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Apple Pulls Older Software From 'Purchased' Tab in Mac App Store

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mavericks.pngApple recently removed older versions of OS X and other discontinued software from the Purchased tab of users who had previously purchased or downloaded them. With the change, it is no longer possible for users to download Aperture, iPhoto, OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion, and OS X Mavericks from the Mac App Store.

The decision to disallow users from downloading the older software is not going over well on reddit, where commenters are calling Apple's decision "user-hostile."

That's really unfortunate and hostile by Apple. What about people who use older operating systems due to compatibility problems with specific software?

I recently had to re-install Mavericks, but didn't keep the "Install OS X Mavericks" app. Now my only chance of getting it again is to download it from another location, and I don't know whether that image has been compromised.

It is not clear if Apple's decision to prevent users from downloading older software from the Mac App Store is a temporary bug or a permanent change. The software has, however, been unavailable for several days now.

It's possible Apple is aiming to prevent people from downloading software that is outdated and unsupported, but at least one of the now-inaccessible apps, Aperture, continues to work on OS X El Capitan.

Tags: Aperture, iPhoto, Mac App Store
Related Forums: OS X Mavericks, OS X Yosemite, OS X El Capitan

Top Rated Comments

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apple_iBoy
137 months ago
This breaks the implicit trust about purchased apps. When I started buying from the app store, it was to replace the experience of "having box with disc inside sitting on my shelf." In the original app store model, I always had access through the App Store to that box with the disc, even after bigger and better things came along.

Now it seems that perhaps Apple doesn't share that same understanding. That's a real shame, but I guess it's their prerogative.

But I would have thought they would have had to explicitly let everyone know. People paid money for this stuff (at least, Aperture). People have machines that aren't supported by the latest versions of OS X. Apple is being foolish to rip away access without giving fair warning about downloading and making a personal backup (which, in my mind, is a wrong-headed expectation anyway, but whatever).
Score: 65 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R
Razeus
137 months ago
Dick move Apple.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
samcraig
137 months ago
This is extremely unfortunate if permanent.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
KALLT
137 months ago
not to be harsh, but people need to move on and not use outdated software anymore, especially if there is no more support for them and further development (patches and updates), i understand if they may have an older mac that is sluggish from the new software, its just telling them that its time for an upgrade
What about people who can’t update beyond Lion or Mountain Lion? Not every Mac is supported anymore. Apple insisted on using the App Store for distribution, removing them now is a very dickish move. Let people use whatever they like, there’s plenty of expensive software out there that just breaks with Apple’s system updates.

Do you really plan on installing Lion & Mountain Lion on your computers? It's old. Let it go.
So what? Apple is generally thought to be poor with supporting older programs. I still use Snow Leopard to play a particular game due to Rosetta and I still use Mountain Lion because that’s the last version that an online-gaming client called GameRanger supports. That’s the only reason I use them and I have them installed on a secondary drive. It’s not causing any problems.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
Daku93
137 months ago
So, they didn't learn from the Xcode debacle and want something similar to happen with those downloads? People who need these apps are now forced to download them from dubious websites with no guaranty that they are unmodified downloads...
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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starnox
137 months ago
Grrr goodbye Aperture when I do a clean install of El Capitan, and now we begin to see the issue of digital downloads. £70 for a limited time purchase of software.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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