Comment by JumpCrisscross 2 days ago
> I've had a closet of Apple hardware with no technical problems, but made useless due to Apple's software decisions
You can do this to any product. (As can you undo it by wiping and reinstalling an old image.)
> that older iOS and macOS versions end up unable to install any software that hasn't had an older version archived somewhere
iOS, sure. After a certain point, you need to be fine with simple functionality (but, I’ll add, more than adequate for most users, which means someone else could find use and value for what you treat as junk).
But macOS? What software? Everything I’m thinking of is graphics adjacent and significantly benefits from faster hardware. For almost everything else, a browser suffices.
> for what you treat as junk
No, what Apple made into junk by remotely flipping a switch. On an older iOS, you cannot log into your Apple ID any more, which then means you cannot update the OS any more. So you cannot upgrade, but you also cannot use the old OS for anything that requires you to be logged into your Apple account (which is practically everything). But you still get nagged at every turn that you need to log in and upgrade!
With older Apple hardware you can usually find a working OS image, but Apple specifically is very strict with minimum OS versions for apps and deprecating APIs so that older iOS and macOS versions end up unable to install any software that hasn't had an older version archived somewhere, even if there's no real reason it shouldn't run on the hardware. You can only get older compatible versions of apps in the App Store if you happened to have purchased them before, again for no real reason other than inconvenience