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Oh, your 2014 MBP is running Monterey just fine, huh? Good for you. I guess nobody else matters, whether they have good reason to hold off on the upgrade or not.
No. It's running on Catalina. I think I'll wait a few days before crying bloody murder.
 
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And those who cannot legit upgrade past 10.13 are...???
10.13.6 has been out of support for about 2 years now. Even 10.14.6 isn't getting security updates anymore. This isn't new. What is new is that Apple hasn't supplied updates for OS versions that are apparently still getting security updates.
 
10.13.6 has been out of support for about 2 years now. Even 10.14.6 isn't getting security updates anymore. This isn't new. What is new is that Apple hasn't supplied updates for OS versions that are apparently still getting security updates.

Then the question becomes how to PREVENT this from happening in 10.13. Granted I almost exclusively use Winders on my mini (10 runs better than the macOS ever really did)...
 
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The 11.6.6 update and the matching Catalina update are currently on the same schedule as 12.4, so these are unlikely to be released sufficiently soon.
But 11.6.6 is already at rc1 level. I bet 12.4 is no where near that. So I reckon 11.6.6 will be released before 12.4. Not sure about catalina though.
 
MacOS has had a surprisingly tough go of fitting into the annual release cycle. They make mountains out of molehills at WWDC, going ga-ga over stuff that could've been added to the OS as part of a point release (Universal Control notwithstanding, although ironically that *was* added as a point release).

I think Apple should make macOS just macOS, support hardware as long as they can, tease a couple of upcoming features at WWDC, and gradually roll off Macs that are 8-10 years old.

And if you can't do that, at least stop with the California-inspired names. Time for a change.
 
Zero days are Apple’s best friend. Nothing drives new hardware purchases like unpatched security holes in older software
I would guess the opposite would be true and would drive more sales. I'm sure they'd rather you upgrade on a more frequent basis which mean more frequent hardware purchases. People who have older hardware / software that have reached end-of-life / end-of-support accept that risk and will probably keep using it until "the wheels fall off" and they have no choice but to upgrade.

No company wants the headache and mess of a Zero Day.
 
Every company has limited engineering resources and Apple is no different.

Ideally, everything is updated at the same time with no bugs. Realistically, Apple needs to focus on the latest OS and most recent devices.
Apple, a nearly $3 trillion company, with limited engineering resources? ?

How is it that a smaller company like Microsoft can offer a much longer support window than Apple? Take a look at Windows 10. It came out on Jul 29, 2015 and Microsoft will be supporting it until Oct 14, 2025

5 years of mainstream support from the release date and 10 years of extended support is pretty darn impressive.
 
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One simple reason exists and that’s planned obsolescence. I notice you all didn’t even mention whether older OSes are affected too, like high Sierra or Mojave. Many macs got the boot when Mojave and Catalina were announced, and are stuck on high Sierra or earlier and are probably vulnerable too.
 
Thank you for providing the data. My initial reaction was that I thought gaps of a few days were not unprecedented. So hopefully that's all it is. But they can get more hype and clicks if it is presented as a new thing.
These are zero day vulnerabilities that are actively being exploited. Meaning that the longer apple goes without releasing a fix, the more at risk big sur and earlier users are… those users could be sitting ducks.

When people’s security is at risk, with no mention from apple as to whether a fix is even possible or is coming, the media is doing the right thing by reporting on it and spreading the word. Apple needs to address this.
 
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Apple is more and more pushing users to use the latest OS. That they removed the option to hide the nagging notification of new OS versions with a security update was just the start. Just providing a single patch for iOS 14 after the iOS 15 launch after promising 'it would continue to receive update' was a big FU to users.

I'm using a lot of apps that are too complex to be fully compatible with a new OS on day one, so I'm still running Big Sur. I'm not sure why Apple isn't updating Big Sur and Catalina. They really should communicate about it, but Apple's communication is lacking lately. I don't see why they can't backport the fixes with minimal effort certainly if they're actively exploited.
Apple’s communication on this has always been mom & pop. Given its size now this situation is extremely unprofessional.
 
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For those of us with older systems not in the Monterey fold may find extra life using open core patcher.
My 2012 MBP actually runs Monterey quite well even using a mechanical drive, even faster using SSD.
I think the Apple finally optimized the APFS file system for Intel with better performance than I was getting under High Sierra, Mojave, and Catalina.
I even tried booting Monterey on my brother’s 2009 iMac with the Radeon graphics and it worked pretty good but with a few noticeable graphic issues that they are trying to work out. Giving him a bit more life for his hardware.
You’d think as Apple sunsets the Intel platform they would provide one last MacOS for all 64 bit hardware instead of throwing them under the bus.
 
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One simple reason exists and that’s planned obsolescence. I notice you all didn’t even mention whether older OSes are affected too, like high Sierra or Mojave. Many macs got the boot when Mojave and Catalina were announced, and are stuck on high Sierra or earlier and are probably vulnerable too.
For systems running those older versions of operating systems, I'm sure the macOS operating system is not the only vulnerable aspect. There are probably older versions of applications that can't be updated / upgraded that also have vulnerabilities that the owner may not be aware of. I have an iMac that I got a good 9 years before Apple dropped support for it. It runs macOS Catilina I still use it for non-critical things. By continuing to use (for non-critical things) that's a risk I'm accepting. I don't blame Apple for not providing software updates for an 11 year old system.
 
For systems running those older versions of operating systems, I'm sure the macOS operating system is not the only vulnerable aspect. There are probably older versions of applications that can't be updated / upgraded that also have vulnerabilities that the owner may not be aware of.
Yes yes. Users using legacy software = bad. People should have known better than to build their workflows around software published by small niche companies and were doomed to be abandoned. You know, like that weird, niche software publisher that invented Aperture.
 
For those of us with older systems not in the Monterey fold may find extra life using open core patcher.
My 2012 MBP actually runs Monterey quite well even using a mechanical drive, even faster using SSD

Yep. My late-2013 is also on OCLP. Even Universal Control works.
 
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