Want iCloud With Windows? Ditch the XP 393
halfEvilTech writes "Microsoft isn't the only company denying equal online footing to Windows XP users. Apple will not give PC users access to iCloud – its great digital locker in the sky – if their machines are running Microsoft's aging but still popular Windows XP. Tucked at the bottom of the iCloud announcement, Apple says you'll need a PC running Windows Vista or Windows 7 to jump into Steve Jobs' version of the interwebs."
Re:I have Windows 7 (Score:4, Informative)
If you don't use anything else from Apple, then you wouldn't want to use iCloud. It's a supplement to their other products and services, and doesn't really have any value if you don't otherwise use any of those products or services.
That help?
Now, if you use their other products or services... let's say you have an iPhone. If you set up iCloud on your Windows box, the photos you snap on the iPhone will automatically appear in a folder on your computer without an explicit sync step or USB connection, and you can sync the bookmarks in Safari on the iPhone to IE on the Windows machine. Similarly, there are benefits for iPad users, iTunes users, people who switch between Windows and MacOS sometimes...
Heck, there are even benefits for people who want to use an iPhone but don't want to load iTunes or any other Apple software on their PC. You can set up the iPhone so that iCloud is the thing it backs up to and syncs with, instead of any PC. So you'd be able to use an iPhone without buying into iTunes or QuickTime and without installing anything on your PC at all. (This is true even if you're an XP user. Or a Linux user, for that matter.)
But the service has no value on its own in isolation. If you don't touch anything else in the Apple ecosystem, best just ignore it completely.
Re:Lack of XP support isn't news anymore (Score:2, Informative)
Let's answer some of these:
Will iCloud not work with a normal browser?
Of course not. This is Apple
Will it not have an open API?
Hmm, perhaps you missed that this is Apple. Of course it won't. It has to lock you in.
Will it only work with proprietary Apple software?
Doesn't everything new that Apple makes have that requirement? Sure they have a log of some open source things like WebKit and CUPS that they still maintain and are forced to keep open due to GPL, but otherwise everything Apple does is proprietary and locked to their software.
If so, then what is the entire point?
They paid the lables $150 million and must conform to their demands, which seem to directly line up with their own goals. As such, the point is that Apple will still make money because the average user hears "Cloud" and doesn't realize that they're, once again, being conned by marketing speak.
Re:Lack of XP support isn't news anymore (Score:4, Informative)
3 years? Sorry buddy, the PowerPC G5 was phased out in August 2006: that makes it 5 years in my book.
And if you really want to the latest stuff, why don't you sell your Mac every 3 to 4 years like I do! This way, i have an actual Cost of Ownership (hardware only) of around 390€ per year!