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Re: Downloading Dropbox to my older mac

Downloading Dropbox to my older mac

ermb
Helpful | Level 5
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Dont give a **bleep** leave me alone
1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Rich
Super User II
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wrote:
I've been loyally using this website for years and for them to basically be like you aren't important as a user any more because you don't have the latest tech, is a load of bull.

That's not it, at all. Having to support older operating systems holds back development. Your old, no longer supported (by Apple) operating system isn't capable of running the developing technologies that Dropbox will use into the future. As they improve their product to use newer technologies, older systems that can't support those technologies are left behind. That's just how it is, with any software company.

 

You didn't specify the version of OS X you're running, but the latest of the versions no longer supported by Dropbox, OS X 10.8, hasn't been supported by Apple since Autumn of 2015. If you're no longer getting updates from the creator of an operating system, how can you expect other companies to continue supporting it. This is simply the price you pay by using older systems and software, and that doesn't even take security issues into account.

 

Sorry to say it, but you'll eventually be left behind if you don't keep up with the times.

View solution in original post

13 Replies 13

Rich
Super User II
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wrote:

... is there way to download it without the ridiculous expense of updating my software. 


No. Dropbox no longer supports OS X 10.6, .7 or .8. Even if you find a copy of the older Dropbox software, you will not be able to log in with it.

 

ermb
Helpful | Level 5
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That's some **bleep**.

I've been loyally using this website for years and for them to basically be like you aren't important as a user any more because you don't have the latest tech, is a load of bull.

It's good to know that not all Dropbox users are important, guess I need to find a different cloud service.

christheITguy
Explorer | Level 4
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Unfortunately, applications are written for certain branches of operating systems, and this sometimes eliminates compatability with older operating systems. In order to support certain new features and APIs, developers have to write the apps to support newer the operating systems which offer these new features and benefits, which eliminates compatability with older OSes. You can still use the web-based Dropbox if needed.

ermb
Helpful | Level 5
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The only radon i use it is so it can easily facilitate storage between my phone and my computer since like most people i do a lot of my business between both smart devices.
The immediate downloads are extremely helpful. I can easily find another site that continues to do what I need it to do.
Not everyone can afford to jump to whatever the latest and greatest tech is and companies should account for that.

Rich
Super User II
Go to solution

wrote:
I've been loyally using this website for years and for them to basically be like you aren't important as a user any more because you don't have the latest tech, is a load of bull.

That's not it, at all. Having to support older operating systems holds back development. Your old, no longer supported (by Apple) operating system isn't capable of running the developing technologies that Dropbox will use into the future. As they improve their product to use newer technologies, older systems that can't support those technologies are left behind. That's just how it is, with any software company.

 

You didn't specify the version of OS X you're running, but the latest of the versions no longer supported by Dropbox, OS X 10.8, hasn't been supported by Apple since Autumn of 2015. If you're no longer getting updates from the creator of an operating system, how can you expect other companies to continue supporting it. This is simply the price you pay by using older systems and software, and that doesn't even take security issues into account.

 

Sorry to say it, but you'll eventually be left behind if you don't keep up with the times.

Rich
Super User II
Go to solution

wrote:
I've been loyally using this website for years and for them to basically be like you aren't important as a user any more because you don't have the latest tech, is a load of bull.

That's not it, at all. Having to support older operating systems holds back development. Your old, no longer supported (by Apple) operating system isn't capable of running the developing technologies that Dropbox will use into the future. As they improve their product to use newer technologies, older systems that can't support those technologies are left behind. That's just how it is, with any software company.

 

You didn't specify the version of OS X you're running, but the latest of the versions no longer supported by Dropbox, OS X 10.8, hasn't been supported by Apple since Autumn of 2015. If you're no longer getting updates from the creator of an operating system, how can you expect other companies to continue supporting it. This is simply the price you pay by using older systems and software, and that doesn't even take security issues into account.

 

Sorry to say it, but you'll eventually be left behind if you don't keep up with the times.

ermb
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution
Ok then you can pay for my new laptop 🙂
And cover the endless software updates.

Thanks for your suggestions. But not Everyone has the financial welfare to be up to date on everything. As much as I would loveeee to have the latest tech, my old tech works just fine, except for this B.S., and I would rather eat and have a roof over my head than drop thousands of dollars I don't have on a new computer

alambique46
New member | Level 2
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People have the perfect right to use the systems and software that satisfy them. The "push" to always have the latest is a kind of fetish encouraged by PR departments.

Your attitude of "keep up with the times" is just THAT—an attitude, not an answer.

There is absolutely no reason why an earlier version cannot be made available, and still created to be safe.

christheITguy
Explorer | Level 4
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You are correct, you do have the right to choose which operating system to use. That is completely your choice, and I will agree with you 100% on that. On the flip side, software companies have the choice of what operating systems they will fund their development staff to continue to write code for. If a newer operating system uses X version of API to support newer features and your previous generation operating system lacks X version of that API, the software vendor either has to A) cripple their software to not use that new version of API (if the new operating system will allow an older API to be used, which lots don't) or B) continue to pay their development staff to write and develop updates for a separate version of their software to work on just the older version of operating system you're running). Eventually, their "new" version and their "legacy" version will operate differently, adding confusion for the end users.

 

"Why can't my legacy version support files over 2GB?" Well, your computer from 1996 uses FAT32 file system, which physically can't handle a single file greater than 2GB. And the circle of entitlement for the latest and greatest features on antique systems continues. The end user has no idea what tech support is trying to explain. They just know they bought software that doesn't work like the version their friend bought and installed on a newer computer works. That's what happens when a software vendor maintains support for substantially older hardware/software platforms.

 

It's not the software vendor's fault that you want to use a technology that didn't exist in that time, but it'll be their problem when someone complains that they can't use it. From a business standpoint, it makes no sense to continue supporting a version of their software that will *not* run on new(er) computers. It's the same reason that your old version of Quattro that you ran on Windows 3.1 back in 1994 won't run on Windows 10. Microsoft, in their effort to support current technologies (both hardware and software) has to change the way their operating system works internally in order to provide that support. If we never had to advance and keep up with the times, computers would still be limited to 640KB of RAM and hard drives measured in megabytes, not gigabytes or terabytes.

 

Now, some vendors "push" the envelope much harder than they have to. Apple, for example, cuts off OS support for their hardware extremely prematurely in my opinion. The hardware from 3 years ago will still support the operating systems currently out (that's fact) but Apple will stop "allowing" your 3+ year old machine to recieve OSX updates. The inability to run a version of OSX on a previous generation of harsware is completely a manufacturer block to an extent. You can *technically* run OSX 10.12 (and even higher) on a 2007 iMac or Mac Pro. Apple prohibits this and will not let you do it as an "update", but with some very creative tinkering, people do it. However, it doesn't run all that great and requires installing additional drivers to make it work properly and Apple knows this, so they just block it altogether.

 

That said, Windows-based machines are much more flexible about what version of OS they will run. You can run Windows 10 on a Dell Optiplex 620 (released in 2005) as long as it has enough RAM and it runs well actually. Would I do it? No. Can it be done? Very easily. You bought an Apple though, and it's wirely known that they're are huge about pushing people to buy new hardware very quickly. They control the software, they control the hardware, they control the interoperability of the two. They profit all the way around. PCs are more open. Microsoft (for the most part) controls the OS, but there are dozens of manufacturers of hardware. The companies have to work together to some extent to provide support for eachother. 

 

Enough backstory I suppose. Your solution, as it sits now, is to go find another cloud storage company that will support whatever antique OS you're running (good luck with that by the way) or use the web interface, which requires installing nothing and will work on any OS that has a web browser new enough to at least load the dropbox.com website. 

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