No Gimmicks. Medical requirements..

[pdjudd]

Sorry, I'm confused. How many options are you suggesting I should ensure I have, and how can I determine which of those will last longer than the current solution I'm using....therefore being worth the investment of my time and money?

That's up to you and how much you want to ensure that you want to make money. Relying on a product that is no longer being developed is foolish at best and is pretty much asking for trouble.

ETA: At least you should be making sure that the vendor that you use is still around and willing to update the product you are using. It's called having a backup in case things change.

ETA2: And I largely don't think it should be treated as a "cross that bridge when we get there" sort of thing either. You should be proactive so that when things like this do happen, you can adapt much faster. It's never a good idea to assume that things will always work the same way tomorrow as they do today.

 

[Confuzzzed]

But if we're talking clutter....I'm not so sure I want iMessages popping up on my screen whilst I'm working really.

People said that of email when it was first introduced all those years ago! I am sure you can turn it off

 

[interrobang]

U guys. Srsly.

I know you shouldn't read into voting too much, but why is this post on -6? It's obviously sarcastic?

/No sarcasm.
/Crap. Now that tag seems sarcastic.
/SRSLY. No sarcasm.

Nothing is obviously anything on the Internet. That's why we have emoticons, smilies, and now (unfortunately) the word "lol." [size=-2](Which used to mean "I'm laughing at the funny thing you said!" and now means, "I'm trying to be funny, please laugh at this thing I said.")[/size]

 

[Gomff]

That's up to you and how much you want to ensure that you want to make money. Relying on a product that is no longer being developed is foolish at best and is pretty much asking for trouble.

But as I already pointed out, there's nothing wrong with the product.....It's Apple's halted support of Rosetta that has resulted in the problems. Perhaps the real issue here is what the OP has already pointed out, which is that Apple's OS is becoming a less reliable and stable platform to develop for, since it is switching to a faster upgrade cycle with little or no regard for users dependent on legacy software, or hardware for that matter.

I'm quite amazed at the number of people on these forums for whom the answer to these issues is just to happily keep handing over money to Apple without question.

ETA: At least you should be making sure that the vendor that you use is still around and willing to update the product you are using. It's called having a backup in case things change.

I don't know what ETA stands for. But in any case, you could argue conversely that I should be looking at whether Apple's OS is a viable platform to work on, given their willingness to abandon some of their customers. We could probably debate this eternally without coming to a conclusion as to whose responsibility it is. All I know is that in these situations, it's the customer who suffers which isn't a good outcome for Apple or third party developers.

ETA2: And I largely don't think it should be treated as a "cross that bridge when we get there" sort of thing either. You should be proactive so that when things like this do happen, you can adapt much faster. It's never a good idea to assume that things will always work the same way tomorrow as they do today.

I'm too busy to worry about what I should be doing. I've found in the past that nothing focuses the mind like necessity, so when the time comes I'm sure I'll be able to cope. Meanwhile my legacy software continues to put food on the table in spite of everything.

 

[pdjudd]

I don't know what ETA stands for.

Edited to Add

But in any case, you could argue conversely that I should be looking at whether Apple's OS is a viable platform to work on, given their willingness to abandon some of their customers.

Maybe. But I am curious that it took you this long to find this out? It's SOP for apple to drop support quickly on old stuff. Has been for awhile.

We could probably debate this eternally without coming to a conclusion as to whose responsibility it is. All I know is that in these situations, it's the customer who suffers which isn't a good outcome for Apple or third party developers.

In your case, its the developer who really abandoned you. They are the ones who discontinued the software in the first place.

I'm too busy to worry about what I should be doing.

That's your decision to make, I am pointing out that it is not a wise choice to make. Unless you have the ability to predict the future with 100% certainty you need a contingency plan. Do do otherwise is IMHO, very foolish. But again. That's your choice and not mine. Feel free to do whatever you want. I couldn't care less what happens to you one way or the other.

 

[Gomff]

Edited to Add
Maybe. But I am curious that it took you this long to find this out? It's SOP for apple to drop support quickly on old stuff. Has been for awhile.

As I said previously, for 5 years and 3 versions of OS X, I had no problems with either hardware or software. There's no mystery really.

In your case, its the developer who really abandoned you. They are the ones who discontinued the software in the first place.

How so? Their product works as advertised. Apple are the ones who dropped Rosetta support.

That's your decision to make

Indeed it is.

Feel free to do whatever you want.

Thanks, I will!

I couldn't care less what happens to you one way or the other.

Right back at you buddy.

 

[KnightWRX]

Edited to Add

I thought it meant Estimated Time of Arrival.

 

[pdjudd]

How so? Their product works as advertised. Apple are the ones who dropped Rosetta support..

They never updated your product - that's how they abandoned you. Apple clearly said that Rosetta was transition technology. That meant that it was never going to stay forever. They kept it for 3 versions of their OS! Heck by that point the OS wouldn't run on PPC hardware anyway. Apple clearly told developers to update their Apps. Apple warned people here. It's not their fault that people didn't listen or anticipate things.

Your app was written for a different platform. The fact that it continued working at all should be something in of itself.

 

[miraclehobo]

Pathetic. If you need something for your health and windows does it better then switch to windows. No brainer.

 

[Gomff]

They never updated your product - that's how they abandoned you. Apple clearly said that Rosetta was transition technology. That meant that it was never going to stay forever. They kept it for 3 versions of their OS! Heck by that point the OS wouldn't run on PPC hardware anyway. Apple clearly told developers to update their Apps. Apple warned people here. It's not their fault that people didn't listen or anticipate things.

I feel like we're getting into the proverbial eternal debate about who is responsible, with an element of last word-ism thrown in for good measure. You have your opinion, I have mine.....Lets leave it at that.

----------

Pathetic. If you need something for your health and windows does it better then switch to windows. No brainer.

Wow, really feeling the love in this thread. The OP has enough to worry about being diabetic....Why the need to pile in?

 

[tlinford]

The point is Apple should slow down release cycles because otherwise some people with some very particular medical conditions won't be able to keep updated.

Not slow down, work closer with developers, encourage developers who are doing more that produce little games that sell by the heap-load..

The point is, that to many companies who have not supported Apple developers until the recent increase in popularity, need encouragement not reasons to leave..

----------

I don't think Apple intended their machines to be medical equipment. No offence intended.

If this is the case, why the heavy Apple product placement in TV show's such as House?

Is there an appearance reality distinction going on?

 

[pdjudd]

If this is the case, why the heavy Apple product placement in TV show's such as House?

They don't show them running any applications medically related do they? Product placements are meant to look cool. Not be endorsements of anything.

 

[miraclehobo]

Wow, really feeling the love in this thread. The OP has enough to worry about being diabetic....Why the need to pile in?

All the more reason to make life easier and switch to windows which clearly has better support. Is it really that difficult?

 

[mfuchs88]

How come you just don't upgrade? It's not like it a necessary update, just has some cool options coming. Nothing substantial.

 

[InuNacho]

Every Mac Gets Left Behind, sometimes painfully:

When Mac OS 8 launched in July 1997, it dropped support for all machines with a 68030 processor...

When Mac OS 8.5 launched on October 17, 1998. It dropped support for all machines with a 68040 processor.

When the first version of Mac OS X Server launched in March 1999, it dropped support for all pre-G3 based Macs. This included the Power Mac 9600 series

You seem to forget that way back in the ole' pre-locked down days almost everything save for some stuff in the 68k to PPC jump had a backdoor.
If you weren't using a laptop (and hardly anyone was and there were some upgrades for them) there were dozens of processor cards to choose from to get your older machine into the "next generation". My LCII lived most of its life with a 040 card and that was Apple's budget machine, the 9600 could take G4 upgrades, certain Quadras could use 601s, and so on.

 

[tlinford]

iCloud Realities

How come you just don't upgrade? It's not like it a necessary update, just has some cool options coming. Nothing substantial.

The last update was kinnda forced because of Apple's moving away from MobileMe cloud syncing to iCloud, one defiantly does't work with the other. When I updated my iPad and iPhone to iOS 5, it broke my calendar syncing which I just couldt live without, particularly as it is the primary way that my wife lets me know about dates for things... Also, I often put things into my calendar while of the hoof using my iPhone.... that I want to see when I get home on by MacBook, or when I'm at Uni using the iPad! (I know I'm spoilt!)..

With the broken coupling, I HAD to upgrade... which is pants because iCloud syncing is not as good as MobileMe syncing, in only includes a subset of what MobileMe did. Maybe it was part of Apple's 'less is more thing', or maybe it was because it's simpler?

 

[tlinford]

No Brainer!

Pathetic. If you need something for your health and windows does it better then switch to windows. No brainer.

I delayed switching to Mac in the first place (4 years ago) for these sorts of reasons. However, Apple OSX offered so much in other ways, that running XP on VMWare was a compromise. Imagine my joy, when CareLink worked on the Mac and I could unload the bloat of 40Gbyte of virualisation onto a firewire external drive (just in case) and then imagine my frustration when a simple OS X update renders access to a web based (cloud) app useless and have to fire-up that old XP pile of *****, just to update data from my insulin Pump onto a remote server and run some simple Java driven reports..

My view of windows (and I have looked at Windows 7) is that it is still a pile of poo, I have had a close look at it and the word that springs to mind in veneer.. Underneath the glossy exterior there lies....... effluence!

It used to be that when there was a new OS my online banking stopped working for a few days, while the bank tested their system with the new OS. This does't happen anymore, presumably because they are doing testing with the developer builds....?

So my reason for blogging this issue, was to spur intelligent conversation, in the hope that someone in the flow might change something?

One thing is for sure, if nobody says anything, nothing changes.

 

[Puevlo]

I don't think Apple intended their machines to be medical equipment. No offence intended.

Indeed. It's actually against the EULA.

 

[haravikk]

I'm sorry, but while I fully support inclusion, Apple never has (and never should) allow their OS updates to be stalled due to niche users who want to upgrade but can't because their important software won't work on the new version.

To put it quite bluntly; if 10.6, 10.7 or any previous version works just fine for you now, then you don't need to upgrade, just keep using what works! Even then, you can still eventually upgrade, but anyone wanting to do so is always better to wait a while anyway to find out if their software is going to work, or if any major OS issues will surface; don't just rush into an upgrade, as that's only asking for trouble and you'll only have yourself to blame, just wait until you know if your apps will continue to work.

If you absolutely cannot control yourself when it comes to updating your OS then either install it in a separate partition, use emulation under an OS that works, or at the very least separate your core OS from your apps and files using partitions so it's at least easy to switch back if you find that things don't work as expected.

 

[dsjr2006]

This thread need to be deleted. We should slow down innovation because some developer can't keep up?? This guy has lost his marbles....

 

[tlinford]

Abusive?

This thread need to be deleted. We should slow down innovation because some developer can't keep up?? This guy has lost his marbles....

Thanks, so kind!

----------

This thread need to be deleted. We should slow down innovation because some developer can't keep up?? This guy has lost his marbles....

I'm sorry, but while I fully support inclusion, Apple never has (and never should) allow their OS updates to be stalled due to niche users who want to upgrade but can't because their important software won't work on the new version.

To put it quite bluntly; if 10.6, 10.7 or any previous version works just fine for you now, then you don't need to upgrade, just keep using what works! Even then, you can still eventually upgrade, but anyone wanting to do so is always better to wait a while anyway to find out if their software is going to work, or if any major OS issues will surface; don't just rush into an upgrade, as that's only asking for trouble and you'll only have yourself to blame, just wait until you know if your apps will continue to work.

If you absolutely cannot control yourself when it comes to updating your OS then either install it in a separate partition, use emulation under an OS that works, or at the very least separate your core OS from your apps and files using partitions so it's at least easy to switch back if you find that things don't work as expected.

Interesting point of view.... niche = minority, what other minorities would you marginalise?

 

[Partron22]

Are Smartphones Starting a Boom In DIY Medicine?

"How are you using smartphones and other portable devices to take charge of your medical care? The NY Times has an article about attachments to the iPhone for tracking blood sugar and blood pressure.

iPhone / iPod Touch App

 

[haravikk]

what other minorities would you marginalise?

The niché being marginalised is anyone with specialised software that might not run on the latest OS. As I, and several others have stated, no-one actually forces you to upgrade your OS right away, so if you're someone with specialised software (medical related or not is irrelevant) then simply find out if it'll work properly before upgrading, or wait till a new version of your software comes out.

It doesn't matter a bit what the software is for; back in the day when Mac OS X first hit, it was Quark Xpress that stubbornly refused to come out with an updated version and left many of its users struggling with the change. That wasn't Apple's fault.
Likewise with apps that refused to port from PPC; they've had plenty of time.

But to repeat my first point; if you need specific software that won't run on a new OS version, then don't install the new OS version! It really is simple; just make sure the software developers know that you'd like an updated version. There are other options as well, such as emulation, dual-booting and so-on.

Besides which, if the software company are really serious about multi-platform support, then why isn't it a Java app, a web app, or cross-platform C/C++ with thin wrappers to make it a native app on each platform? While I do hope that with Apple switching to yearly releases that they'll be a bit less aggressive with changes that might break apps (changes or removal of older APIs) it's not like Apple go out of their way to break software with each update; the majority of broken apps are ones that are using older, deprecated APIs, or hadn't implemented functionality properly in the first place (i.e - it was lucky it worked at all). Apple can't pander to all such cases without OS X become a bloated monster like Windows with legacy support from decades ago.

 

[KnightWRX]

What is the actual problem here ? Looking at Carelink, here are their system requirements :



If anything, they should get a move on and support the 2nd most popular browser, Google Chrome. Seems to me Mac support is quite up to date though...

And it's a Web app! It's not even a native application. I really don't get what you're fretting about OP. Web apps are about the most easily ported things since they're basically more attached to browsers than OSes. And heck, looking at the text, it says I can sill use the system even with my "unsupported configuration". Of course, it's a Web application! Most are just written to standards that just work. I bet their stuff even works on Linux.

Mountain out of a mole hill.

 

[tlinford]

Sigh!

What is the actual problem here ? Looking at Carelink, here are their system requirements :

View attachment 326117

If anything, they should get a move on and support the 2nd most popular browser, Google Chrome. Seems to me Mac support is quite up to date though...

And it's a Web app! It's not even a native application. I really don't get what you're fretting about OP. Web apps are about the most easily ported things since they're basically more attached to browsers than OSes. And heck, looking at the text, it says I can sill use the system even with my "unsupported configuration". Of course, it's a Web application! Most are just written to standards that just work. I bet their stuff even works on Linux.

Mountain out of a mole hill.

Yes, this has only just transitioned (last weekend) and it actually doesn't work with the current Java, which is used to access the CareLink USB wireless interface.... although it has started (last weekend) working under FireFox.... I don't use Crome, I use Safari then backup to FireFox which runs endnotes for my academic work...

My point is having waited for months to get to this stage, looks like we will have to go through it all again when Mountain Lion is released in the summer...

I am wishing I hadn't started this thread, because it seems to have been hijacked (not by you, you have at least has a look at the portal, just missed the context of having been shut-out for months) by some unpleasant folk, never mind!