What OS X is Apple's in-house business using?

[loby]

I wonder what is the current OS X that Apple uses in-house as "reliable" to run their business?.

Does their in-house OS X change each year, or do they just rely on "old reliable" until they believe that the newer (whatever one) becomes the "old reliable"? Interesting to see what Apple uses currently.

Any thoughts? It would be scary if they upgrade all of their in-house systems to the latest OS X each year and risk all of the issues, especially with our data, apps purchases, iCloud etc.

What do you think (or some may know) what OS X Apple uses in-house and considers a "reliable" OS X to safeguard their own productivity.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

Interesting question. I have always wondered this too.

Like most corporate environments, they likely keep the majority of teams on the same OS version for ease of maintenance. I'm sure some teams, given the nature of their work, use the latest and greatest, or future releases for testing.

I would think most of our Apple ID related data is on a server running the latest, most secure versions of OS X Server, or some modified back of the house system.

 

[MacDawg]

Like most corporate environments, they likely keep the majority of teams on the same OS version for ease of maintenance.

Most corporate environments I have been associated with and am familiar with do NOT have their teams on the same OS version. Company **** I worked with last year had many in the field still on XP with their leaders on Win7 with a very few office tech types who upgraded to Win8.1 on their own. Company **** where someone I know works (very large recognizable business you would know), has many on Win7 in the field, office types and execs on Win8.1 and about half their IT group on Win10. Anecdotal at best, but I would say most businesses, especially large ones are a hodgepodge with critical systems on older proven OS versions with offices mixed with newer and IT groups with newer still.

That said, I would think Apple updates their systems rather quickly due to the nature of their business.

 

[loby]

I remember seeing one of Apple's vendors in a picture with Tim Cook using an XP computer in the background right next to Tim...

I would think that Apple does not update their in-house business systems as quickly as we might think. If there are unknown issues with the newest OS X and with the Sever version, I would think, like most large business, will not upgrade as quickly due to uncertainly and the needed stability as most businesses need to function on daily activities.

Since Apple does not make what goes on in-house public and there is little information as to what actually occurs behind close doors, they would not have to update to the latest to promote their newest OS X to public in order to sacrifice possible stability and risk issues with administration and daily business needs. They might use old servers that are reliable, or....use Windows or Linux servers. We never know.

We have to remember that Apple is a business and the business side functions differently then the design side. The public ONLY sees the trendy design side and not their business side. They too also have number-crunchers who need stability and not the latest fade or features to compromise possible bugs etc. and cannot wait for the next updated version or patch if something goes wrong...

Since Apple has lessen the Server versions over the last five years and seems to not be interested in web servers or in-house servers as much now days, chances are that they might use a non-Apple servers...like Microsoft...

Again...you never know...

 

[AFEPPL]

They are running 10.10, the key functions of the business will be asked to wait until the first patch is released before upgrading.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

Most corporate environments I have been associated with and am familiar with do NOT have their teams on the same OS version. Company **** I worked with last year had many in the field still on XP with their leaders on Win7 with a very few office tech types who upgraded to Win8.1 on their own. Company **** where someone I know works (very large recognizable business you would know), has many on Win7 in the field, office types and execs on Win8.1 and about half their IT group on Win10. Anecdotal at best, but I would say most businesses, especially large ones are a hodgepodge with critical systems on older proven OS versions with offices mixed with newer and IT groups with newer still.

That said, I would think Apple updates their systems rather quickly due to the nature of their business.

I'm used to environments like architecture and engineering firms, or government agencies. Pretty much everyone in my agency is on Windows 7. Most A&E firms also keep everyone consistent because of issues with CAD and Revit and file sharing software versions...

I also know and am familiar with various higher edu institutions - I know it's usually a goal to have MOST systems running the same OS, regardless if this happens in reality or not. If people have admin rights and upgrade on their own, I've known a system admin to revert them back down. Conversely, with no more XP support, any "rouge" machine running that system is, if found, taken out of commission.

The exception would be, in some labs perhaps, they are required to support legacy software due to old, expensive equipment not being comparable with the latest and greatest.

 

[MacDawg]

I'm used to environments like architecture and engineering firms, or government agencies. Pretty much everyone in my agency is on Windows 7. Most A&E firms also keep everyone consistent because of issues with CAD and Revit and file sharing software versions...

I also know and am familiar with various higher edu institutions - I know it's usually a goal to have MOST systems running the same OS, regardless if this happens in reality or not. If people have admin rights and upgrade on their own, I've known a system admin to revert them back down. Conversely, with no more XP support, any "rouge" machine running that system is, if found, taken out of commission.

The exception would be, in some labs perhaps, they are required to support legacy software due to old, expensive equipment not being comparable with the latest and greatest.

Yes, I'm sure it depends on the business and what the tech is being used for... and I would agree, the goal would be consistency in the OS, but implementation is rarely that simple, especially the more complex the business environment is. Not every business has a strong IT department to oversee and manage these aspects and leave it to an overworked IT staff to just clean up as they go