The Ars Technica article on this issue cuts to the heart of why this is so devastating: there is tons of software--software which was really interesting and I dare say "seminal" for this important era of computing; and which is not old or outdated by any sane standard--that this destroys access to going forward, for essentially no benefit.
Apple insisted that they get to curate something of critical value, but they don't comprehend the moral weight of that responsibility, and now want to just go around burning down their Apple-branded libraries. It is absolutely sickening, and is the kind of thing we probably need to solve using regulation (which, of course, is likely never going to happen, given how even companies we would have assumed were on our side often have lobbyists fighting for the ability to lock down ecosystems).
Apple insisted that they get to curate something of critical value, but they don't comprehend the moral weight of that responsibility, and now want to just go around burning down their Apple-branded libraries. It is absolutely sickening, and is the kind of thing we probably need to solve using regulation (which, of course, is likely never going to happen, given how even companies we would have assumed were on our side often have lobbyists fighting for the ability to lock down ecosystems).
https://arstechnica.com/apple/2017/01/future-ios-release-wil...