Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

morrick.me

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 327 posts

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#131

Post by lostgame »

Razengan wrote: post #50

I still love macOS but Catalina has been the buggiest beta and release that I can recall. When we saw betas of x.1 before there were even GMs/release candidates of x.0 we knew it was going to be rushed out the door. Even after release it's still randomly losing files. Just yesterday my purchased music downloads just disappeared. No explanation (unless I trashed and emptied them in a fugue state). They were still show…

>> it's still randomly losing files.

Whoa, no. That is a huge code red for me as a creative. Especially in the music folder. I work at all crazy times of day and night, inspiration hits, and is often impossible to replace. Not alright.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#132

Post by Spooky23 »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #99
Spooky23 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Future releases of MacOS will probably support ARM. They don’t want to take away functionality for a big release like that.

That would effectively mean that Apple decided to purposefully cripple their current products in order to make their future products more appealing.

They don’t hesitate to purge legacy.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#133

Post by Wowfunhappy »

dkonofalski wrote: post #123
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple used to charge for upgrades in the past. Now they give them away for free. But back then, they also supported old releases for longer. I actually suspect this was part of Apple's internal calculus, or part of it. "Free upgrades will get installed by more people, so we can drop old releases more quickly." A fine tradeoff under some circumstances, but right now, the old way of things is looking quite appealing.

>But back then, they also supported old releases for longer. I don't think that's true. I've been an Apple user since just before OS X's release and the support level was always 2 versions back since like Panther.

Yeah, but since OS's didn't come out annually, that effectively meant a significantly longer support cycle.

You could argue "well, what changed isn't price, but release cadence," but they all go hand in hand. If upgrades were paid, the release cadence would probably have to be slower.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#134

Post by [deleted] »

dkonofalski wrote: post #121
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of space in between "Company X has wronged me" and "I'm happy with company X". I feel very let down by Apple right now, and I sense the author does too. As the saying goes: I'm not angry, just disappointed. The fact that macOS updates are optional, and you can downgrade at any time, really does help a great deal here. However, Apple's three years of security updates per release isn't much.

>I feel very let down by Apple right now And that is totally fine for you to feel that way. You are not, however, entitled to some kind of reparation for that and, if you wrote a diatribe that was comparable to the OP, I would also say that you're making a mountain out of a molehill. Something being disappointing to you, individually, does not make it a massive failure for everyone.

[deleted]

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#135

Post by Bud »

johnisgood wrote: post #97
SliderUp wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why warn, why stop supporting it at all?

Because the removal of widely used things that worked fine caught on for some reason. Apple has been doing this for a while now. Jack, USB, ESC key, whatever else I cannot recall.

Um, it caught on because there isn't room for 200 ports on the side of a computer. Eventually you sometimes have to ditch old standards to move on to newer, better standards.

Btw, Apple's reportedly putting the Esc key back on the new MB Pros. And they still have an audio jack. And they still have USB.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#136

Post by johnisgood »

kevingadd wrote: post #107
Bud wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did? 32-bit apps continued to be supported for a full decade after the hardware architecture went 64-bit. During that entire decade, Apple issued steadily-increasing warnings to users that eventually, the 32-bit support would cease. Seems like a smooth transition to me.

How does it count as a transition if everything just breaks? Them giving you warning doesn't make it a transition, it's just an EOL with advanced notice. A transition implies that you're moving from one working state to another, or replacing the old thing with a new one. How am I supposed to replace unmaintained/old software when there's no new 64-bit, notarized version of it?

Exactly.

> How am I supposed to replace unmaintained/old software when there's no new 64-bit, notarized version of it?

You are not, and therein lies the problem that apparently some people are incapable of recognizing. It was a terrible decision, and some guy tried to justify it with "technical debt", but somehow other OSes are perfectly capable of handling it while Apple cannot. Why is that?

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#137

Post by Wowfunhappy »

dkonofalski wrote: post #121
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of space in between "Company X has wronged me" and "I'm happy with company X". I feel very let down by Apple right now, and I sense the author does too. As the saying goes: I'm not angry, just disappointed. The fact that macOS updates are optional, and you can downgrade at any time, really does help a great deal here. However, Apple's three years of security updates per release isn't much.

>I feel very let down by Apple right now And that is totally fine for you to feel that way. You are not, however, entitled to some kind of reparation for that and, if you wrote a diatribe that was comparable to the OP, I would also say that you're making a mountain out of a molehill. Something being disappointing to you, individually, does not make it a massive failure for everyone.

> You are not, however, entitled to some kind of reparation for that

Did you get the sense the author feels "entitled to some kind of reparation"? That's not a sentiment I came away with at all.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#138

Post by morrick »

whalesalad wrote: post #42

> my desktop workhorse, a 2017 4K retina iMac > 5400 rpm hard drive as its main internal volume Regardless of OS, the author _really_ needs to bail on the 5400rpm HDD and get a solid state disk in there... especially if you're gonna call it a workhorse!

When it was time to get that 4K retina iMac, I only had money for one built-to-order upgrade. It was a tough decision. It was either leaving the internal 1TB hard drive and choose to have 16GB of RAM instead of the base 8GB, or choosing a 256GB internal SSD and keeping the base 8GB of RAM. Since RAM in that 21.5-inch retina iMac is only upgradable at purchase, not down the road, I opted for the 16GB of RAM and staying with the hard drive. My reasoning is that I can upgrade to an external Thunderbolt SSD at a later date when I can afford it. RAM is not upgradable later.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#139

Post by johnisgood »

dkonofalski wrote: post #124
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As it happens, the author isn't upgrading.

And your point is? I've already acknowledged that. I'm pointing out that a disappointment for their individual situation doesn't indicate that the update is a failure nor does it warrant what they've written.

It is a problem for them, and they express it. What do you think is wrong with that? Not being able to run 32-bit applications is a deal-breaker for many people. The update is a failure for them for this or many other reasons. It might not affect you, and that is fine, but it does affect other people and it is a perfectly valid concern that they could voice. Why are you so against them voicing their problems with the update? Who are you to be the judge of what warrants and does not warrant any articles? Ultimately your opinion on whether it warrants an article or a comment does not matter, thank goodness. What if I told you that you being fine with the update does not warrant a comment? Whatever your answer is, please repeat the same thing to yourself because it seems like you have a strong dislike towards the act of voicing valid issues with the update. I would dare to say it reeks of fanpersonism.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth

#140

Post by morrick »

alphabettsy wrote: post #25

TLDR; The author hasn’t upgraded, and while they have some well-founded concerns they haven’t actually used it. It’s going to be difficult to make anyone happy with this release that has already decided they don’t like it.

You know why I haven't actually used it? Because I've read enough experiences from tech-savvy people and power users who actually used it, and based on what I've read, plus all the things that Catalina would disrupt for me, my work, and how I use my Macs, I've made my cost/benefit analysis and decided that no, I'm not going to upgrade to Catalina.

It has been a perfectly informed decision from someone who has been using Macs since 1989. I haven't got out of bed on the wrong side the other day and just decided I didn't like Catalina.

Post reply on HN