[ufmace]

I don't think it's the same. On older Apple hardware, it just keeps on running on the older OS version. You don't get some new features or styling of the new OS, but nothing else changes. On Windows, it periodically brings up full-screen notifications that your hardware is obsolete and you need to upgrade, with the only options being to upgrade or "remind me again later".

[mort96]

They also provide security updates for those old OSes for quite a while, AFAIK.

[hurfdurf]

Some security updates.

Note: Because of dependency on architecture and system changes to any current version of Apple operating systems (for example, macOS 26, iOS 26 and so on), not all known security issues are addressed in previous versions (for example, macOS 15, iOS 18 and so on).

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/deployment/depc4c80847...

[Salgat]

macOS receives 1 year of full support and 2 additional years for security updates for each version with 6-8 years of upgrade eligibility. Windows 10 received 10 years of support (on top of a free upgrade from Windows 7/8.1 for most users).

[raisedbyninjas]

That's great, but it's no silver bullet. We have a 4th Gen iPad that was used mostly for consumption. Only one of the streaming apps works with its ios version.

[riddlemethat]

The same issues plague old Android tablets. Lots of unecessary ewaste out there so OEM's can sell new devices.

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

I just installed Opencore and run the newer OSs anyway. It will eventually not be an option when they come up with an ARM-only OS, but at the moment it seems to work ok.

[freetanga]

2013 MacBook Air on Linux Mint is fantastic

[Almondsetat]

Software in much more tied to the OS though. For example, Chrome is still compatible with Windows 10 which is more than 10 years old, while on macOS you cannot install it past Monterey (2021). Not to mention that also system applications are updated with the OS, so forget about using Safari