Tag: Operating system Page 4 of 5

Image via CrunchBase
Apple wants you to join their party—their upgrade, buy a new Mac and iPhone when they want you to party. If you can pony up for a new(er) iPhone you can still drink at the Apple trough of endless innovation.
Supposedly answering their critics with iOS 7, Apple is once again challenging itself, partnering with nobody and hoping to create envy for its latest and greatest by users of its older mobile and desktop operating systems.
When one is on a path of one-upmanship, it is easy to lose sight of customers who just want their older devices to add needed features (without system bloat that a new OS brings).
With a new OS, whether mobile or desktop, you need more horsepower to run it. Many times the look and feel requires either a more powerful smart phone or computer.
My iPhone 3GS has been running fine but it was not invited to the iOS 7 party, sad to say. Now my Apple products are officially forever behind the curve: my PowerPC desktop Macs and my now abandoned by Apple, phone.
I know I can upgrade but I have never been an upgrade for the sake of upgrading kind of guy. I only once purchased a current generation Apple product, the unbeknownst to me (prior to purchase), pitiful Mac Performa 5215CD, back in 1995 (when many of us wondered if Apple would fold its tent entirely). Getting that compromised Mac to run properly helped ignite my passion for computers and their uses.

Upgrading was something I learned how to do early on. You always wanted more RAM. Memory was like money, good looks and attention from possible suitors: you can never have enough. Installing memory was easy enough too, once you got past your fear of “voiding” your warranty warnings on your new Mac’s label.
If you had a Mac desktop tower you were in upgrade heaven provided you could afford the more expensive Mac version of things like graphic cards and processor upgrades, when they were available.
iPhones are such small devices that should something go wrong hardware-wise, typically Apple replaces it under warranty. Once out of warranty, should it suddenly fail to function properly, you will more often than not find yourself shopping for a new phone.
These days, starving college students have devices like iPhones as their main computing resources. Should they have more funds, they could have a tablet of some kind like an iPad. If really possessing a lot of financial oomph, they may have a desktop PC to do their heavy lifting. Older PCs will do the job of running Windows 7 just fine and older Intel Macs can run Snow Leopard. Last I heard, 25% of Mac users were still running Snow Leopard, too.

Personally, I do not have much time or the resources to play around with the latest and greatest—iPhones or new Macs. The operating systems for both, while cool to think about occasionally, do not possess a siren’s call of any type for me. New hardware and operating systems also do not have the lure for me they once had. I know there will be other newer, shiny devices released by Apple soon enough.
I will not buy these newer devices while my older ones serve me quite admirably. I made the investment in a new iPhone with the same mindset I had when I bought that Performa new in ’95. I tried to buy as much Mac as I could afford, upgrade it and keep it running the best I could. In the case of the iPhone 3GS, I could have gotten a 4, but I chose the 3GS as it seemed the better value. I did not get Siri, nor will I ever, but she holds no sway over me anyway.
I had the wherewithal to get a protective case for the iPhone as that was the best way to insure my investment. The phone still works as good as the day it arrived after ordering it online.
The Performa is long gone—having been donated to someone who needed a Mac. I will probably do the same with the iPhone 3GS when the time comes.
But it could be awhile. The case has seen it through drops too many to mention.
I need my computers and smart phones to function and work for me; if they provide some glitz and glamour while doing so, great. If not, that’s fine, too.
The oldie but goodie technology life a generation or two or three behind the curve, suits the lower end minions and I, the ones who only join a club if it truly benefits us, just fine.