I do. Most people should as well especially if the "support" we are talking about deals with security. That aside, I agree wholeheartedly with the OP: annual upgrades are asinine and have become more bug ridden with each passing year.
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Absurdity of Annual OS Releases
- Thread starter Alameda
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Apple absolutely should provide regular updates. The annual cycle is great.
If you don't want to upgrade, then just stick with the release you're already happy using; Apple supports each release for three years: my 2014 MCP runs Big Sur.
Extended wait times between major releases may actually make OS transitions more painful with worse bugs to accommodate the bigger technological jumps: you need to close the feedback loops at fairly short stages to make the necessary inevitable corrections.
I'm not sure what your exact grievances are, but I'll be surprised if they're major ones: Apple already goes through many developer, and public betas. Right now, I don't see any huge issues with macOS. Nevertheless, it's possible a middle ground exists; for example: Firefox's ESR, but even here, the numbers they serve are a fraction of Mozilla's already tiny marketshare.
Keep the annual OS releases coming please.
If you don't want to upgrade, then just stick with the release you're already happy using; Apple supports each release for three years: my 2014 MCP runs Big Sur.
Extended wait times between major releases may actually make OS transitions more painful with worse bugs to accommodate the bigger technological jumps: you need to close the feedback loops at fairly short stages to make the necessary inevitable corrections.
I'm not sure what your exact grievances are, but I'll be surprised if they're major ones: Apple already goes through many developer, and public betas. Right now, I don't see any huge issues with macOS. Nevertheless, it's possible a middle ground exists; for example: Firefox's ESR, but even here, the numbers they serve are a fraction of Mozilla's already tiny marketshare.
Keep the annual OS releases coming please.
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This is interesting: what takes you three-clicks now, instead of a single click; this certainly would irritate me.
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Everybody says they don't like the yearly updates, and by "everybody" I mean the few hundred, perhaps even a few thousand people who post on blogs and forums. But the reality is that when any software developer chooses to stretch the release dates and don't add new features, people complain that there's nothing new and no reason to update. They can't win.
The other reality is that 90% of what people here (and other forums and blogs) call "bugs," are just conflicts or issues with their own particular computer setup. While that could be partially Apple's fault or developers of other apps, it's almost always the end user. True bugs can be reproduced on anyone's computer. That's not to say Apple doesn't ship with bugs in the system, that's unavoidable, but it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. By shipping updates often, they hear about and are able to fix bugs faster than if they only shipped every few years where technology moves on and app developers get tired of waiting for Apple to implement those technologies.
The other reality is that 90% of what people here (and other forums and blogs) call "bugs," are just conflicts or issues with their own particular computer setup. While that could be partially Apple's fault or developers of other apps, it's almost always the end user. True bugs can be reproduced on anyone's computer. That's not to say Apple doesn't ship with bugs in the system, that's unavoidable, but it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. By shipping updates often, they hear about and are able to fix bugs faster than if they only shipped every few years where technology moves on and app developers get tired of waiting for Apple to implement those technologies.
Bolded: you mean the same few hundred/thousand people who complain about annual releases?
But, if we put aside those folks - what's the point really in releasing annual major versions (be it OS or app) with minor features/changes/improvement? Apart from marketing and simply following suit.
Yes, those are the people I'm referring to.
The point of releasing annual upgrades is to add new features and technologies. It's what keeps the product interesting and useful to consumers. Why do people buy new computers when they already have one that still works? Why do people buy a new car when they have one that still runs? People want newer/better/faster/cooler things. Human nature at its worst (or best, depending on how you look at it).
Great choice of analogy. Also, major automakers produce mid-cycle refreshes of their vehicles. An illustrative example is BMW's LCI refresh. Anybody who knows what that is will instantly understand the example.
Why do you need to update the OS/App ? Well, when you build a metaphorical platform, those who gather on it are generally happy, but eventually need to perform tasks that the current platform is unable to help them accomplish. Changes, and refreshes are necessary to help these patrons reach their goals, all while improving stability, reliability, flexibility, speed, precision, security, privacy, convenience etc.
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This is the key. Today, buying a brand new Apple machine means being stuck with half baked OS and having to wait for months for numerous issues to be fixed.
Like what, for instance ?
My Silver M1 iMac is the best computer I've ever had. What's half baked about it ?
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For all of the people complaining about the annual updates being buggy: how were things different in the past? I clearly remember the old days of OS X and how buggy things were for the first few point releases. Everyone's beloved Snow Leopard had some pretty serious bugs until at least 10.6.3, and 10.6.4 didn't come out until an entire year after the original OS release. My point is, we heard the same complaints back then and people often waited until at least 10.X.3 because of the bugs and software incompatibility present in early releases, even with the slower release cadence.
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It's been ages since I last had serious issues with any release, so I am happy with frequent updates. I just install typically the second update of any new major release and it's fine ussually.
I would rather have a stable release less frequently when there are real features to bring out. Pushing out a release for the sake of it being yearly makes no sense.
I agree but also disagree. I'm on a 2013 iMac as I type this. It did not receive Monterey (still receiving security, ecosystem and safari updates though).
I did install an SSD a few years ago however it feels just as snappy as it did back then. Probably more so TBH. I was working with HEVC when this iMac couldn't play them back regardless of encode complexity and it took twice as long to encode. Now without even hardware support a HEVC plays back without a single dropped frame for hours. Something at the time I didn't think was possible without hardware decoding.
There has been quite a few quality of life upgrades (things like unlock with Apple Watch). A ton of security updates (somewhat annoyingly at times). A complete overhaul of the file system. All sorts of iCloud features. There was a time AirDrop was abysmal but now its my goto transfer method, same with handoff and continuity. I never had an issue with stability.
Overall I'm happy.
Don't get me wrong. I dont NEED a yearly update and I would always prefer waiting for a more stable build however I think if it bothered me that much I just wouldn't upgrade. Like I mentioned, this Mac is Catalina and I'm ok with that..nearly 9 years of updates...
I did install an SSD a few years ago however it feels just as snappy as it did back then. Probably more so TBH. I was working with HEVC when this iMac couldn't play them back regardless of encode complexity and it took twice as long to encode. Now without even hardware support a HEVC plays back without a single dropped frame for hours. Something at the time I didn't think was possible without hardware decoding.
There has been quite a few quality of life upgrades (things like unlock with Apple Watch). A ton of security updates (somewhat annoyingly at times). A complete overhaul of the file system. All sorts of iCloud features. There was a time AirDrop was abysmal but now its my goto transfer method, same with handoff and continuity. I never had an issue with stability.
Overall I'm happy.
Don't get me wrong. I dont NEED a yearly update and I would always prefer waiting for a more stable build however I think if it bothered me that much I just wouldn't upgrade. Like I mentioned, this Mac is Catalina and I'm ok with that..nearly 9 years of updates...
I have always updated on day 1 and find the updates stable enough for everyday usage. As people hang on to their phones longer, annual updates is one way of making feel like they have a new phone every year and keep them using iPhones.
Well said OP. I was just thinking about this the other day.
Apple please stop doing this and just refine the current OS. No one is asking for these ridiculous annual releases.
Apple please stop doing this and just refine the current OS. No one is asking for these ridiculous annual releases.
Right. I’m fine waiting for the dot releases to smooth things out on a current machine but what happens when I buy new, and it gets shipped with a buggy OS?