Re: just got a Iphone6 plus, cases and questions
OS X used to be paid for, and that's always been an important differentiator of Macs to iPhones and iPads. Because the software was paid for, Apple were obliged to their customers, whom they had a strong reason to get up to the latest platform. Hence, broad compatibility and not buggering about with user expectations. This is of course somewhat true for iOS as well, but definitely the transition to free OS X releases has changed something about their priorities.
XP is insecure. That is to say that there are flaws in it that are going unfixed.
Recently, Windows 7 is insecure, too, because Google are forcefully disclosing flaws in it to the public, at the turn of ninety-day deadlines, which they regard as sufficiently long for M$ to fix the bugs reported to them. Good on you, Google! Show those MickeySoft bastards what swiss cheese is made of. But even patched Windows is insecure now; the difference is that Windows 7 will actually get the patches, and you know because you're told by Microsoft how to mitigate the flaws before you get your patches. Neither is true for XP.
Are you still unmoved, Dark?
Of course nobody expects you to change something just because somebody says it's better--indeed, that's the source of your complaints with Windows 7, right there--but since your problem is with the user-visible changes, and not the invisible ones, can we agree that you would in fact be happy with an under-the-hood improvement, if it let you run your favourite ecosystem and apps on any machine, while actually improving your security? I think you would. The problem is, that's precisely what _isn't_ getting M$ paid. You could benefit from "Futurism" if the software did what you needed and was maintained, except for the fact that you, personally, can't see any reason to upgrade. So Microsoft throws in changes which you hate, giving you even greater reasons not to upgrade. If only they'd stuck to under-the-hood changes, and your computer just broke down more often, thus providing a route for OEMs to push the latest Windows. No? Mmm. We'll just have to reward positive innovation in the areas that actually matter, somehow. The problem is that a purely superficial assessment of change will not do that. So we either need even longer support cycles, or greater tolerance for internal rather than external change. FWIW, I'd never countenance planned obsolescence, but some people are glad that PCs aren't more durable, because they're supposedly done favours by needing to replace them. I don't agree with that; that's just wasteful. Still, there's no doubt it helps MS. IMO, the world would be a better place if all less visible changes were rewarded, because that would keep OS vendors in business just giving us what we need, instead of all this shiny nonsense. And as for making OSs live even longer, even cars stop getting aftermarket repairs, eventually. It would be nice, though, if software lasted as long as possible, regardless of whether the vendor is willing to support it, and perhaps a mandatory Open Sourcing of legacy Windows could ensure that.
Here's another example. When Apple released Snow Leopard, an operating system with "No new features", lots of people wondered what they were paying for; there were no visible changes. This is despite all the work that Apple put in, two years of it, to make the most streamlined OS imaginable. It was a better OS technically, but not for the user. They therefore charged substantially less for the upgrade, to the surprise of many geeks. Those changes were all undoubtedly necessary for developing future technologies and apps, and Snow Leopard became Apple's Windows XP by virtue of doing what everybody needed reliably and quickly, right up until it was killed by Apple in 2014 no longer releasing updates for it. Apple couldn't have witnessed more complete astonishment if it'd tried. The fact is, people were refusing to update because there were no new features, not in spite of it. And yet, this OS would run most places Leopard would, did everything the user wanted, and kicked serious bottom for five years. Now many pine for it, and wish that if only Apple would do another Snow Leopard …
Then again, lots of older operating systems were awesome, but virtue of just being retrospectively an excellent fit for their environment. Hell, if I wanted a DOS box, and I could still run it, I'd go back to OS/2 Warp 4. Oh, yes, I would! Oh, how I miss it …
You're right, sometimes the simplest precautions make for great security, like those you've described. I need my computers exposed to the Internet a lot, so I don't have the luxury of either disconnecting, or putting my data offline. The only option is security. Nothing's perfect, but keeping patched is a damned good idea IMO.
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