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Comment by SilverBirch | Hacker News Reader

To a certain extent you have to ask what does a one-off purchase of an App mean any more. We got to a point on desktop where you could buy a windows XP application and it'd last forever, and that's fine. Or even a OS X application for several years. But mobile operating systems are still a treadmill. If you buy the app what are you getting? This version and no updates? That's not how iOS works. Will it support future iOS versions? Do you get the new features? Can you install it on a new device if you buy a new device? You bought it one off, if a new version of iOS comes out and the old app isn't supported what do you do?

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I've seen a trend of recording studios using ancient computers with versions of Logic from like 2005, with big signs taped to the wall warning against connecting to the internet or installing any updates.

In some ways, the lack of updates can be a feature. I'm sure we've all been frustrated by updates that break our workflows, deprecate useful functionality, or inadvertently degrade performance.

A lot of them are still on Final Cut Pro 7, Soundtrack Pro, Color which don’t work on newer macOS’s. That version of FCP was the last before the magnetic timeline redesign IIRC. Perhaps also the last to work with DV tapes?

This probably builds a brand reputation for the product of being old and shit. While the subscription product is always delivering the newest and best experience to everyone.

This is only an issue on one operating system. Purchasing an application on Windows still comes with absolutely none of this worry. You can still use applications that are decades old on Windows 11. It's very odd that this is now accepted as a norm that is inevitable, rather than an obvious and avoidable disadvantage of Apple's ecosystem.

This is only the norm on Windows 11 because Microsoft has dedicated themselves to backwards compatibility, something that very much hampers the rest of the OS - in that Windows 11 uses much fewer resources if you rip out WinSxS and 32 bit application support https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34654649.

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