Simple..Is Mavericks still supported?

[tom vilsack]

I use my mid 2009 macbook daily. Right now I'm running El Capitan but would like to go back to Mavericks as it used to run way faster. But I won't revert unless it's still supported due to security concerns.

So is it still supported...if so how much longer?

 

[KALLT]

It is not supported anymore.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

It is not supported anymore.

That is not correct.
Mavericks got a system wide security update in July, and a Safari update in September.

 

[KALLT]

That is not correct.
Mavericks got a system wide security update in July, and a Safari update in September.

That means: support has ended. Two security updates have appeared since for Yosemite and El Capitan and the supported version of Safari is 10.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

That means: support has ended. Two security updates have appeared since for Yosemite and El Capitan and the supported version of Safari is 10.

...No that means they are still supporting it, since, you know, they are pushing out support updates.

Mavericks does not necessarily have the same security problems that the other OS have, since they use a newer codebase with functions that are not present in Mavericks.

In addition, the OP asked for security issues, and clearly they are still doing that.

 

[Janichsan]

Support for Mavericks apparently ends on December 1, 2016.

 

[KALLT]

...No that means they are still supporting it, since, you know, they are pushing out support updates.

Mavericks does not necessarily have the same security problems that the other OS have, since they use a newer codebase with functions that are not present in Mavericks.

In addition, the OP asked for security issues, and clearly they are still doing that.

The OP literally asked whether Mavericks is still supported and, if so, for how much longer. The fact that Mavericks has not been part of the update rotation twice now (almost 5 months) and that Safari 10 has not been released for Mavericks is conclusive evidence that Apple is not planning to support it any longer, which fits with their two-year security update policy. What this means for the overall security of Mavericks is speculative at this point.

 

[chrfr]

I use my mid 2009 macbook daily. Right now I'm running El Capitan but would like to go back to Mavericks as it used to run way faster. But I won't revert unless it's still supported due to security concerns.

So is it still supported...if so how much longer?

Apple does not publish a support roadmap, however, their strategy for security updates has been to support the current version, and the previous two major versions. That means that right now 10.12, 10.11, and 10.10 receive security updates.
[doublepost=1478522848][/doublepost]

...No that means they are still supporting it, since, you know, they are pushing out support updates.

Both of the updates you reference were released prior to the release of 10.12. Now that 10.12 is out, 10.9 will not get updates.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Both of the updates you reference were released prior to the release of 10.12. Now that 10.12 is out, 10.9 will not get updates.

That is not correct. September 1st vs. September 20th.

 

[chrfr]

That is not correct. September 1st vs. September 20th.

Safari 9.1.3 was released September 1, while Sierra was released September 20. As I said, the security updates you reference were released prior to Sierra's release.

 

[tom vilsack]

Well this cleared nothing for me...looks like ill have to stick to the slower El Capitan

Pretty poor of Apple to only offer security updates for a operating system that was released just 3 years ago! (oct 22/2013)

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Safari 9.1.3 was released September 1, while Sierra was released September 20. As I said, the security updates you reference were released prior to Sierra's release.

Ah yes, I really messed up on that one!

 

[KALLT]

Pretty poor of Apple to only offer security updates for a operating system that was released just 3 years ago! (oct 22/2013)

It is just a consequence of Apple’s tight focus on cross-platform and API development. Even for developers it is quickly becoming tedious to support older versions. 3 years is overall not that unreasonable though, if you ignore Windows. Most Linux and Unix systems have a similar support, even some of the LTS releases.

That said, I miss Mavericks too. I used it up to a few months ago and would love to use it again.

 

[MacUser2525]

Most Linux systems have a similar support, even some of the LTS releases.

Yes but the difference between the way they drop support and Apple is they only drop the operating system not machines that are still capable of running the OS.

 

[KALLT]

Yes but the difference between the way they drop support and Apple is they only drop the operating system not machines that are still capable of running the OS.

They offset this by not guaranteeing anything either. Whether Linux or Unix will run flawlessly on your hardware is not a given. Take Ubuntu, for example. They removed the proprietary AMD Radeon drivers from their repositories this year, while the new Radeon Pro drivers are still in beta and AMD has decided not to develop them for older graphics cards (and by older I mean approx. 4+ years), forcing you to use the worse open-source drivers.

 

[MacUser2525]

They offset this by not guaranteeing anything either. Whether Linux or Unix will run flawlessly on your hardware is not a given. Take Ubuntu, for example. They removed the proprietary AMD Radeon drivers from their repositories this year, while the new Radeon Pro drivers are still in beta and AMD has decided not to develop them for older graphics cards (and by older I mean approx. 4+ years), forcing you to use the worse open-source drivers.

You can still get a display going may not be the best but that is life, the underlying operating system will still support that hardware.

 

[yoimrae]

I'm not sure if this is accurate but Wiki says Mavericks is now unsupported

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X_Mavericks

 

[djrobsd]

I would say no. I just opened app store, and NONE of the updates are compatible, so Evernote, Onenote, DaisyDisk, Mahjong, and Wunderlist all say NOPE.. No update for you. In addition under updates installed in the last 30 days there are none.. So I would say it's time for all of us to upgrade unfortunately. I backed mine up with time machine just in case i need to roll back, but so far I've liked the update on my RMBP, so it's now time to do my iMac and get with the future.

 

[honam1021]

I would say no. I just opened app store, and NONE of the updates are compatible, so Evernote, Onenote, DaisyDisk, Mahjong, and Wunderlist all say NOPE.. No update for you. In addition under updates installed in the last 30 days there are none.. So I would say it's time for all of us to upgrade unfortunately. I backed mine up with time machine just in case i need to roll back, but so far I've liked the update on my RMBP, so it's now time to do my iMac and get with the future.

App Store apps generally drop support much sooner than everything else distributed outside. I'm not upgrading until Firefox and Chrome lose support for 10.9

 

[ThunderMasterMind]

Well this cleared nothing for me...looks like ill have to stick to the slower El Capitan

Pretty poor of Apple to only offer security updates for a operating system that was released just 3 years ago! (oct 22/2013)

To be completely honest, I wouldn't worry about security things on OS X, unless I hear about something nasty, which is pretty rare for OS X and iOS. If Mavericks makes the best out of your computer, then by all means go back to it. I'd rather use my hardware at its best than in a bogged down state that Apple loves to do recently with OS X and iOS. In fact, I have a rig that I just got running the other day with Mavericks on it. Aside from the need of a graphics card this thing is buttery smooth, and supports a ton of things still. The only setback Mavericks has is the fact of the gorgeous Aqua UI. Much like the bottleneck with iOS 6, Many developers won't put their apps on it because of the UI, MS Office 2016 is a good example of this. I was fine with Apple's way of updates, but when Jony Ive managed to completely screw up the UI and experience, I couldn't stand it because they forced this new UI on us. I was cool with it for a week, but then I began to hate it, and that hatred only grew.

 

[jbarley]

Reading this thread prompted me to fire up a Mavericks HDD I keep on my MacPro1,1.
Several Apps had updates available, namely FireFox to version 50.1, Flash to version 24.0.0.186 and two utility apps from the App store.
So Mavericks at least in my book, is with care and caution still a usable system.

 

[loby]

To be completely honest, I wouldn't worry about security things on OS X, unless I hear about something nasty, which is pretty rare for OS X and iOS. If Mavericks makes the best out of your computer, then by all means go back to it. I'd rather use my hardware at its best than in a bogged down state that Apple loves to do recently with OS X and iOS. In fact, I have a rig that I just got running the other day with Mavericks on it. Aside from the need of a graphics card this thing is buttery smooth, and supports a ton of things still. The only setback Mavericks has is the fact of the gorgeous Aqua UI. Much like the bottleneck with iOS 6, Many developers won't put their apps on it because of the UI, MS Office 2016 is a good example of this. I was fine with Apple's way of updates, but when Jony Ive managed to completely screw up the UI and experience, I couldn't stand it because they forced this new UI on us. I was cool with it for a week, but then I began to hate it, and that hatred only grew.

I also agree with using Mavericks if your system runs great with it. Really, if your software runs great why? Unless you want Office 2016 or the New features for the software you use like the newer Final Cut Pro X, there is not a need really for older systems unless you want too. How often have you run into issues, unless you download stuff or go to shady websites. General usage probably will not come across security issues with older OS X's, but that is my experience.

 

[AAwArchie]

I know this post is old but I wanted my input here. I still use Snow leopard on my daily MacBook Pro 2011 (Original software) because it runs like butter (Any of the latest software is unusable so I downgraded with original restore disks). There are no security issues (for me at least) on this software that hasn't been supported since 2014. I was wondering if I upgraded to Mavericks would it still be smooth? That's if the OP decided to downgrade or not they can tell me.

I doubt anyone will reply to this but it's worth a shot.

 

[prisstratton]

I know this post is old but I wanted my input here. I still use Snow leopard on my daily MacBook Pro 2011 (Original software) because it runs like butter (Any of the latest software is unusable so I downgraded with original restore disks). There are no security issues (for me at least) on this software that hasn't been supported since 2014. I was wondering if I upgraded to Mavericks would it still be smooth? That's if the OP decided to downgrade or not they can tell me.

I doubt anyone will reply to this but it's worth a shot.

I had been running Mavericks on my 2011 MBP for a number of years and with 16 GB RAM and a SSD everything ran very well. I took a look at both Yosemite (10.10) and El Capitan (10.11) but for me both of these installations were really horrible. After testing them I vowed to just stick with Mavericks as it was rock solid and very responsive (for me).

Recently I have been concerned about being left behind from a security point of view, seeing as Mavericks is no longer supported. Therefore, I decided to jump onboard with the beta testing of High Sierra. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a responsive UI and none of the issues that other people on this forum were reporting. As soon as High Sierra was officially released I upgraded my Mavericks installation and everything is still running perfect.

If you decided to give Mavericks a try I think you will find that it would run smooth for you. But, you definitely need to look at your hardware and if you are not running a SSD then do not even try. As has been reported on these forums, you essentially need a SSD to run any of the most recent Mac OS versions.

If you have not previously downloaded a copy of Mavericks, you will not find it in the App. Store. If you do want to give it a try I would suggest that you find a friend that has previously installed this and get them to download a fresh copy for you.

Conversely, if you are totally happy with Snow Leopard and it is meeting all of your needs then possibly save yourself some grief and stick with it.

Hope it helps.

 

[Intell]

I know this post is old but I wanted my input here. I still use Snow leopard on my daily MacBook Pro 2011 (Original software) because it runs like butter (Any of the latest software is unusable so I downgraded with original restore disks). There are no security issues (for me at least) on this software that hasn't been supported since 2014. I was wondering if I upgraded to Mavericks would it still be smooth? That's if the OP decided to downgrade or not they can tell me.

I doubt anyone will reply to this but it's worth a shot.

There are extremely severe security implications with using Snow Leopard, even Mavericks on a modern system. You may not know it or you may turn a blind eye to it, but there are. The way Apple's security model works is that if you aren't on the latest release of the OS, 10.13.0 as of this post, your system is insecure. Even a fully patched 10.12.6 system is missing some critical security updates that 10.13.0 has in it. It's the sad truth of how Apple works now.