What have developers got against Mac users?

Just a quick rant about the software industry. In particular, the Mac software industry.

I switched to  Mac back in 2006 and have never looked back. I like the system, the security, the ease of use and maintenance, the build quality, etc. I could probably go on for hours (but I won't).

However, there is one thing that being a Mac user has caused me concern.

Whenever a new version of the OS is released, it appears that developers are almost chomping at the bit to release their software for the new OS. I can understand this if they were taking advantage of the new features of the operating system, some 'whizz-bang' thing that has only just been introduced, but most of the time, they are not. Most of the time, it just appears that the developers are compiling for OSX 10.whatever just for the sake of it.

I find it somewhat frustrating when I find some piece of software that I would like, only to find that it is only available for the latest version of Apple's operating system. Yet, if you look at the Windows requirements, 9 out of 10 times, it will run on Windows XP, an operating system that is over 10 years old!

When I worked in the Windows software industry, one of the prime directives was to make sure you did not alienate those users with older operating systems, and therefore a sizeable chunk of your market. This philosophy does not seem to cross the OS border into Mac. Why not?

It was really brought home to me recently when I saw that Doom 3 had been reduced to a little over £6. I was amazed and overjoyed. I originally played the Demo of Doom 3 on my G5 Mac, running OS X 10.4, so the assumption that it would run ok on my Intel Mac, with 10.5.8, seemed logical. But then I checked the requirements. For some bizarre reason, Aspyr (I'm not picking on them, just using them as an example) have decided that they would recompile Doom 3 to an Intel only application, and in doing so, have increased the required operating system to OS X 10.6.

Now, I understand that this may be to get the game on the App Store, but is it really necessary to cut out a large slice of users? Maybe I should be looking at why Apple decided to make the App Store require 10.6?

Either way, I think it is definitely a problem with the Mac software industry somewhere. Not everyone wants to upgrade to the latest OS. My Windows machine is still running Windows XP, and I don't see me upgrading it for a few years yet. I'm not going to abandon my Mac, in fact I think I'll probably have to go the way most Mac users do and upgrade my OS, just to allow me to run certain software.

I for one, will not be compiling my software for the latest OS. I aim my software at the lowest possible requirement to allow as many people the benefit of using it as possible. I know of a number of others that also go this route, and I salute them.

So, come on developers, you're in the business of making money, so why alienate your customers?