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Letter to Apple about broken 10.5.3 compatibility with StarCraft
21 June 2008
Sent the following letter to Apple. Self-explanatory, really.
In my opinion, this is an instance of a more general habit of Apple and other companies of providing restrictive updates without notice and refusing to provide a roll-back.
I've heard the argument that they can't support a 10 year old game forever, however, they're still selling the game and advertising its compatibility with "OS X". If they dropped compatibility in OS 11, I would be miffed but wouldn't mind (I'll have SC2 to play then, anyway). If the boneheads at Microsoft can maintain support for this game, Apple has no excuse.
Hello there,I am very disappointed that the 10.5.3 update breaks compatibility with StarCraft. Considering this game is still for sale both online and in stores, this makes little sense.
Also, I am disappointed that no word has been given to the gaming community about this issue. Blizzard, the manufacturer of StarCraft, responded within hours, telling players to post their hardware specs, unfortunately they claim they can do nothing about it and that it is an issue with NVIDIA drivers.
I, for one, have purchased my last Apple product. My iPod recently broke after 5 years of wonderful service, however, I will not be replacing it with an Apple product. I also purchased an iPhone and have since returned it (if you'd like me to provide a receipt proving this I will be happy to oblige). I will simply not be a customer anymore. I've purchased two iBooks and one MacBook. I've purchased 3 iPods (for myself and as gifts). Receipts can be provided for any of this.
Even a company like Microsoft would never behave in this fashion. Sure, they've discontinued support for some hardware in Vista, however, users are given the option not to move to Vista. I was doing what I thought was a routine update, little did I know that support would be removed from my favorite past-time hobby.
My only option at this point is to roll-back to the disk version of Leopard, which I suppose I will have to do. Had support for Starcraft been removed from my Macbook, or had I been told that support would drop within months, I simply would not have purchased it. Plain and simple.
Comments
1 Kevin says...
Good job this is ridiculous I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't fix the problem.
Posted at 5:42 a.m. on June 30, 2008
2 Yeago says...
Thanks. Even the response from gamers is pretty sad. You'd think it was originally released on the Atari by the level of support they seem to expect. How many hundreds of thousands of people are on BNET for BroodWar every week?
Posted at 6:50 a.m. on June 30, 2008
3 Dave says...
Anyway, now the Starcraft epidemic hits and everybody gets angry about 10.5.3. I am very agitated. I've had to start using my iBook (running Panther) to play starcraft which is very inconvenient and I realize I'm lucky to even still have my old computer. Many people don't have this luxury. Most people with new macs are simply screwed out of their Starcraftage. Fix this problem NOW Apple! Otherwise you're going to lose another customer.
Posted at 9:01 a.m. on June 30, 2008
4 MisterAngry says...
You're argument that is still sold and claims compatibility with OS-X being a reason why Apple should fix your issue is stupid. Blizzard made the game and it's their packaging that says its compatible. From what you say, they've done everything they can to help you. Also, they've already got thousands of dollars out of you. They have a pretty massive following, what makes you think they care about one guy with a blog?
Posted at 1:34 a.m. on July 5, 2008
5 Yeago says...
@MisterAngry
Perhaps you're not following the explosion of this topic on forums around the net, but this issue wasn't raised simply in this blog. Also, your notion that 'they've already gotten thousands of dollars out of me' is, I don't think, very characteristic of Apple's mentality when it comes to these things. Anyway, thanks for commenting.
Posted at 1:45 a.m. on July 5, 2008