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?

[tommaso a.]

there must be an alternative app working on ppc and most recent OS Xs

[C B P.]

@ Josh K.

Thanks for your reply giving more information.

Regarding your statement "For example in the coming months we will need to make a change to how we represent the underlying identifier we use for certain types of folders. This change is needed because Dropbox has become so much more popular than we initially imagined that we’ll need to switch from using a 32-bit identifier to a 64-bit identifier.", why is it not possible to implement the required changes in a progressive manner until a true 'deal breaker' arises?

I ask this because AFAIK:

1. Both the G4 and G5 CPUs support AltiVec, which provides thirty-two 128-bit registers to hold vectors.

2. The G5 processor true 64 bit CPU delivered 32 individual 64-bit GPRs and a 42-bit MMU (memory management unit) for directly addressing 4TB of RAM, although the PowerMac G5 hardware was limited to 8GB.

3. The G5 is not constrained by the register problem of 32-bit x86; the 64-bit G5 has the same number of registers as the G4

4. In terms of OS capabilities,

10.4 Tiger:
32 bit System, Apps, Cocoa, Carbon, KEXTs, Drivers, and Kernel
64 bit Processes, Servers and Unix

10.5 Leopard:
32 bit System, Apps, Cocoa, Carbon, KEXTs, Drivers, and Kernel
64 bit Apps, Coacoa, and Unix

10.6 Snow Leopard:
32 bit System, Apps, Cocoa, Carbon,
64 bit System, Apps, Coacoa, and Unix, KEXTs, Drivers, and Kernel

But note that OS X Snow Leopard boots by default into a 32-bit kernel on every Mac other than the rack-mount Xserve.

[Chris C.8]

I am in the same situation: I still continue to use a Mac Mini running 10.4 because that is the only Mac on which I have (older) versions of Adobe software. I can't upgrade to 10.6, plain and simple, and yet I need to be able to share some of the files to Dropbox. I also use a Macbook Pro running 10.6 and at work, one running 10.8.

I can't afford to buy the Adobe apps subscriptions for my home Mac, so basically Dropbox is saying too bad for you.

And to suggest accessing my Dropbox via Internet on 10.4, well, I don't use the Internet from that Mac, because the browsers are outdated. I don't get the thinking, what could be so complicated to continue letting folks use the never to be updated desktop version of DB on older Mac OSes?

[Jack S.1]

Just as an idea:
Could you develop a Firefox plugin with minimal dropbox interface ie: folder sync, upload, download. With a firefox plugin you will give us support (as we have tenfourfox, a firefox implementation for powerpc), and to any other platform you are not yet supporting. So the pros will be a lot and the contras very small.

[Jack S.1]

Following the firefox plugin, there is actually a plugin called bookmark box, that works perfectly in powerpc that sync the firefox bookmarks. It should not be difficult to modify it so it sync a whole folder instead of only the bookmarks.

[Ed R.1]

Same here, I am a premium user and the PowerPC community is large.
Please DropBox….please reconsider.

[stephane r.1]

same here dont drop the support for mac ppc !!!

[Cesare C.]

I am still using three old Macs wih G4 processors that will no longer be able to use Dropbox: AS others have indicated, upgrading the OS means ugrading all machines, which in turn means upgrading most of other software,,, I am sure the hew Macs are phenomenal, but I am on a limited budget and why should I upgrade to new vomputers, when those I have work and do all I need? So I'll have to drop dropbox, and find something else to share files across my computer and with other people at the university. Please reconsider, we do not need additional features and new versions, I am happy if the version I have just keeps working.

[Kohan I.]

Adding another "disappointed by the decision" comment. I see two issues here:

• PPC support (even with an ancient non-updated version) is a competitive advantage over Microsoft OneDrive. A small advantage, but with Dropbox I know that all my machines can sync files between them. If I only wanted to sync between 10.6 and newer devices, I can use OneDrive instead, and it's much cheaper. Dropbox currently has the same universal device support that made Whatsapp such a hit with huge network effects.

• By blocking the old PPC client, I now have doubt how long Dropbox will support 10.6 - 10.8, so other devices might be on the chopping block soon. It reminds me that I'm storing my sync files on a proprietary system that one day I might be blocked from accessing, and maybe I should look at non-proprietary solutions instead. And that's not just for me, it's a consideration I need to remind clients of as well: "Maybe you don't want to store on Dropbox because of the risk of them pulling the plug on your files".

I get it, putting engineering resources towards supporting just a handful of users is crazy. We've been lucky that the ancient clients have worked for so long and so well. But there will be some (small) loss of goodwill if the older devices are no longer supported. Mac users love their ancient antique machines.

[Henk G.]

I want to add my voice to against the decision to drop OS X 10.4 and 10.5. Because there is and never will be a newer PPC OSX version since Apple abandoned its loyal customers years ago, dropping those versions will leave all those systems without any sensible Dropbox support. Using the web client is not an alternative which can be taken seriously; its only purpose can be recovery of files after the support stopped.

I understand Dropbox sometimes has to break API's to move forward, but I think there will be people in the community who are willing to make the changes for you. This happened before with Mozilla Firefox which is now supported by the community as TenFourFox. The same could be done for Dropbox, but not when Dropbox is actively blocking the PPC versions. Please reconsider!

P.S, next time when sending an email please verify if the suggested recommendations make sense. Suggesting to move to OS X 10.6 to an OS X 10.4 user makes no sense since OS X 10.4 is PPC only and OS X 10.6 is Intel only and OS X 10.5.8 is the end of the line for any Power PC Mac. Suggesting OS X 10.6 looks like Dropbox did not do its homework when analyzing the impact of this change.