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Haven’t they actually done a relatively good job in this regard in many ways? I can still use my 12 year old MacBook Air. It’s not super current and not all app

Haven’t they actually done a relatively good job in this regard in many ways? I can still use my 12 year old MacBook Air. It’s not super current and not all apps work, but it’s actually still a decent Apple experience. Same with our old iPad. They kept it updated way longer than I expected.

pudgywalsh 26d ago
> Haven’t they actually done a relatively good job in this regard in many ways? No. Can't run current versions of any apps including Chrome, Edge, and Safari. Meanwhile the hardware is perfectly fine and could run a supported version of Windows or Linux. Call me when Apple has a "LTSC" version of their OS. (Spoiler: they won't, ever. Supporting Apple in an enterprise is nothing short of a nightmare.)
- cosmic_cheese 26d ago
  This is partially on third-party devs' shoulders. There are community-maintained backports of Chromium and Mozilla for old versions of macOS, which means it isn't strictly impossible, but Google and Mozilla just don't bother and cut off compatibility earlier there than on other platforms. It's even possible to build Mac apps to run on everything from OS X 10.4 (2005) through macOS 27 (2026) across PowerPC, Intel, and Apple Silicon in a single binary. See XLD[0], which does exactly that. [0]: https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html
  - WesolyKubeczek 25d ago
    Command-line tools are fine like this; a full-fledged GUI apps, not so much on account of how Cocoa/AppKit/UIKit evolved. Your x86_64 slice would have to deal with all shenanigans between 10.7 and 26, and I suspect it’s not fun at all.
    - cosmic_cheese 25d ago
      It's certainly more challenging for user-facing apps with UIs, but still doable. XLD does it. The key is to keep the UI simple, avoid chasing design trends, and avoid custom widgets.
- jtbayly 26d ago
  I have had to get rid of several computers recently that will not run Windows 11. They weren’t 12 years old.
bigyabai 26d ago
> It’s not super current and not all apps work That's an enormous concession, relative to Windows or Linux.
- select1 26d ago
  [flagged]
  - bel8 26d ago
    That's another goalpost. That's because DRM doesn't go well with Open source.
  - bigyabai 26d ago
    Correct, you have just successfully identified the reason why Windows exists. Well done!
  - fragmede 26d ago
    Netflix works, just not 4k. Blender and Davinci Resolve say there's commercial software, just not actual Photoshop.
    - deleted 26d ago
      [deleted]
  - deathanatos 25d ago
    I play a number of commercial games on Linux. The best behaved ones are the native ones (Factorio, Stardew, Celeste), though the Proton/Wine-based ones (Noita, Enter the Gungeon) usually do alright as well. Netflix's problem is Netflix's problem. There is no technical reason why 1080p (and probably 4k) can't work on Linux, today. That's just plain ole head-up-DRM-ass, and Linux can't fix stupid.
    - select1 25d ago
      [dead]
VCFundedGenYer 26d ago
Your comment is irrelevant because your MBA left support eras ago and is riddled with bugs and security vulnerabilities at this point. Apple also does a poor job at long term software support or granting users the ability to run Linux, especially the newer the systems get.
- cindyllm 25d ago
  [dead]
- steve_adams_86 25d ago
  The comment is a question; I’m not sure why one answer or another would make it irrelevant.

pudgywalsh 26d ago

> Haven’t they actually done a relatively good job in this regard in many ways? No. Can't run current versions of any apps including Chrome, Edge, and Safari. Meanwhile the hardware is perfectly fine and could run a supported version of Windows or Linux. Call me when Apple has a "LTSC" version of their OS. (Spoiler: they won't, ever. Supporting Apple in an enterprise is nothing short of a nightmare.)

cosmic_cheese 26d ago
This is partially on third-party devs' shoulders. There are community-maintained backports of Chromium and Mozilla for old versions of macOS, which means it isn't strictly impossible, but Google and Mozilla just don't bother and cut off compatibility earlier there than on other platforms. It's even possible to build Mac apps to run on everything from OS X 10.4 (2005) through macOS 27 (2026) across PowerPC, Intel, and Apple Silicon in a single binary. See XLD[0], which does exactly that. [0]: https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html
- WesolyKubeczek 25d ago
  Command-line tools are fine like this; a full-fledged GUI apps, not so much on account of how Cocoa/AppKit/UIKit evolved. Your x86_64 slice would have to deal with all shenanigans between 10.7 and 26, and I suspect it’s not fun at all.
  - cosmic_cheese 25d ago
    It's certainly more challenging for user-facing apps with UIs, but still doable. XLD does it. The key is to keep the UI simple, avoid chasing design trends, and avoid custom widgets.
jtbayly 26d ago
I have had to get rid of several computers recently that will not run Windows 11. They weren’t 12 years old.

bigyabai 26d ago

> It’s not super current and not all apps work That's an enormous concession, relative to Windows or Linux.

select1 26d ago
[flagged]
- bel8 26d ago
  That's another goalpost. That's because DRM doesn't go well with Open source.
- bigyabai 26d ago
  Correct, you have just successfully identified the reason why Windows exists. Well done!
- fragmede 26d ago
  Netflix works, just not 4k. Blender and Davinci Resolve say there's commercial software, just not actual Photoshop.
  - deleted 26d ago
    [deleted]
- deathanatos 25d ago
  I play a number of commercial games on Linux. The best behaved ones are the native ones (Factorio, Stardew, Celeste), though the Proton/Wine-based ones (Noita, Enter the Gungeon) usually do alright as well. Netflix's problem is Netflix's problem. There is no technical reason why 1080p (and probably 4k) can't work on Linux, today. That's just plain ole head-up-DRM-ass, and Linux can't fix stupid.
  - select1 25d ago
    [dead]

VCFundedGenYer 26d ago

Your comment is irrelevant because your MBA left support eras ago and is riddled with bugs and security vulnerabilities at this point. Apple also does a poor job at long term software support or granting users the ability to run Linux, especially the newer the systems get.

cindyllm 25d ago
[dead]
steve_adams_86 25d ago
The comment is a question; I’m not sure why one answer or another would make it irrelevant.