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Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

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Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#381

Post by laumars »

thawaway1837 wrote: post #319
laumars wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bricked specifically means it’s unrepairable (ie: it’s now a paperweight, a brick). It’s fair to say “bricked” is a sub-category of “broke” but if something is software repairable then it isn’t bricked. Also aspirin and ibuprofen are very different chemicals. I wouldn’t advise conflating the two. The resulting effect could be worse than the brick/broke problem we are discussing ;)

No it doesn’t. The term unbricking also exists, which directly contradicts the idea that a bricked device cannot be recovered.

Anything can be recovered with enough effort, technical knowhow and the right equipment. The distinction is what can be realistically repaired. Generally the term “unbricking” only exists because people overuse the term “bricked” (eg a phone stuck in a boot cycle isn’t a “brick”, it’s just “stuck in a boot cycle”. However if you do manage to fix a device by specialist hardware repairs then yes, I think it’s fair to say you’ve “unbricked” it.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#382

Post by [deleted] »

Razengan wrote: post #234
xvector wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPad’s software keyboard is still buggy as hell. The software keyboard , the part of the OS that the user will interact with the most, and the part of the OS that is required to be the most stable, frequently just completely breaks and requires a full device reboot to fix. That, to me, is insane. It shows how shit the project management must be if they cannot even prioritize fixing critical bugs in the most impor…

What bugs do you see in the iPad software keyboard? iOS keyboard input and text selection has been wonky for quite a while, and from what I've tried of Android, it doesn't feel much better on the other side of the fence either. Why can't Apple -or- Google get such basic interactivity right?

[deleted]

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#383

Post by [deleted] »

owenmarshall wrote: post #246
sethammons wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently moved from android to an iPhone. The one that gets me while typing: I can’t tap and place the cursor in the middle of a word! Say you mistype a word, you cannot edit that word. You have to delete the entire word or tap and hold to get highlighting and then drag the highlight together to cover one letter on the word and then you can delete and get your cursor in the middle of the word. Insane.

That’s not a bug. It’s worse: it used to work the way you describe but that functionality was removed. Next time: tap the cursor and hold. You’ll see it get bigger and you can drag it where you want.

[deleted]

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#384

Post by mulmen »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #243
sethammons wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently moved from android to an iPhone. The one that gets me while typing: I can’t tap and place the cursor in the middle of a word! Say you mistype a word, you cannot edit that word. You have to delete the entire word or tap and hold to get highlighting and then drag the highlight together to cover one letter on the word and then you can delete and get your cursor in the middle of the word. Insane.

Press and hold on the spacebar. Wait a second. Then you can move the cursor left/right from the spacebar. iOS is generally quite good at these things. Like any new platform, you can't expect it the UX to be identical to an old platform that you're more familiar with.

Wow, thanks. I had no idea this was a thing. How did you discover this?

Is there a similar trick for selecting text? What about selecting text from another source like an email or website?

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#385

Post by Florin_Andrei »

chaos_a wrote: post #218
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They laid off the testing team Must be good for the bottom line. The cost is absorbed by the unlucky users.

It's another case of focusing on the short term to save money. In the long term it damages their reputation and some frustrated businesses/users might start to consider moving away from their products if a viable alternative exists.

If everyone does the same, then reputation doesn't matter as much.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#386

Post by eitland »

deeblering4 wrote: post #376
sk5t wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider a plan B, like, run Linux on off-the-shelf hardware.

The OS and hardware type are not relevant. Increasing redundancy is what is needed.

Which is exactly why I'd go for the free, fast, user and developer friendly option ;-)

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#387

Post by dllthomas »

gruez wrote: post #258
dragonwriter wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dictionary definitions are not formal definitions, they are attempts to capture usage. And they are almost invariably approximations except when explicitly specifying otherwise, and outside of the the more lavish of the unabridged dictionaries are also almost in invariably simplified, both in the number of definitions of any term presented and often the individual definitions, for brevity at the expense of accuracy.

Case in point: "literally" meaning both literally and metaphorically

I disagree with that analysis, incidentally.

"Literally" is often used when the subject is metaphorical, but that's not the same thing as it meaning "metaphorically". If you took the "literally" away, it would still be understood to be metaphorical - the "literally" is intended to strengthen. It's the normal sense of literally, used hyperbolically.

In the same way, when someone says "you left me waiting for days" we don't say that "days" sometimes means tens of minutes.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#388

Post by VHRanger »

nothis wrote: post #296
xcalibre wrote: post #199

This has been mentioned quite a few times but Apple's software quality seriously has taken a turn for the worse in the last few years. I've usually updated my macs to the latest OS's within a couple of weeks of release, but Catalina is the first time where I still have yet to update. Stories of bugs such as this as well as mail messages getting blanked out and unrecoverable makes me actually scared to upgrade.

With Catalina, I'm also not seeing any major benefit to upgrading. The features list is thin and no 32bit programs kills a lot of random stuff that I can't find a quick replacement for. This is the first time I'm not upgrading macOS in 15+ years.

There's Apple Arcade for one benefit

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#389

Post by hanche »

unloco wrote: post #332
crazygringo wrote: post #281

Is there any actual quantitative evidence this update is any worse than any average update? The article presents three forum posts as evidence... which isn't evidence. I assume every update ever has messed up a handful of people's computers, even if just coincidentally (e.g. the computer was going to die on the next reboot no matter what). If thousands of people were complaining on Twitter that would be one thing. Bu…

2019 imac getting kernel panics when going to sleep. It seems silly if you're not affected. But now that it's hit me, i'm about to go back to mojave. If it was just a weird bug, I could deal with it. But to kernel panic is a big deal to me. I cant trust the computer to not break if I walk away from it for 10 minutes. I guess I could turn off sleep, but that doesnt seem like a solution to me. To keep it running all th…

If the issue is a firmware update, as I sort of suspect given the reports so far, going back to Mojave is not likely to help, unfortunately.

I updated two machines myself with no problem. Guess I am just one of the lucky ones.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#390

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

freehunter wrote: post #380
perardi wrote: post #324

I am quite the Apple apologist, but Catalina is awful. 1. As seen here, it's a bugfest. 2. For user-facing features, it brings…Sidecar? And a bunch of half-assed Catalyst apps, I suppose. 3. Such an exciting new set of security features—really met what I have to guess was their goal to quickly train me to click OK on every single dialog to get to work.

For 3, what it's taught me is that I have to load a video conference, go into the privacy settings, allow use of camera and microphone, then exit the video conference and load it again before anyone can see or hear me. I'm a consultant and talk to multiple clients all with their own video conference solution and having to do this every time I join a call where a client is using a different video conference solution i…

Surely this is the fault of the app and not macOS? I have plenty of apps that asked for those permissions once, got it, and never asked again.
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