, worst of all, I’d feel terrible about it because I really admire Apple and would hate to see one of its platforms (and, potentially, the whole fleet) tank, but, at the end of the day, I care for my friends' and acquaintances’ interests over Apple’s. This isn’t a simple case of “it’d be a shame if something were to happen to your shiny platform”, because you are and will be bringing it upon yourselves.

The fact I took the time to write all this just goes to show how much I still care about your company, even with all the abuse we sometimes have toendure. Please, Tim, for the sake of Apple and its users, bring it down a notch and show us a bit more respect, as it may become too much to bearin the future. I’d hate doing an about-face and having to deal with Microsoft again on the desktop side of things (and *gasp* even on mobile, if I find the ecosystem to be worth it one day… I'm keeping an eye on their privacy stance about their Cortana data-harvesting shenanigans), but I may very well do so if I’m pushed hard and long enough.

Yours (still) faithfully,
João

 

[Killerbob]

Seems we are ALL a bunch of idiots...

You can easily download most of the apps discussed here, simply by unhiding the purchases in the App Store; https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202320

It worked for me, and now I have access to Aperture, Mavericks, and Lion, just like before