Apple has reportedly made the decision to abandon support for 32-bit applications.  But are we really surprised by this?  And will it make a difference? You could kind of see this coming, right? Back in January it was rumoured that Apple would do this.  And it sounds like they’ve been giving developers a lot of time to get their apps updated.  So what is the big deal?  I don’t want to get into all the technical details about what this means, but the long and short of it is – the higher the bit, the faster the data can be processed.  Why, then is it such a big surprise that Apple is going to stop supporting 32-bit applications?

It’s not.  And here’s why.  Apple actually started to tell developers that it was going to stop the support back in 2014.  Giving developers a lot of time to make some changes.  Further, don’t we want to have access to better applications and games?  Don’t we want to have those available in the 64-bit regardless?  I would also argue that with the advancing technology in the operating systems themselves, it only makes sense that we would need better applications to run on the OS.

iphone with apps

In addition, Apple is warning users with iOS 10.3 that if you’re running a 32-bit application, you’re going to need to update it.  If the app developer decides that they are unable to produce a 64-bit version of that app, Apple will warn you again.  Letting you know that this might be a possibility, and that you won’t be able to run the application in the new iOS.  Sure, this might seem kind of shady, but we’ve seen this before haven’t we?  Years ago, when people actually purchased software from a store.  On the side of the box, it would say which operating system the software was compatible with.  And if you decided to get a new computer, but you still had an old version of Microsoft Office, there was a good chance you couldn’t use it.

I don’t personally see a problem with this.  Sure, you might not be able to run some of your old favourite apps, but that’s not Apples problem.  Or at least I don’t think it is.  Like with anything in today’s society, you have to be able to adapt.  Even if that means changing your development process to ensure that you can produce the most up to date and high quality applications available.  And I would think that most developers would want to do that.  They want to be competitive.   And if your application isn’t being updated, contact the developer.  Maybe they’re a small company and don’t have the resources to update something they don’t think people want.  And by contacting them you are helping make their business case.

But I’m going to go back to my old faithful argument.  We as consumers also need to be flexible.  We need to embrace change.  I don’t see this change as a bad thing.  Sure, it might cause headaches in the short term, but think of the long term gain.  Think of what kinds of applications we could see in the future through this kind of system change?  Who knows, you might even find a new application that beats out the one you’ve been using for years.  Don’t knock it until you try it.  It might seem like a big change right now, but I guarantee you, it will be forgotten in a years time.

By Staff Writer

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