End of support for OS X 10.4 and 10.5

[Matthew S.]

Why pull support and remove functionality? Why not just drop support -- just stop updating the app but still allow basic functionality? There are still a lot of legacy machines that are still in use and CANNOT upgrade to 10.6, as they are PowerPC based. Yes, old systems still work. Why stop the app from working totally instead of just deprecating support for those systems?

[Grant R.]

Thing is, I don't think anyone in "Computing" wants you to be using "old" hardware or old software when new stuff can be sold to you. As long as the huge base of unskilled and quasi-skilled users making "decisions" from trend and insecurity can be effortlessly exploited... The guy who knows his needs and tools is of no concern.
Artificial Obsoletion is here to stay.
Vote with your feet - If we all did, computing would be far more advanced than the train-wreck of ineptitude and clumsy fleecing it is now.

[Richard P.]

Thing is, I don't think anyone in "Computing" wants you to be using "old" hardware or old software when new stuff can be sold to you.

What does Dropbox gain from getting Apple to sell you a new computer...? Or are you suggesting there is a global conspiracy which is trying to force you to buy new hardware?

Artificial Obsoletion is here to stay.

It might be artificial from the aspect of Apple, but its not artificial from the aspect of Dropbox - developing for older OSX versions is a right pain in the arse, and that isn't Dropboxes fault.

[Grant R.]

Oh, and one other thing...(Especially) As long as the functionality is available through a browser - someone ELSE could write an app to replace the official dropbox one on older machines.

No, not a conspiracy. The new machines require the a new OS - that makes work.

[Richard P.]

Oh, and one other thing...(Especially) As long as the functionality is available through a browser - someone ELSE could write an app to replace the official dropbox one on older machines.

I'd love to see someone implement binary diffing via the website...

But Dropbox has a public API, so implementing your own client (to a degree) has always been a possibility.

[Aaron W.2]

More upgrade-itis from Apple. It's Apple who is making the system libraries dependent on higher versions of Mac OS.

But I would like to add my voice to the chorus of those dissatisfied and disheartened by this. Yes, I have a PPC G5 running the latest OS X it can. It's going to be even harder to get things done on it now. It is and could still be a great machine, but tech culture's pervasive upgrade-itis makes that harder and harder.

Thank you for keeping support as long as you did. Sigh.

[Aaron W.2]

But, I can't help but wonder if some conditional compilation, or simple conditionals written around functionality that absolutely requires unsupported libraries, could allow us to continue having Dropbox on our beloved PPCs.

[ronald b.]

dropbox not working on my computer anymore and I have no possibity for an update to a newer system. Big, big problem. Dropbox should bring back its services to customers with older computers / systems (eg. OS 10.5.8).
Dropbox wants to be a smart digital service, I think. There must be smart solution for this problem?
Regards

[Robert S.]

I'm afraid the bottom line is that there must inevitably come a point where it's simply no longer a viable proposition to continue supporting an obsolete operating system. In the case of OS X 10.4/10.5, for sound technical reasons, that point has now been reached.

Please see: https://www.dropbox.com/help/8058

[ronald b.]

thanks for the reply and the link.
What a pity that the technical reasons are too big to solve.

[Robert S.]

The first-party vendor, namely Apple, haven't supported 10.4 and 10.5 for over half a decade.

That includes the tools, development environment and software libraries necessary for Dropbox to work on those platforms.

Moving forward, it's simply no longer a tenable position.