Roger Fingas
As of late May, people with an original Apple TV — or a PC running Windows XP or Vista — will be unable to access or re-download content from the iTunes Store, a new Apple support document indicates.
The deprecation is a result of "security changes," the company says. While Apple TV owners will have to buy newer hardware, XP and Vista users can get around the problem by upgrading to Windows 7 or later, assuming their computers meet minimum requirements.
Apple notes that it considers the first-gen Apple TV obsolete, and that Windows XP and Vista are no longer supported by Microsoft. Older versions of iTunes will continue to run on XP and Vista — just with diminished functionality.
Both Apple and Microsoft have switched to radically different approaches to their platforms. The first Apple TV came with a hard drive, but every newer model is flash- and streaming-based, with comparatively little onboard storage. Windows, meanwhile, is being continually updated instead of sold in major revisions. Customers simply pay for a new license whenever they buy a new PC or tablet or make a major parts upgrade.
MacRumors points out that first-gen Apple TV owners are being emailed about the issue.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
23 Comments
The original Apple TV came out in 2007—before the iPhone—and was switched from being Intel-based to ARM-based in 2010. That's a pretty damn good run, and I have to think that people that are still using that Apple TV aren't big on buying or renting content from the iTunes Store.
Apple have become the new Micro$oft, using and abusing vendor lock-in to squeeze more money from customers or to prevent meaningful competition. We can’t get the real Firefox with its superior rendering engine on iOS, which is worse than the behavior that got Micro$oft prosecuted in the 90s. Now they’re dropping support for a product people invested in with the confidence that Apple wouldn’t “pull a Micro$oft” on them. We’re witnessing Apple’s apex—they are going downhill from here.
Dear Apple, (Tim Cook). Kindly go fuck yourself. :smile: Seriously though, what a horrible terrible decision.