Apple has released the minimum specs for using the upcoming iCloud service. We already knew that you would need iOS 5 to get all of the features, although iTunes in the Cloud and automatic downloads are already live. But Apple is also making it clear that if you’re using a Mac you’ll need to have OS X 10.7 Lion installed.
That’s not too bad, since Lion will be a $29 upgrade from OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. But things look a little different on the Windows side.
Apple says iCloud will support Windows Vista or Windows 7. The company also recommends Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 for accessing contacts and calendars. In other words, Windows XP users may be out of luck.
I can’t imaging many people who have been holding off on upgrading from Windows XP making the jump just to access iCloud — and it’s a much more expensive jump. Windows 7 upgrade licenses typically run $100 or more.
via TUAW
I can’t imagine people refusing to let go of a ten year old operating system period.
In other news Apple has also announced OS 9 won’t be supported by iCloud.
Hah, totally. However Snow Leopard is kind of a kick in the groin. You are forced to upgrade if you want iCloud. I see that a lot in Apple products. Sorry we stopped supporting G5 processors on our newest stuff. (which I can see why they’d want to break from that, but still)
I don’t see XP users giving a crap about iCloud in the first place. If they are still running XP (or even maybe VISTA) They don’t upgrade until they get a new computer and have no clue about “the cloud”.
While Apple offers relatively simple upgrade paths and affordable prices, many PC manufacturers make things a bit tougher. If you bought a computer 3-4 years ago it might have still come with Windows XP, but there might not be Windows 7 drivers available. It’d also cost $100 or more to upgrade the operating system.
Sure, most computers aren’t really designed to be useful for more than a few years (like cars, the manufacturers want you to constantly upgrade), but there are still an awful lot of Windows XP users out there who won’t be able to use iCloud. Apple doesn’t owe them anything at all — but by making iCloud a Windows Vista and up experience, the company could be losing out on millions of potential customers.
That’s true, but it’s not Microsoft’s fault that the hardware vendors don’t upgrade their drivers. They don’t control the hardware like Apple does. I’m sure Apple could let Snow Leopard users use iCloud, but they are forcing the upgrade basically if you want it that bad.
Agreed on the latter point. If Lion can run on the specs of a system that runs Snow Leopard, surely iCloud should be no problem. But I’ve begun to accept Apple is all about the money. The price elasticity of their products is incredible.. because people would pay ridiculous prices for them.. the service/products are that good. Thus, they mint it out of their customers (fair play).
On the former point, Microsoft does control the hardware. By making their OS more hardware intensive, they could easily demand that vendors comply and provide suitable standards. IMO, it also interests vendors to keep “UP”-ing the specs on hardware, because the more they do that, the “slower” (relatively) your laptop will be in a year’s time (or two) and hence, you’d feel like you have to upgrade. Hence I don’t think vendors hold out that much.
What I meant by control the hard ware is that Apple has one set of hardware, (their chosen vendor or part) that they use per set system. A PC could be running any number of makes and models of every piece of hardware in it. That should also lower Apples bottom line besides making them easier to optimize performance, but of course they cost more.
Windows needs to drop support for a lot of the legacy hardware to beable to move forward and stream line their OS.
“The cloud” what a wank
be responsible for your own crap and don’t let someone else own it
This is news? I have no clue as to why anyone who was using XP would even give a crap about Apple products if they blindly hold onto XP. I am one of those XP users and so is my friend. There are games and applications that just dont run on Windows 7, or they run smoother and better on XP even on the newest hardware. Sure I dual-boot Win7 and Linux on my one machine but Windows 7 gets barely touched. Just because something is old, doesn’t mean it quit working magically. I hate the new interface, and quite honestly, Windows 8 isn’t looking too promising either. Unity sucks on Ubuntu, Gnome 3 isn’t very good either. So two sane choices exist, KDE 4.6 and XP. If Microsoft realized that XP is a product people WANT they would keep selling it, I mean isn’t that the point of a business, to sell products to people that they want?
not really… if they hung onto an “old man’s” system like XP, they would never innovate and that would just spell trouble for the future.
You wouldn’t happen to be an old man now, would you? Are you sure? Or maybe on the inside?
Yes. Move along with the times. Embrace the new and ditch that Nokia phone and old XP system. Needless to say, get a Mac.
@Ravewire: this is just a question of extremes: OS-9 not supported anymore for whatsoever, ok, this is really old. But SL (what? less than 2 years?) already obsolete some software?? Commooooon!!
This iCloud app is a slap in the face for people running Snow Leopard. Sure the Lion is only $29.00 but other software that is not supported in Lion such as Quickbooks is over $200 to upgrade too. People running windows vista, a much older operating system are given priority over Snow Leopard.