New AskWoody support for Apple products

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Nathan Parker has assembled, and PKCano has posted, a new AskWoody Knowledge Base article, AKB 2000014: Ongoing List of Apple Operating System Updates
[See the full post at: New AskWoody support for Apple products]

13 users thanked author for this post.

Joulia.S, Bill C., AlexEiffel, Alex5723, Philomene123, abbodi86, Nathan Parker, DrBonzo, Marty, ScotchJohn, Geo, OscarCP, Myst

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[Marty]

I’m very glad to see this.  Having recently transitioned to Macs after 35 years of using Microsoft’s operating systems, I nevertheless recognize that being an unpaid beta-tester for any company is a bad idea.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Marty.

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Nathan – I think that we are in debt to you and PKCano for providing this service, and also to Woody for providing space on AW for this “different” OS

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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Joulia.S, Nathan Parker, Myst

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Hooray – methodology to madness

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This is a good idea whose time has finally come, from the point of view of those of us, loungers and anonymous visitors, as Windows 7 is just some three and a half months from EOL, from the standpoint of all of us who are planning, starting to, or have made already the move to use, and learn to use, the available alternatives to Windows 10. A move that is finally happening, or has happened already for some of us, and in significant numbers. This creates for all among us who are leaving for the big Apple, a space where we can prolong our stay at Woody’s, even when our operating system is no longer going to be coming from Redmond or, even if it still is, it’s no longer going to be our only system. Many thanks to Nathan for starting this dedicated page and also for helping make the new Apple Knowledge Base page a reality. And for his generous service to all of us who also have Macs, iPhones, iPads, etc. since his first day as our official Apple expert in residence. Well done!

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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As someone who’s been using Macs for 30 years, and who uses a Macbook Pro for work every day, let me assure you that the macOS patching situation is not really any better than on Windows.

On a Mac, you can still expect vastly larger patch downloads than Windows, and they take much, much longer to install.  I have a 2018 Macbook Pro here, loaded to the gills, and the last point update to Mojave took 25 minutes.  Those point updates are released every couple of months, with security updates sprinkled in in-between.

The patch notification bubble window in the top-right corner will stay overlaid on top of all your other windows until you dismiss it.

Oh, and the rate at which required updates comes out for macOS is about the same as Windows.  I did the calculations recently — about 18 updates requiring a reboot over the course of 18 months.  But unlike Windows, it’s not on a predictable schedule… so some months there will be nothing, and some months there will be multiple updates a couple of weeks apart.  (e.g. Mojave 10.14.3 on January 22, Mojave 10.14.3 “Supplemental Update” — a security update — on February 7…… Mojave 10.14.5 on May 14, 10.14.5 “Supplemental Update” on May 22.)

It’s not just OS updates, either.  Safari 13.0 came out a few days ago, and then 13.0.1 came out today with a bunch of bug fixes, including a very embarrassing one where they broke Gmail support in Mail.

Yep, you read that right.  A web browser update broke Mail. On a Mac. In 2019.  Ublock Origin is broken, too. This is exactly the sort of garbage people rightly criticize Microsoft for.

So, enjoy your Mac, I guess.   Just…. don’t expect much.

 

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AlexEiffel, b

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IMHO both Apple and MS leave something to be desired when it comes to patching. But I must say that Win 10 certainly seems very chaotic. And, at least in my experience, not much has gone wrong with MacOS patching.

Interestingly, by far the best patching experience has come with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. As an experiment to see how ‘no-brainer’ patching is, for the last 2+ years I’ve installed every patch they’ve put out the day they’ve put it out (that’s roughly a patch a day), with no research on my part to see what’s fixed (no, not something I would normally do, but it’s an experiment). Not one single problem… none, nada, zilch, etc. Completely smooth, transparent, stress-free process. If they can do it, then MS and Apple should be ashamed.

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Bill C., OscarCP

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Funny you should mention that…. I had a 16.04 system get hosed last year because the system lost power while the update process was running. In my experiments with 18.04 this year, it has the same problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It turns out that, unlike macOS and Windows, Ubuntu does a progressive in-place upgrade of files, and doesn’t offer much in the way of a resilient fallback in case of interruption.  I’m glad for you that you didn’t run into that problem, but it is quite real and there are a number of complaints about it on the Internet.

Other Linux distributions are starting to offer disk-level snapshotting to offer a way to get back to a known good state if an update goes badly.

Ubuntu’s updater also doesn’t clean up old kernels automatically, either, so eventually disk space runs out on that partition.  You have to do a bunch of manual twiddling to get that sorted out.

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There’s a lot of sides to these coins, eh? If you’re happy with Windows, that’s great. Just realize that there are other folks who will be happy with something else. 🙂

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This is great! Ever since I got a Mac a couple years ago, I’ve been searching in vain for the AskWoody equivalent for Mac/Apple. Now I’ve found it!

Many thanks for doing this, particularly to Nathan Parker, PKCano, and Woody.

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Myst

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Yeah, Apple is uncomfortably close to Microsoft in screwups lately, but I won’t believe in Apple-Microsoft equivalence until Apple comes out with a major system release twice a year, forces you to update to it, reboots your machine without your permission (not so much anymore), and comes out with a monthly (or is it twice or thrice monthly?) avalanche of patches. I have automatic updates turned off on my High Sierra iMac, and I update when it’s convenient for me, not for Apple. And I like having Unix on my home machine. I’m a former Windows user who continues to read Woody to keep reminding me of how much I’m missing. Also, having PKCano keeping as much of a lookout on Apple as Windows is reassuring.

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Actually, it’s @Nathan-Parker that has been holding forth on the MacOS for Windows Wonks Forum lately. He is the one responsible for AKB2000014 (I just posted it).

Needless to say, I have had my hands full with the Windows chaos lately! 🙂

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Bluetrix, Nathan Parker, Myst

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I SUGGEST putting ‘askWoody/Apple’ on a separate page separate from Windows. This is nothing to do with Apple, rather (to me) a logical separation. Apples and Oranges?

https://www.askwoody.com/apple

 

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In terms of Windows updates versus Mac updates, overall, I’ve had better experience with macOS updates (I’ve had fewer updates, more spread out, and “generally” fewer things that go wrong with updates). However, I have had issues with some macOS or iOS updates causing issues occasionally. There’s no piece of technology that I’ve had a 100% trouble-free experience, especially when it comes to updates.

In terms of Windows updates, my main issues were updates with Windows 10. I’d occasionally have issues with Windows updates in previous releases, but Windows 10 updates were a mess for me (even using Microsoft’s own Surface hardware). It’s what drove me to join Windows Secrets Lounge so I could better learn how to adjust to using Windows 10.

When I learned I came with a notice that I’m “Not Windows 10 Compatible” and went back to a Mac for my everyday work machine, I remained around Windows Secrets Lounge to give back to the handful of Mac users concerning Apple-related advice, and when WSL merged with AskWoody, I found a new home to fully give back on Apple-related advice.

Since I used Macs since 2006 and iOS devices since 2008 and are back to using them full-time after my brief stunt trying a Windows PC, I’ve been able to bring my years of Apple-centric background knowledge to AskWoody, and I’ve been glad I’ve been able to give back after the loads of help I received from the excellent folks from the Windows Secrets Lounge.

Nathan Parker

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Bill C., AlexEiffel, OscarCP, DrBonzo, Myst

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Release Date ― September 27, 2019
Build Number ― 17A854

iOS 13.1.1 includes bug fixes and improvements for your iPhone.
This update fixes issues that could prevent iPhone restoring from backup
Addresses an issue that could cause battery to drain more quickly
Fixes an issue that could impact recognition of Siri requests on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max
Resolves a problem where Safari search suggestions may re-enable after turning them off
Addresses an issue that could cause Reminders to sync slowly
Fixes a security issue for third-party keyboard apps

also out for iPad

source: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-13-1-1-%E2%80%95-bug-fixes-changes-and-improvements.2202131/

Keeping IT Lean, Clean and Mean!

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DrBonzo

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AKB2000014: Ongoing List of Apple Operating System Updates has been updated Saturday, September 28, 2019 to reflect the recent updates issued by Apple.

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DrBonzo

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