I don't need or want a new computer, but it looks like Apple isn't going to take "no" for an answer

Plus: There's a lesson somewhere in yesterday's Dilbert

-- from Apple's macOS Sierra Web page (click to enlarge)

by Ken

Dear Apple,

What about those of us who:

• have absolutely no interest in having Siri on our Macs?
• don't want help rediscovering our best photos, whatever that means?
• can already shop online way faster than we can pay for any of the stuff?
• and don't believe that you would actually help us work "more seamlessly between devices" even if we had devices we wanted to work "more seamlessly" between?

Yrs truly --
A longtime loyal Mac user

The question isn't meant to be rhetorical (I really would like to know), but it is, because I'm pretty sure I know Apple's answer: Drop dead.

I don't wanna talk about Matt Lauer, and for that matter I don't wanna talk about the vanished headphone jack (as previously threatened) on the new iPhone. I don't have an iPhone, and for all the trouble I've had learning to use my already-aged android phone, I have no intention of getting an iPhone, in part because of how badly things have deteriorated between Apple and me. For a long time I was a proud and happy Mac user, but that goes back a ways, to before Apple made it clear that it doesn't give the tiniest damn about my computing needs, and merely sees me as a captive patsy for forced software and hardware upgrading.

As it turns out, the "news" to which I'm responding is three months old. But it's news to me, so let the panic proceed.

I survived a scare awhile back when the company decided -- for no necessary technological reason, as far as I could tell -- to stop supporting OS 10.6.8, the perfectly good operating system then in use on both my main computer, an aging iMac, and a refurbished notebook computer I bought mostly for writing purposes. Suddenly, for one thing, my bank set a term limit on the time it would allow access to its website for pre-OS 10.7 Mac users. Not being able to access my account online would be a serious disruption in my life. Then I discovered that, while the notebook computer, which is almost contemporaneous with the iMac, indeed can't be upgraded beyond good old OS 10.6.8 (which I supposed is why it was so cheap), the iMac could be.

After adding some memory, I could not only upgrade the OS but jump it all the way to the current system, OS 10.11, El Capitan -- and I did just that. I know I've read all sorts of terrible things about El Capitan and why users shouldn't upgrade from OS 10.10, Yosemite. However, I haven't had any problems with it. Of course this could be because I don't do any fancy stuff with my computer. Mostly, I write and I go online. Just like I did in contemptibly obsolete old OS 10.6.8. As witness the fact that the notebook computer does these things quite okay, despite having not a whole lot of memory. (Hoping at least to speed it up a little, and heady with success from my successful iMac memory upgrade, I actually tried to jack up the memory, only to discover -- too late to seek relief from the vendor -- that the battery compartment is somehow locked closed! The joke was on me, as it usually is.


ENTER macOS SIERRA

Now I learn, via e-update from the vendor from which I bought my memory upgrades (which, by the way, was very nice about allowing me to return the notebook upgrade I couldn't install), that although Apple didn't mention it at the big announcement of the new iPhone (with the disappeared headphone jack), the company has announced online that on September 20 it's releasing a new Mac OS: macOS Sierra. (That's right, after all this time, no more OS X, or 10. So if you laid down any bets that there would never be an OS XI, or 11, it's time to collect.) As usual, the Apple folks are giddy with excitement about all the wonderful new stuff packed into Sierra -- see above.

Then, among the e-update's appended list of "Related Articles," I fixed on the last one: See If Your Mac, iDevices Are Compatible with Sierra, iOS 10. Do tell, I thought. Okay, here goes (note that the "today" referred to is in fact June 14):

Today’s WWDC keynote saw the unveiling of the next iterations of iOS and the newly named macOS. The announcements of iOS 10 and macOS Sierra will lead many to wonder whether their devices or Macs will support the new operating systems.

The Rocket Yard [the blog of the vendor, OWC, aka MacSales.com -- Ed.] has put together a quick guide of devices compatible with the new operating systems.

It appears that for the first time since 2012, older Macs will be dropped from compatibility and will not run macOS Sierra, many of which are 2007-2009 models.

Uh-oh! Now, as I think I've made abundantly clear, I could care less about what iOS which iPhones will or won't support. You can find that here. But I care very much about those "older Macs," from 2007-2009, that are apparently on the Sierra chopping block. Gulp.

Here is a list of Mac models that will be compatible with macOS Sierra, according to Ars Technica:

• MacBook: (Late 2009 and later)
• iMac: (Late 2009 and later)
• MacBook Air: (2010 and later)
• MacBook Pro: (2010 and later)
• Mac mini: (2010 and later)
• Mac Pro: (2010 and later)

I don't want a new computer, and given my computing needs, I don't need a new computer. At least I won't until Apple turns its back on all the pre-Sierra OS-es, and all the Web outlets that hate having to support Macs to begin with follow suit.

It would be one thing if these software and hardware upgrades offered significant upgrades to the way I do the stuff I do. But they don't. Of course, the very fact that I'm not a frequent upgrader probably explains why Apple doesn't care about me, or my patronage, or how badly they piss me off.


BONUS: THERE'S A LESSON LURKING
SOMEWHERE IN YESTERDAY'S DILBERT

DILBERT by Scott Adams

[Click to enlarge.]

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