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Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

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Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

#151

Post by artimaeis »

hhas01 wrote: post #111
musicale wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm kind of OK with "macOS Vista." I've wanted more restrictive and granular permissions for a long time. Web browsers don't need unrestricted access to the entire file system. Neither do games. Preview doesn't need to access the microphone. Word doesn't usually need to record the screen. PowerPoint should not be sending email or accessing the camera. TextEdit doesn't need access to my contacts or calendar. And I don…

Just about everything you said there is wrong. Hey, don’t get me wrong: if you enjoy 10.15’s tedious security-theatre crap then knock yourself out. But you are not qualified to dictate what other users need or want to do; only they are. Like Apple, you are thinking App-centrically. Stop. Apps are not the center of the users’ universe. The users’ own tasks are. Therefore you need to think task-centrically—i.e. What do…

You're right that tasks are the center of the user's universe. But it's generally not tasks that infect a device with malware. It's malicious applications that do that.

This is the case on _every_ OS that lets users install applications.

So, how can we make sure users doing tasks aren't afflicted by applications that want to sneak in? You're saying to "structure a security model differently" leads me to think maybe users shouldn't have admin access on the machine? But then you get all the critiques people have of iOS.

I'm honestly asking, what's the alternative here?

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

#152

Post by hurricanetc »

I am loving Catalina. The new Reminders app is a huge upgrade that allowed me to stop relying on shoddy third party apps. Using Apple Watch to authenticate is handy. Sidecar is useful as hell on business trips. iTunes is no longer a bloated unorganized mess of an application. Safari is dramatically better. Photos is better. Having screen time data on my Mac is great.

Catalyst has brought a handful of new macOS apps for me to use that were not available previously. Several that I use on a daily basis.

And I haven’t experienced any bugs or issues.

So I guess your mileage will vary. But if you hate macOS enough to write TWO blog posts about it why don’t you just switch to another platform???

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

#153

Post by laktak »

ble52 wrote: post #11

Am I the only person that doesn't have any significant issues with Catalina? I'll admit, some of the permissions-related pop-ups are a bit annoying, but overall it's been a rather stable macOS version for me (developer, working mostly in Xcode and JetBrains IDEs).

I'm happy for you. I have crashes every few days (system freezes then reboots). I'm not even sure where the problem is

> BAD MAGIC! (flag set in iBoot panic header), no macOS panic log available

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

#155

Post by thewhitetulip »

satysin wrote: post #52
thewhitetulip wrote: post #2

The biggest issue I have with Mac upgrades is that for me, it doesn't cache the upgrade. My internet is weak, not as great in speed and bandwidth as US so it downloads 4gb and then fails. Then it starts from 0 sgain. I expected Apple of all companies to cache downloads. Frankly, it caches only the first 500MB. I do not know why. Any workarounds?

I use the installer download script from https://github.com/munki/macadmin-scripts Has always worked fine.

Thank you

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

#156

Post by thewhitetulip »

sgt wrote: post #5
thewhitetulip wrote: post #2

The biggest issue I have with Mac upgrades is that for me, it doesn't cache the upgrade. My internet is weak, not as great in speed and bandwidth as US so it downloads 4gb and then fails. Then it starts from 0 sgain. I expected Apple of all companies to cache downloads. Frankly, it caches only the first 500MB. I do not know why. Any workarounds?

Frankly nowadays (on most systems) you need a decent connection. I would perhaps connect from another connection (if you have the opportunity) for the download itself.

I don't have broadband connection. I use mobile data.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

#157

Post by newscracker »

speeder wrote: post #130

I never been an Apple fan. When iPhone launched I was skeptical, and didn't wanted one, and so on... I often argued with apple fans, and one thing that was clear to me, is that people that tried apple products around 2008 or so often would just love it, and many would become apple fans too. I used my first Mac around that time, and although I found some stuff just silly (mouse with only one button...) I overall liked…

Apple really let the ball down with the lousy keyboard, and in the old and tired Apple style, refused to acknowledge the problem and fix it with urgency (or support well the customers who complained about keyboard issues). And then the huge misstep with the Mac Pro and years of delays. Add the lack of updates or news about the Mac mini for several years. All this while, Apple was shamelessly selling old hardware for the same prices as when they launched those! Even now Apple sells several notebooks with the bad keyboards!

Then we have Catalina, Catalyst apps, the breakup of iTunes that’s turned out to be messier.

Except for iPhone hardware and wearables, Apple has failed to demonstrate innovation, honesty, integrity and responsibility in other areas.

The Six Colors Apple Report Card for 2019 [1] provides some scathing feedback from some well known names who live, breathe and talk Apple. It’s mild in some places, but never have so many people from this background been so critical on so many things (as I recall).

[1]: https://sixcolors.com/post/2020/01/apple-in-2019-the-six-col...

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

#158

Post by jtbayly »

ble52 wrote: post #11

Am I the only person that doesn't have any significant issues with Catalina? I'll admit, some of the permissions-related pop-ups are a bit annoying, but overall it's been a rather stable macOS version for me (developer, working mostly in Xcode and JetBrains IDEs).

I installed it on one computer, and no problems (other than the freeze during install that so many people had). However, that’s ignoring this question:

> I didn’t even have to debate too much whether I should upgrade or not. The answer is no. The reasoning behind it is quite simple, actually, and it boils down to this: what Catalina takes away from me is more than what it gives me.

And that seems to be the case for me, even though I have no Catalina problems. Lost MS Office 2011 on that machine. Gained... I can’t think of a single thing off the top of my head.

Thus, wish I hadn’t upgraded.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

#159

Post by cosmiccatnap »

athiercelin wrote: post #9

I've heard these upgrade stories since the 90s (on Mac). It got better a few years back, and it's back again at hit or miss but in the end it's like backup strategies: it's basic knowledge at this point but still needs to be repeated. If your mac is a production machine, don't jump on any of the updates, decide if you need the update then check your programs one by one. If you can, pop into the Apple Store to test th…

I get that, and everyone in this thread knows that, but the issue is that alot of devices come with it and it is branded as "stable" Windows and Linux have a better excuse they have to support thousands upon thousands of devices and configurations but for apple to have this many issues with the hand full of pre built systems they have, well, it should be perfectly understandable to ask why a company with this much time and money would release something in this state especially when they had a beta. For most of us it's not a big deal but plenty of people have to start writing their app and testing on this and for them it's pretty confusing and you have to ask yourself how it got this way when there shouldn't have been any reason for it to.

Re: Mac OS Catalina: more trouble than it’s worth (Part 2)

#160

Post by newscracker »

xkemp wrote: post #115

How can there still be people writing these yearly "I'm so disappointed" articles. It's the same for every single MacOS release . I bet if I look through the archives here, the last halfway usable OS release from Apple was Mac OS 8. You'd figure the people writing these articles wold leave for other platforms, and those that remain should be less likely to do hot-take duty next year, considering they didn't feel the…

Every single Mac OS X/OS X/macOS release has had glaring issues, but the difference is that some of the releases have been relatively better and some of them worse. Catalina, combined with the user experience of someone who upgrades to Catalina, probably comes close to the original release of 10.0 or worse. Apple isn’t paying attention to software engineering on the Mac, and the constant push to “iOSify” the Mac is a big drag. It seems like the “Wild West” and “cowboy coding” and what other metaphors you can use to describe why Catalina and its apps are so bad.
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