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macOS Sonoma is available today

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Re: macOS Sonoma is available today

#61

I still don't understand why Apple is so bent on coupling application updates together with OS updates. I just want the new changes to Safari and Notes while I don't care about the other changes, why not have Safari be a normal application downloaded from the App Store, like the rest of us pleebs have to do when publishing apps?

Cause then no one would update?

Re: macOS Sonoma is available today

#63

I still don't understand why Apple is so bent on coupling application updates together with OS updates. I just want the new changes to Safari and Notes while I don't care about the other changes, why not have Safari be a normal application downloaded from the App Store, like the rest of us pleebs have to do when publishing apps?

This method reduces testing burden by eliminating the combination of an old OS with new app.

They might also see it as an incentive - perhaps new app features act as driver for OS adoption.

Re: macOS Sonoma is available today

#64

I still don't understand why Apple is so bent on coupling application updates together with OS updates. I just want the new changes to Safari and Notes while I don't care about the other changes, why not have Safari be a normal application downloaded from the App Store, like the rest of us pleebs have to do when publishing apps?

Most of the new app features are tied to OS-wide and OS-APIs wide capabilities, so they can't release "just Notes" without the OS-level frameworks that support those features. Take for example the PDF editing/support in Notes now. Or the Pages compatibility. Or Note widgets for the desktop, etc. Similar case for Safari, as they offer the webkit widget and JSCore as an OS-level APIs too.

Plus of course everything is tested together (which is what Linux distros also do. They update their apps for minor releases and bugfixes but not major releases for the same distro).

Re: macOS Sonoma is available today

#65

I still don't understand why Apple is so bent on coupling application updates together with OS updates. I just want the new changes to Safari and Notes while I don't care about the other changes, why not have Safari be a normal application downloaded from the App Store, like the rest of us pleebs have to do when publishing apps?

Apple knows that you want the app updates. They want you to update to the latest OS for a variety of reasons (support, security, marketing, etc). They also know you paid thousands of dollars for your laptop and aren't likely to switch off of macOS entirely. So, they bundle the app updates to the OS update as an incentive.

Re: macOS Sonoma is available today

#66
An SDR content brightness slider for a non-apple HDR monitor/projector would be nice. Anyone knows if Sonoma has changes for this in stock?

Edit: Updated now and it seems like nothing changed :(. External monitor still becomes dim for SDR content if I flick on HDR, and no slider in sight to boost the intensity. There is a projector setting as a color profile, but that only changes the contrast and colors, but not the brightness.

Re: macOS Sonoma is available today

#67

I still don't understand why Apple is so bent on coupling application updates together with OS updates. I just want the new changes to Safari and Notes while I don't care about the other changes, why not have Safari be a normal application downloaded from the App Store, like the rest of us pleebs have to do when publishing apps?

A lot of the app updates are using new APIs that only exist starting with the OS update. Practical way to surface the new OS features.

Re: macOS Sonoma is available today

#68
> The implementations of the exfat and msdos file systems on macOS have changed; these file systems are now provided by services running in user-space instead of by kernel extensions.

This sounds interesting!

I really wish there was a native FUSE alternative on macOS; just recently I found myself in a pickle due to not being able to mount an ext4 boot volume on an SD card on my Mac at all. (Passing through to a VM works only via USB.)

Re: macOS Sonoma is available today

#69
post #63

I still don't understand why Apple is so bent on coupling application updates together with OS updates. I just want the new changes to Safari and Notes while I don't care about the other changes, why not have Safari be a normal application downloaded from the App Store, like the rest of us pleebs have to do when publishing apps?

This method reduces testing burden by eliminating the combination of an old OS with new app. They might also see it as an incentive - perhaps new app features act as driver for OS adoption.

On the flip side, zero-day WebKit security vulnerabilities require a full OS update to patch Safari.

From a security perspective decoupling from OS updates seems advantageous.

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