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A comment on iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes.

Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by jaysonelliot on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @12:24PM (#6400207)
It's a wonderful half-measure, but also serves to highlight a problem with cloud-based installs that I'm not optimistic will ever go away.

When software was distributed physically, the consumer always had the freedom to use any version of an application they liked. Want to run a lightweight version of Word because you don't need all the latest features, or maybe you just hate the new UI? No problem. Did you like some video game better before they "improved" it? Just get the old disk out and play it.

Some people will argue that software developers should be able to require that their customers always have the latest versions of their product. I personally believe that decision should be in the hands of the user.

I'd love to see Apple allow side-loading for consumers, at the very least. The best solution, in my opinion, would be to also allow users to access some kind of "advanced" menu that would let them choose whichever older version of an app they choose.

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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by snom380 on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @12:31PM (#6400251)
As long as you keep a backup of your old app bundles on your computer (for instance using Time Machine) I don't think it's a problem to load old apps. The exception being if some of those apps require online services that are no longer available.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by EvanAnderson on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @01:06PM (#6400480)
Keeping and installing old copies of app bundles doesn't seem like a very viable option for non-technical users.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by pilif on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @01:12PM (#6400508)
Using outdated and unsupported versions of software doesn't seem like a very viable option for non-technical users.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by adsche on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @01:25PM (#6400584)
I don't like your comment. You use the same words to directly counter the parent, but these words don't match the case. What do you mean by "viable option" here? Some "options" for non-technical users are in this thread's first comment.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by mikeash on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @01:28PM (#6400606)
Maybe not, but it is exactly how software has worked since approximately the dawn of time, and it is exactly what the grandparent comment was proposing should be allowed.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by briandear on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @03:03PM (#6401187)
Of course the non technical user is not generally the one complaining.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by Aldo_MX on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @02:13PM (#6400860)
> Some people will argue that software developers should be able to require that their customers always have the latest versions of their product. I personally believe that decision should be in the hands of the user.

Did somebody say Internet Explorer 6?

Now, being serious, I agree that the customers should be the ones to decide, BUT they must be conscious of the implications (lack of support, security issues, bugs that got fixed in a recent version, etc.).

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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by zyb09 on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @01:23PM (#6400569)
Well that was in a time when Apps were self-contained software, before they started talking to the Internet and require a wide array of specific webservices to be online and functional. As developer you don't want to keep old services running forever, because you want to evolve the app and eventually change something that breaks older versions.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by methodin on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @01:17PM (#6400538)
It should be your choice but most people aren't knowledgeable enough to manage versions themselves. You would certainly give up any rights for support in doing so as well.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by Florin_Andrei on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @02:21PM (#6400906)
> When software was distributed physically, the consumer always had the freedom to use any version of an application they liked. Want to run a lightweight version of Word because you don't need all the latest features, or maybe you just hate the new UI? No problem. Did you like some video game better before they "improved" it? Just get the old disk out and play it.

In theory, the cloud could do this, too - if done right.

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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by arn on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @12:29PM (#6400243)
This is actually an advantage of cloud distribution. What if you want to run an older version of Word but haven't bought it yet? It can be a pain to find an old copy to buy. Whereas Apple has all the old versions on their servers and can deliver the exact one that will run on your system.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by untog on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @12:49PM (#6400377)
Whereas Apple has all the old versions on their servers and can deliver the exact one that will run on your system.

"The one that will run on your system" is not necessarily "the one you want", though. It's still not in your hands.

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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by pdpi on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @12:39PM (#6400310)
Provided Apple (or whatever other provider) actually distributes the old versions. Somehow, that never seems to be the case.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by iwasakabukiman on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @12:44PM (#6400350)
What do you mean? The whole purpose of this new feature is that Apple is giving users older versions when they need them...
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by pdpi on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @12:46PM (#6400361)
Which is novel enough to be a news article.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by melange on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @02:51PM (#6401101)
That's why we're discussing the news.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by kenrikm on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @01:26PM (#6400591)
What if your backend APIs have changed and you never expected to support that older version? I can see a lot of the older apps not working at all in that case.
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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by e1ven on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @01:47PM (#6400710)
How is this scenerio different from one where the user installed your app a year ago, and hasn't upgraded to the newest version?

You'd need to handle it in either case.

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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by simonholroyd on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @03:05PM (#6401196)
It's different because prior to this change, you could make an educated decision about whether to support an older version of your API based on usage of your app. When the legacy version reached some threshold percentage of your user base you could be fairly confident that you were inconveniencing a small and dwindling fraction of users and drop support.

With this change you can no longer be confident that app usage for legacy versions will always decrease. If your app suddenly becomes very popular (as most app developers are aiming for), you might have a substantial contingent of users who are on an old OS downloading an outdated version that you no longer support.

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Re:iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support olde... by themartorana on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @06:16PM (#6402286)
This was my immediate fear. We're geared up to take offline versions 1.0-1.3 of our API, which are used by less than 2% of users (and we gave them a nice banner urging them to update with a future cut-off date). This announcement has me worried, mostly from the customer support standpoint.
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