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by Gigachad 519 days ago
You need updates these days or stuff stops working fast. Everyone at every stage is quite happy to make breaking changes without long term backwards compatibility other than a transition period because it’s understood that everything can be quickly updated.

Every time I updated macOS I find that some program stopped working and I just have to update it and it works again.

As well as the fact that most software these days has an online component that has an ongoing cost to provide.
2 comments
BenjiWiebe 519 days ago
Windows is pretty good with backwards compatibility. We bought some software back in the early '00s and it still runs fine on Windows 10. You do have to install the manufacturer's update after installing it off the CD, though. Even though the update says only for win2k machines. :)
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araes 519 days ago
Frankly, I may have serious issues with Microsoft, yet backwards compatibility is one of the few areas where there's almost nothing to criticize, and MS is almost off the deep end on the other side. You can install stuff from the 90's and it will still have the hardware drivers. It's really kind of ridiculous.

I tried compiling modern software in Visual Studio, and the number of includes for historical support was mind boggling. "Holy s*t, I think MS just added every printer for the last 30 years to my project. There's like a 1000 includes on a 5 file project. Doesn't even print." (maybe a teeny bit of criticism)

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hulitu 519 days ago
> You need updates these days or stuff stops working fast.

Maybe some engineering course will help. If you make a product that breaks in 6 months, i won't buy it from you. This really means that the amount of testing is minimal and, instead of fixing bugs, you just rewrite the "app" keeping the bugs.

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satvikpendem 519 days ago
You misunderstand, it is not the application code that changes, it is the code of the environment that the app lives in that changes, macOS is one of the most famous examples of breaking APIs.
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GoblinSlayer 519 days ago
That's just Apple life: users must constantly pay to keep their stuff working. But if you evade the system API entirely with SaaS, you don't need updates for broken system API. Might as well go with PWA, java or wine.
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bruce511 517 days ago
The OS is part of it (Apple bad, Microsoft good) but the bigger part is integrations.

Web APIs, import and export file formats, external resources (maps etc) are all part of the equation.

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