The mailing list for users of the eduroam Configuration Assistant Tool (CAT)

[Stefan Winter <stefan.winter AT restena.lu>]

Hello,

some of you may recall the user question on this list about an iPad (1st
gen) with iOS 5. The user had problems with the profile download since
version 1.1 was released.

In short term, a note for completeness' sake: I mailed the user with a
modified profile which did not contain the iOS 6 specific content. I
then asked him numerous times whether the installation now worked. He
did send replies, both times without telling me what the outcome was. At
that point I considered the case unsupportable and got back to doing
more interesting things.

This means we don't know for sure if the XML snippet that is only
recognised on iOS 6+ was responsible for the breakage; or if maybe the
user just had a unique problem on this very device we couldn't figure out.

In the longer term though, this raises the question about how far back
in history do still care about obsolete products.

For example, Windows XP had an official end of support date; we
discontinued our own support several months after that date.

In general, I believe that following vendors' obsolesence / end of life
announcements is a reasonable strategy.

I have just found the following Apple statement on the web:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201624

which looks like a stable point of reference with regular updates. It
indicates that right now, all iPhones below 4 are considered
vintage/obsolete by Apple. I'm inclined not to investigate problem
reports about such old Apple devices (read: products declared either
vintage or obsolete) in the future.

I'm also inclined to reply to people with problems on supported hardware
that they should first ensure to have the latest iOS release.

There is no iPad on that list yet; the iPad (1st gen) went on sale 2010
and was discontinued in March 02, 2011 with its successor. So my
guesstimate is that it has another half year of life before it becomes
vintage.

So, if more problem reports with iOS 5 come in, I will again try to get
a hold of the user in question and debug problems with them. But I will
also be happy when Apple updates their product EoL page above and
relieves me of that duty. :-) It looks like this won't be before 2018
though:

The current low watermark of iOS versions for the various types of iOS
devices which are not yet vintage/obsolete is:

iPhone: iPhone 4 - iOS 7.1.2 (*)

iPod touch: 3rd gen - iOS 5.1.1 (until approx. mid 2018), then 4th gen
and iOS 6.1.6

iPad: 1st gen - iOS 5.1.1 (until approx. Mar 2016), then iPad 2 and iOS
8.4.1

Please reply to this message on 
cat-users AT geant.net
 if you think that
this policy is too harsh - or too generous :-)

Greetings,

Stefan Winter

(*) If you're really into Apple timelines, you'll notice that Apple is
inconsistent here: the iPhone 3G(S) was sold until Fall 2012, which
means it should not become vintage before Fall 2017. But for some magic
reason, it already is vintage right now. Or I'm lost in their
definitions of vintage/obsolete/discontinued/not manufactured/

-- 
Stefan WINTER
Ingenieur de Recherche
Fondation RESTENA - Réseau Téléinformatique de l'Education Nationale et
de la Recherche
6, rue Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi
L-1359 Luxembourg

Tel: +352 424409 1
Fax: +352 422473

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recipient's key is known to me

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