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Home truths about macOS

eclecticlight.co

11–20 of 181 posts

Re: Home truths about macOS

#11
This article talks about regular bugs not being updated in anything but the current version of the OS. It talks about security bugs only being fixed in up to N-2 OS releases and then on a sliding scale of importance. It then talks about security bugs not being fixed in those older, unsupported N-3 and older which may get a rare security update.

My conclusion is that Apple wants to sell you a new Mac instead of fixing bugs for you.

Re: Home truths about macOS

#12
post #3

This was my personal favourate statement in the article. "Deciding whether and when to upgrade macOS is one of the more difficult choices we face. If your Mac isn’t capable of running the current release of macOS, or you’re dependent on key hardware or software which is incompatible, then the decision is made for you." If you head over to the hackintosh side of things you will notice that very rarely does a hackintos…

I tell people that I haven't looked forward to new features in the 'California' era like I did in the 'Cat' era. Now, I worry about what Apple will break or take away.

If Microsoft wasn't so intent on spying and advertising to me, I might consider them. I get the feeling I will switch to a BSD eventually.

Re: Home truths about macOS

#13
Sort of agrees with my own opinion, that your use of Macs and iPhones and your stay in the ecosystem is only secure as long as you keep paying up.

More specifically, you're good for a year after you do a major upgrade. After that you may or may not see critical issues addressed, and after two years all bets are off.

I'm not sure how long Apple supports their overly expensive things these days, but I will not be surprised if they at some point declare only 3 years of support from introduction. It would mean more money, and they know people will payup.

Re: Home truths about macOS

#14

This article talks about regular bugs not being updated in anything but the current version of the OS. It talks about security bugs only being fixed in up to N-2 OS releases and then on a sliding scale of importance. It then talks about security bugs not being fixed in those older, unsupported N-3 and older which may get a rare security update. My conclusion is that Apple wants to sell you a new Mac instead of fixing…

I am increasingly annoyed by it -- especially when Apple hardware, commendably, kind of can last forever these days. But at some point while the hardware may still be completely usable, it will stop running the latest OS. Which, with OS's only really supported for (depending on how you look at it) 1 to 3 years, isn't great. There haven't for years really been any features I wanted in new OS versions, just have to upgrade to stay on the maintainence treadmill.

Re: Home truths about macOS

#15
post #3

This was my personal favourate statement in the article. "Deciding whether and when to upgrade macOS is one of the more difficult choices we face. If your Mac isn’t capable of running the current release of macOS, or you’re dependent on key hardware or software which is incompatible, then the decision is made for you." If you head over to the hackintosh side of things you will notice that very rarely does a hackintos…

There is no excuse for the most profitable company in the world to drop support for working hardware. It's entirely within their capability to support even PowerPC macs. And that's besides fact that Apple has an incredibly small portfolio of hardware to support; so much so that they could trivially exhaustively test every update on every possible piece of hardware.

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Re: Home truths about macOS

#16

This article talks about regular bugs not being updated in anything but the current version of the OS. It talks about security bugs only being fixed in up to N-2 OS releases and then on a sliding scale of importance. It then talks about security bugs not being fixed in those older, unsupported N-3 and older which may get a rare security update. My conclusion is that Apple wants to sell you a new Mac instead of fixing…

…But I really like my 11” Airbook from 2012

Re: Home truths about macOS

#19
post #6

> What other actively exploited bugs are Big Sur and Monterey now vulnerable to? Actually, Apple sometimes patches actively exploited vulnerabilities in "unsupported" older versions of both macOS and iOS. The vulnerabilities that don't get quickly patched are the ones that aren't actively exploited. In any case, security researchers talk about known vulnerabilities that have or haven't been patched, but as the author…

> "New versions of macOS are full of bugs"

This is why I never liked Apple's annual upgrade schedule. Ostensibly to stay ahead of security issues, annual upgrade isn't working and is causing more issues than it is worth. Leopard to Mountain Lion were the glory days of OS X stability, with Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, and High Sierra standing out as focusing on bug fixes rather than introducing new features (and new bugs).

I wish Apple had development and stable branches for macOS, such that stable was plain and had very limited features, stayed compatible with decade-old hw, and continued to receive security updates, and upgrading to development was effectively a large patch for stable that included all the new features.

> Moreover, the most dangerous software on your computer is not the operating system per se, it's the web browser.

Agreed.

> You can also use another browser such as Firefox or Google Chrome, which ironically support older macOS versions than Apple supports, and the latest versions of those apps are identical and fully patched on every macOS version they support.

If one must have browser connectivity on a mac, then do this, even when still supported and fully patched. I wouldn't mail or surf on any unsupported OS.

Re: Home truths about macOS

#20

Sort of agrees with my own opinion, that your use of Macs and iPhones and your stay in the ecosystem is only secure as long as you keep paying up. More specifically, you're good for a year after you do a major upgrade. After that you may or may not see critical issues addressed, and after two years all bets are off. I'm not sure how long Apple supports their overly expensive things these days, but I will not be surpr…

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