[jcromartie]

It's still the same thing it was when it came out, and that is: amazing. You're talking about a 10" handheld touchscreen with wifi and a battery that will last a month when sitting on the coffee table or bedside stand. It puts the entire internet at your fingertips and it can be used to do almost anything you want.

It's freaking Star Trek, but since it's 2 years old and it won't get some OS updates we think it's garbage now? It's the technology we had all been dreaming about for decades, since we were kids, made real. And now it's junk?

What a spoiled bunch we are.

[Drakim]

Well, unless you sync it and lose all the apps because their newest versions don't support the old iOS anymore and there is no way to "downgrade".

I agree with you that things don't need to be constantly updated and upgraded to be awesome, but there are certainly different ways to age.

[s_henry_paulson]

I own a first gen iPad, and I can tell you it won't be the same.

Apps will slowly stop working, and updates will be restricted to newer firmware only, meaning my only option is to delete the apps that I had been using and paid for... or heaven forbid I need to do a restore and get all of my apps back. Then it's just a lottery of luck on how many I'll be allowed to download, and that number will decrease with time.

I can understand dropping support for legacy products, but I've only had the thing a year and a half or something.

[kyriakos]

the problem is that your apps no longer work because most of them are based on online services which changed their interfaces and communication protocols by now but won't install on an older version of iOS. This is the case with iPhone 3GS too.

[jcromartie]

True, apps backed by web services will die off. But that's been a risk at any time, even on the latest device. Those services don't exist for you. They can (and do) pull the plug at any time.

I think the way forward for old devices like the iPad 1 is through a stable OS, jailbreaks and web apps.

[mpyne]

So iPad 1 users should have to jailbreak their iPad to get to fully utilize it longer than 2 years? I agree completely that they could at least give it a stable OS (and apps!) but "jailbreak" should never be on a list of generic end-user steps to use your hardware.

[kyriakos]

i believe this is what makes the difference with android though. there's always a strong community that usually comes up with roms a long after the OEM quit. Even on obscure chinese-made CPUs you can find today ROMs running the latest versions of android.

[threedaymonk]

That's true to some extent, but old Android devices fall by the wayside too. I took my old HTC Hero up to Android 2.3 with third-party ROMs, but it can't run anything newer: it doesn't have enough flash space, and it's limited by its CPU and RAM in any case.

[s_henry_paulson]

I agree with your first sentence, but Apple is supporting IOS6 on the 3GS.

[lloeki]

Then s/3GS/3G/ and since it didn't get iOS5 you get a better picture of what will the iPad 1 will look like in one year.

[kyriakos]

how would you feel if you bought a car 7 years ago and tomorrow they tell you they stop selling petrol for it cause cars today moved to a different kind of fuel?

[rograndom]

Well the iPad G1 still run, they're not changing the type of electricity that's running into your house. Safari, Mail, etc will run forever, most 3rd party apps will move to require iOS6 and those will stop running.

Parts for cars is a better analogy:

My last car had a U-joint on the driveshaft start to go. The entire driveshaft had to be replaced, but I could not find a OEM replacement for my specific model of car anywhere in the country. They were all on back order and had been for months. I could get a custom, carbon fiber driveshaft made for $2000, for a car with a KBB value of $3500... I don't think so.

That was a 2002 model year car, not 7 years old but close enough. I said screw it and leased a new car and put the old one on craigslist (where it sold for 2x the KBB value, but that's neither here nor there).

My wife's car is even worse, one of the wipers is "special" and can only be changed by the dealer. Same thing with the driver's side headlight. 1/5 of the moveable parts of the engine needs to be removed to change the bulb.