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Comment by brazzledazzle | Hacker News Reader

For me: If I have a copy of the software I have it forever. With the app store I only have it as long as Apple permits. Using an older version of OS X can create issues as well, if the developer decides not to support it. If for some reason they remove it from the store I have to hope the developers make it available outside that channel. It's certainly happened with iOS apps. I'm open to being proven wrong though.

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True! A few months ago I wanted to install Aperture on a new laptop; since it's been pulled from the App store I couldn't find it anymore, and this is what customer support told me:

  I've reviewed your request, but as much I would like to restore the item for you,
  I won't be able to download "Aperture" to your account because the amount of time
  that has passed since this purchase was made prohibits us from restoring it.

Goodbye App store.

Well, unless you just want to install Aperture to export stuff out, that's for the best.

Aperture has been EOLed -- it's not advisable to install it even if you could, as you'd be installing deprecated software that can stop working at any future OS update.

That wouldn't be much different than any software company not allowing you to download their old program anymore.

Not quite the same. At least you'd have the option to run the old software in a virtual machine or on an old spare piece of hardware.

It should be up to the buyer whether or not they choose to take that risk, not to the seller to paternalistically make that decision for them.

Errr, isn't traditionally the seller that decides, if, when and for how long they want to sell their wares?

But in this case, the buyer already purchased the product.

And lost it, and was looking for a replacement.

> I wanted to install Aperture on a new laptop; since it's been pulled from the App store I couldn't find it anymore i.e., bought a license and installed the application, but wasn’t given a legal way to do the exact same thing on another computer—one of the rights Apple grants to users of the App Store; nothing lost, no replacement needed

It's this kind of stuff that has me boggled that they charge the same prices for apps in the store vs. apps on media or downloaded directly. Tha app store version is more conventient, maybe, but fundamentally less featured. I'm essentially buying just a license, not the app itself.

I have the same story - bought Sketch 2 in France for 50 euros, moved to US as they updated to version 3. Can't get the old version back (it just doesn't appear in itunes at all - tried to get this resolved with no luck) and my only option is to re-purchase the product.

My understanding is that for both the Mac and iOS app stores, the Purchases tab has all the apps you've bought, whether they're currently available on the store or not. This is how I re-download older operating systems or previous releases of apps. That said, I can imagine Apple also having a parallel system that takes the app away from there too -- but I don't think this is the default.

In that way its similar to how music used to be. Had tapes; they went away. Got the LP. Gone but not forgotten. Bought the CD. They went away. Bought the DVD. All those stores are closed. So MP3. Or streaming.

Even before that you had the option of buying sheet music and playing it on an instrument, but that's a significant barrier to entry. And I guess the scores would wither away in a few generations.

Digital music actually became more flexible when it went from DRM protected music to MP3s. At least with that I can backup and restore it as it pleases me. But I get your overall point. It just doesn't change my preference.

"Using an older version of OS X can create issues as well, if the developer decides not to support it."

I fail to see how this isn't a problem for stuff sold outside the App Store as well.

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