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Comment by spacehome | Hacker News Reader

I don't know how anybody can look at the bugs and fixes that continually plague .0 versions of Apple's OS software across their devices and jump at the chance to try it out. It now feels like you need to wait a minimum of 3 months before even considering installing a .0 (or .1 or .2) version of their software. It's a shame, too. I'm old enough to remember when Apple's OS was mostly rock-solid.

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>I don't know how anybody can look at the bugs and fixes that continually plague .0 versions of Apple's OS software across their devices and jump at the chance to try it out.

Quite simply because I've never once been bitten by them -- with the exception of some haxies not working.

>I'm old enough to remember when Apple's OS was mostly rock-solid.

When was that? Because I remember Mac OS (pre X) beeing anything but rock-solid. I also remember the first X release being a disaster, and people moaning about issues I've never encountered in my (heavy) Mac use for every new release.

(I also remember the hardware problems, from the overheating cube and the G3 logic boards that died by the ton to the G5 tower leaking cooling goo).

Then lets steelman this point of critique: Why doesn't Apple keep their OSes in beta for a couple of months more to release something that is really stable? Is the sample size of beta testers really too small? I doubt 6 months or so later would be a big disadvantage to the competition, quite the contrary, I think releasing more stable 1.0s could be a considerable advantage.

>Why doesn't Apple keep their OSes in beta for a couple of months more to release something that is really stable?

First, because a lot of those bugs you only find in real-life bizarro setups, and beta testers are not enough. Besides not all beta testers actually help with bug reports -- some programmers just test their own software, others just want to play with the latest OS, etc.

Second, because not all of those bugs will be fixed even if a beta tester finds them. There will be a cost-benefit (opportunity cost) analysis, and some might need extensive changes to some subsystems, and only get fixed with the X.2 or even X.4 or X.5 release, half a year or more later.

Third, because there will always be bugs, and at some point you need to release.

Fourth, because OS releases usually also enable or leverage several new hardware features in Macs and iOS devices. Delaying the OS would mean delaying those hardware units, or putting them out with the old OS and no way to use some new advanced hardware stuff they are advertised with (stuff like Bluetooth 4 back in the day, Retina support, or something similar).

> I'm old enough to remember when Apple's OS was mostly rock-solid.

What OS are you talking about? OS X has always had buggy .0 releases. If anything it's gotten better over time, though I still agree with waiting for a .1 or .2.

If you mean Mac OS or earlier, then I wouldn't know. I was young and we always just kept whatever came on the computer.

10.4 was pretty good.

My point about the .1 and .2 releases were that they're buggy, too. I look into my crystal ball and predict that 10.11.1 and 10.11.2 will both have serious issues (though not as much as 10.11.0. You really have to wait for the waves of bugfix releases after a point release to end before it's safe for human consumption.

7.6.1 was pretty good. And get off my lawn!

Here is a list of bugs and workarounds for 10.4 (Tiger) from Cnet:

Spotlight: Invisible files limitation; Processor usage and performance problems

DHCP Problems: AirPort networking dropouts, D-Link router problems, more

AirPort: No auto-reconnect after sleep; Connections dropping when switching from one base station to another Freezes during shutdown or startup, fixes

Widgets: Possible security exploit; Excessive memory usage; more

Check for bad login/startup items

CD/DVD burning problems: Errors, blank discs not recognized, more

Classic: Problems starting, more

Printer problems: Deleting, then re-adding

Font issues: "Fuzzy" type, more

SCSI Issues: Fix for Adaptec cards; Drives causing startup/shut down problems, more

Problems caused by QuickTime codecs

"Beeping" or "Chirping" noise back for some G5s

Bonjour issue and fix

Removable media devices not mounting, fixes

SMB connection problems, solutions

Wake-from-sleep issues

Speakable Items fails; workaround

Keychain import issue and fix

Safari 2.0: Problematic plug-ins, more

iPhoto 5.0.x: Unwanted image changes; Freezes on launch, fix

iSync 2.0: Deleted data; Problems synchronizing phones, iPods

Mail.app 2.0: Plug-in problems, removing bad bundles; Import problems; more

iChat AV 3.0: Performance issues

iTunes: Play does not continue during fast user switching, more

(...)

http://www.cnet.com/news/special-report-troubleshooting-mac-...

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