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Yearly iOS release cycle not sustainable
- Thread starter Merkie
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I used XP for a very long time before the switch, and use Windows 7 for work. We switched from an iPad to a surface tablet. Now we have to use an external keyboard and mouse for simple things like spreadsheet editing.
I had a large issue with Windows XP that required me to purchase a new computer (which would be my first mac).
I bought a rather expensive Dell laptop. At the time Microsoft was pushing its XP media center edition. When I tried to install an external sound card for music recording about a year after purchase, I found out Microsoft had stripped the support for external media equipment. I thought this was crazy! You would think a media edition would have added extra support. It was either buy another copy of XP, or buy a new computer. So I switched.
So I never missed them, I've just had really bad experiences.
I'm really happy Apple has been doing what they have. Minor complaints here and there about features, but everything I've done has just worked.
The hardware and software is already divorced to some extent. New versions of iOS is beta tested against current hardware and before being released on a new device, usually with a new feature or two driven by newer hardware.
I'm more concerned about Apple's insistence of shoehorning newer iOS releases into older devices in order to abandon earlier version of the operating system, like they are doing with OS X as well. This is especially true considering how long they sold some real stinkers, the 16gb iPad mini was only discontinued this year! It was sluggish under 7 and should never have been kept around as long as it was. The iPad 2 was not as bad, but it was still made far beyond its useful life and some units are probably still under Applecare. Apple needs to be mo proactive about over specing of hardware, discontinuing units sooner, and/or keeping earlier iOS releases up-to-date.
I'm more concerned about Apple's insistence of shoehorning newer iOS releases into older devices in order to abandon earlier version of the operating system, like they are doing with OS X as well. This is especially true considering how long they sold some real stinkers, the 16gb iPad mini was only discontinued this year! It was sluggish under 7 and should never have been kept around as long as it was. The iPad 2 was not as bad, but it was still made far beyond its useful life and some units are probably still under Applecare. Apple needs to be mo proactive about over specing of hardware, discontinuing units sooner, and/or keeping earlier iOS releases up-to-date.
To be honest, if you weren't using the enterprise version of both OS' then I can see why you would have issues. The only true Windows version is enterprise.
They do this beause Windows is BY FAR the most used OS platform in the world. I mean, it isn't even close... As much as one can love Apple, they are basically nonexistent in the non mobile OS world... What do they have like 10%? Windows platforms basically have the other 90% (basically, yes there are others like lunix and unix).
If you were a hacker, would you focus on 10% of the market, that is basically only personal computing? Or go after the other 90%, which includes almost every banking, stock, oil, real estate, ... Company in the world.
MS supported Windows xp until last year (2001-2014). With major revisions in between.
You can't claim superior capability of only 2 of the 8 OS's they've made since 2000 and then discount an user experience as a whoopsie. One experience was with a leading computer manufacturer at the time. The other was made by Microsoft itself. Also, Vista and ME were pure crap and inoperable.
I'm not a fan of the use of market share to claim superiority. The only place market share matters is wall street and meeting rooms. Theres too many reasons why a product gains as much of the market as it does. Price point and profitability have little to do with consumer experience. Sure they have more devices running their software in more places. Sometimes it's all someone could afford. Other times it's the only thing offered. I'm not a developer and neither are the vast majority of their consumers, so why should we care about anything other than what we experience?
The university I work for went to surface tablets purely for compatibility with new software. We had what we wanted (the iPads), and our department heads chose for us what we needed based on developers of a specific software. What it boiled down to was money. It was cheaper to buy this software and upgrade our equipment than it was to go with a company that developed for iOS, OS X and Windows.
I can't tell anyone for certain which is over all better. But what I can say is that I've seen little good come from Microsoft, and a whole lot of good from Apple.
This is why I can't play Xbox. I play for a few hours a month, but have boo-coodles of updates to install that takes forever. Gaming is totally a different beast though.
I agree with snowmoon that they are shoehorning old devices. It's holding back the potential of new devices, too.
This applies to Windows 10, which is the only SKU capable of turning off Windows Update nearly completely through Group Policy Editor, on a per user basis. Other than that, other versions may still need to be forced to update when they are available.
I simply agree with this point, because they just need time to refine, no matter how users would think.