macOS Sierra Tidbits: Apple File System, RAID Support, and More

[Billsofat]

Well, I think I'll use Mavericks. Something really scares me about them introducing a new file system in their current yearly release cycle. HFS+ may suck, but I'd rather use that than a half-baked new one.

Aside from that, I don't really care for the other changes. I barely use iCloud, and I'd rather not have my files thrown around in the background. I also do not want to be blocked from opening applications I get from the internet.

 

[KPOM]

Well i would agree that iOS and macOS are light years apart in many features (we will see how yesterday's announcements closes the gap or not), but some of the ARM chips that Apple has developed are actually faster than intel's M chips. Source is here.

That's not entirely accurate. First of all, the article itself says "Overall, the Core M still has an intrinsic performance advantage over its ARM-based rivals." Second, at best we can say that the highest end ARM chips have performance that overlaps the lower-end of Intel's mainstream chips on certain tasks. We don't know how well Apple's ARM designs would scale to quad-core or octa-core designs that are in some of the more powerful Macs. Apple has never made an A chip with more than 3 cores.

Finally, for at least a transitional period, a hypothetical ARM Mac would need to emulate x86/x64 in order to run the existing library of applications.
[doublepost=1465914588][/doublepost]

Well, I think I'll use Mavericks. Something really scares me about them introducing a new file system in their current yearly release cycle. HFS+ may suck, but I'd rather use that than a half-baked new one.

Aside from that, I don't really care for the other changes. I barely use iCloud, and I'd rather not have my files thrown around in the background. I also do not want to be blocked from opening applications I get from the internet.

The file system won't be mandatory. To the contrary, it won't even be introduced officially until next year. HFS+ will still be the default file system of macOS Sierra. People have been saying for years that HFS+ is out of date and Apple needs to replace it. So no sooner does Apple come out with a new file system in a pre-beta release than people start complaining about it.

 

[tampageek]

Considering the majority of users are too ignorant to care about adopting good security practices something has to be done. Like it or not, the "bad guys" are light years ahead and the only people that bear the brunt of the blame is, you guessed it, Apple (and other vendors).

You can't have it both ways. Anyways, it's likely as someone said earlier that this is just removing the option from gatekeeper to prevent people from just turning it off for everything all the time, which is a terrible "solution" to a simple problem (easy to run apps one at a time that are not signed).[/QUOTE

Whether or not people practice good security should not give Apple 'permission' to take control of your system away.

 

[angel.mariano]

im a little confused about icloud drive. if someone can help me understand. for example. lets say i have 32 gb of photos and videos on a SD card , if i transfer those files to icloud drive, will they download to the mac or will they only stay in icloud drive(to save space on the computer) ?

 

[KPOM]

im a little confused about icloud drive. if someone can help me understand. for example. lets say i have 32 gb of photos and videos on a SD card , if i transfer those files to icloud drive, will they download to the mac or will they only stay in icloud drive(to save space on the computer) ?

There will be an optional feature that lets your Mac move older and little-used files from your Mac's hard drive to iCloud to save space.

 

[Norbs12]

Apple has removed the Gatekeeper option to allow apps to be downloaded from "anywhere" by default in System

I'm really not OK with this.

 

[milo]

No option to install apps from "anywhere"?

You still have the option to install anything. You just no longer have the option to turn off the warning.

 

[Stella]

For the file optimization to be really successful iCloud Drive needs more Dropbox like features...

Need the ability to access other users iCloud Drive.

I have two iCloud accounts: I would like to access my other iCloud drives from my mac when its set up to use my primary iCloud account.

 

[oneMadRssn]

"Anywhere" Dropped From Gatekeeper

Apple has removed the Gatekeeper option to allow apps to be downloaded from "anywhere" by default in System Preferences > Security & Privacy, resulting in a warning dialog when you attempt to open an app from an unidentified developer. "Mac App Store" and "Mac App Store and identified developers" remain selectable.
Apps from unidentified developers can normally be opened by clicking the "Open Anyway" button in System Preferences > Security & Privacy, but the macOS Sierra release notes indicate that this button does not work in the first beta. A workaround solution is to hold down the Control key, click on an application, and choose "open."

I really dislike this, but I am not too worried about it. This is just the first developer preview version. Apple has removed and added back options and settings before during preview and beta periods. If enough of us ask for the "anywhere" setting to be returned, they will probably do it. If not, I'm sure it just controls a value set in somewhere that can be changed with a terminal command.

 

[milo]

A thing one should realise is that 10.12 is not a new OS. Its an incremental upgrade to 10.11, a polish pack if you want. Visually, its indistinguishable. It doesn't bring any new radical features to the system, just refines what we already have and makes it more convenient. People were complaining about too frequent OS X releases, well, this is not really a 'release'.

Snow Capitan?

 

[Carlanga]

You either get it "free" by giving away your right to expect it won't be mined for data or you pay for it.

Free doesn't exist, there is always a cost.

you are paying for it w the apple tax for the hardware you own. All the real new features of apple require a subscription which is ridiculous.. 5GB these days is the equivalent of a floppy disk in the 90s.

 

[ChrisCW11]

Its great to see some internal kernel work done in macOS (I guess the X is out now) as I think macOS is not aging well and innovation has been stagnant.

While I know there are always internal optimizations of the OS for performance and stability with each release, the last few releases of OS X seem to focus on the superfluous apps built on top of the OS and adding inane features like more Emoji support rather than any substantial improvements to the main OS. When one of the biggest innovations in OS X in recent years has been adding the **** emoji, you know a company has been struggling to innovate.

Improving storage performance is always good as Mac power users often juggle terabytes of video and project files and any way to squeeze more performance from an SSD is always a good thing. However I think the Apple of yesteryear might have come up with a completely new I/O standard to make drives faster hardware wise rather than just software improvements, but I'll take any kind of innovation from Apple these days as what they can offer.

Of all the things announced yesterday, this is far better sign that Apple is still innovating rather than a stupid Watch app that reminds you to Breathe.

 

[leman]

The option for "anywhere" should still be there. It doesn't inspire confidence in Apple for the future of macOS.

I'll take the risk of installing a potentially malicious application - which in reality are few and far between.. and I'm careful about what applications I do run. I don't need Apple to babysit me.

One design principle that I personally am quite fond of states that potentially unsafe things should be marked as unsafe. According to this principle, to complete an unsafe operation the user need to do an extra step or two. I have no doubt that Apple doesn't need to babysit you. However, it can be the case that one is tired or inattentive, or believes to download a (hacked) app from a trusted source. I have had the 'Anywhere' option disabled from start. It doesn't constrain me and it doesn't take control away from me. Now I simply need to open apps from the context menu. I prefer having this additional safeguard. Its like having a warning signal in your car when you forgot to put on the safety belt. The choice is still yours: but the system at least tries to warn you about possible mistakes.

 

[639051]

Whether or not people practice good security should not give Apple 'permission' to take control of your system away.

I disagree. Apple is held responsible to some degree by the actions of their users. It is in their best interest (as well as the vast majority of users) to secure a system as best as they possibly can. Look at the countless botnets used to target innocent parties and DDOS them. This costs those innocent parties money and at times denies their users of a service. This is all because people refuse to practice good security measures.

The line has to be drawn at some point.

 

[milo]

I'm sure this would have already been implemented.

It's entirely possible those things have already been implemented but since it's such a radical thing to update, they'll be rolling out the features to testers a bit at a time, once the basics are confirmed OK by testers. If there ever was a technology to bring out in baby steps, that's it.

 

[639051]

you are paying for it w the apple tax for the hardware you own. All the real new features of apple require a subscription which is ridiculous.. 5GB these days is the equivalent of a floppy disk in the 90s.

 

[tampageek]

I disagree. Apple is held responsible to some degree by the actions of their users. It is in their best interest (as well as the vast majority of users) to secure a system as best as they possibly can. Look at the countless botnets used to target innocent parties and DDOS them. This costs those innocent parties money and at times denies their users of a service. This is all because people refuse to practice good security measures.

The line has to be drawn at some point.

I'm sure there are many who would agree with you. However, I am not willing to give up my freedom of choice because 'my mommy' said something is not good for me.

 

[Stella]

Its great to see some internal kernel work done in macOS (I guess the X is out now) as I think macOS is not aging well and innovation has been stagnant.

Apple still haven't implemented the latest openGL library and equivalent for Metal.

The lack of the most recent openGL functionality in macOS is hurting quite a few game developers on the Mac. There's a good reason why some developers, such as Adobe back off from implementing Metal in their apps - it just doesn't provide the functionality required. Thats one area that needs improvement..

 

[Carlanga]

 

[kyleh22]

I hope everyone's ready to upgrade their iCloud space. This is essentially the digital equivalent of storage units. Paying to store stuff that should probably be trashed.

 

[milo]

Well, I think I'll use Mavericks. Something really scares me about them introducing a new file system in their current yearly release cycle. HFS+ may suck, but I'd rather use that than a half-baked new one.

Using Sierra doesn't require using APFS. It will work perfectly fine with HFS+, and that will be the case for years if not indefinitely.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

But imagine the possibilities of the photos exchange with other users.

We matched your DSCN298.jpg from the album "Private party" with DSCN298.jpg from Kate in NY, from the album "Private party".

It's a new social network

'I didn't know that was even physically possible!'

 

[leman]

This has nothing to do with 'security vs convenience' - it's about who controls your machine.

I control my machine, obviously. I really don't see how things like Gatekeeper or Rootless remove control from me. Ive been sitting on 10.11 for a year now, and I can't remember a single time where I though about disabling it. Base system is base system. You only need to touch it if a) you are hacking it or b) you are doing base system development.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I hope everyone's ready to upgrade their iCloud space. This is essentially the digital equivalent of storage units. Paying to store stuff that should probably be trashed.

But one person's trash...

Although after recently delving into a family member's hording head on, I'm starting to freak about my 'saving random stuff'...

We found reels of 8mm commercial videos that would have been worth some big money, but they were rotting. Scads of albums, same condition. Books too. 'NO! YOU CAN'T THROW THAT OUT! IT'S WORTH MONEY!!! was what I heard the whole week. Digital hording is a lot safer, but still troubling on a psychological level I'm sure...

 

[djbuddha]

You're right but what if they also gave ALL their attention to Apple Music, iCloud and iTunes? Those are barely usable. Besides, with the amount of money Apple has, there is zero excuse for their software to not be top notch - across the board.

I know ... And that's what disturbs me lol. Hope is a scary emotion when it comes to Apple.