Is Catalina as bad as it looks on this board?

[StellarVixen]

It might be buggiest release in a while, but it is also the most beautiful release in a while, in my humble opinion.

FINALLY some nature again!!!

 

[jgbr]

It might be buggiest release in a while, but it is also the most beautiful release in a while, in my humble opinion.

View attachment 870967

FINALLY some nature again!!!

You know you can change your wallpaper to anything you want in any Mac OS... LOL

 

[sugargliderdude]

It might be buggiest release in a while, but it is also the most beautiful release in a while, in my humble opinion.

View attachment 870967

FINALLY some nature again!!!

wallpaper don't make an OS better lol

 

[StellarVixen]

wallpaper don't make an OS better lol

You didn't even read what I wrote, lol

 

[Ael_MR]

I reinstalled Mojave yesterday. In 8 years, it's the first time I've ever downgraded an Apple OS. Yet this feels like a major upgrade after a very frustrating week of issues and absolutely hopeless Apple Support as always. I just wish I could downgrade tvOS next... At least I feel like I have a MacBook Pro I can trust again.

Please share these system breaking bugs that would make you downgrade. What is your workflow that was disrupted by these bugs?
I'm totally interested in reading how some people have such major issues while others seemingly have minor to none.

 

[fisherking]

Please share these system breaking bugs that would make you downgrade. What is your workflow that was disrupted by these bugs?
I'm totally interested in reading how some people have such major issues while others seemingly have minor to none.

to be fair, it's like this with each new mac OS; some are fine, some are miserable. so many variables: the hardware, other apps, what we use, and need.

i hate the whiners. and the 'don't upgrade, the sky is falling!' posts. just seems... if you have issues, ask for help. and if all is well, nice to share that too.

and so on.

 

[Fiachers]

Boot Camp Assistant crashes every time I click the first "Continue". I guess I'll have to wait for this to be patched.

 

[jgbr]

to be fair, it's like this with each new mac OS; some are fine, some are miserable. so many variables: the hardware, other apps, what we use, and need.

i hate the whiners. and the 'don't upgrade, the sky is falling!' posts. just seems... if you have issues, ask for help. and if all is well, nice to share that too.

and so on.

I don’t think people expecting a reliable OS even if they accepted the odd software bugs, as too much to ask as a paying customers. It is the OS after all! Maybe some people actually use it for more than iMessage and safari so expect a reliable OS.

 

[Richard8655]

I don’t think people expecting a reliable OS even if they accepted the odd software bugs, as too much to ask as a paying customers. It is the OS after all! Maybe some people actually use it for more than iMessage and safari so expect a reliable OS.

But you have to keep in mind that perfection especially these days is elusive, if not impossible. The OS and supporting software has gotten extremely complex, along with the hardware variations that it must support. It's actually amazing to me that the technology can do so much based on our increasingly high demands and expectations.

 

[jgbr]

But you have to keep in mind that perfection especially these days is elusive, if not impossible. The OS and supporting software has gotten extremely complex, along with the hardware variations that it must support. It's actually amazing to me that the technology can do so much based on our increasingly high demands and expectations.

but I don’t think the basics f reliability and stability are a big ask. It should be the first and most important thing for an OS. The ‘bells and whistles’ come later. As ever with recent times with Apple, it appears the ‘shiny stuff’ gets more attention that sorting and solving the core rot.

 

[fisherking]

I don’t think people expecting a reliable OS even if they accepted the odd software bugs, as too much to ask as a paying customers. It is the OS after all! Maybe some people actually use it for more than iMessage and safari so expect a reliable OS.

i dunno, i use my macs for: final cut, logic x. final draft. affinity photo. and a half-dozen other things... along with safari and messages. and all my apps are working. so, again, not everyone is unhappy, or having serious issues. and for those that are... this is an excellent forum to get help.

 

[Vlad Soare]

I installed Catalina on the day it was released to the public, and I've yet to encounter any problem with it. It works perfectly normally for me.
The only bug I noticed was that after the installation many of the existing files were detected by Time Machine as changed. It backed up about 100 GB despite having already made a backup right before the installation. I saw this on two different Macs. Catalina itself isn't that big, so it doesn't explain the enormous size of the backup.

 

[StellarVixen]

Everyone forgets to mention the fonts on external monitors, they look hideous, and workaround that we used in Mojave to turn on subpixel antialiasing barely does anything in Catalina.

 

[unfunfionn]

Please share these system breaking bugs that would make you downgrade. What is your workflow that was disrupted by these bugs?
I'm totally interested in reading how some people have such major issues while others seemingly have minor to none.

Fair enough, I usually hate the whining too. I’m also used to beta software and don’t mind a few bugs here and there.

For me the blocker was how many iCloud syncing issues I experienced. I rely heavily on iCloud and it’s been fantastic until now. But on Catalina, I had files and Notes that wouldn’t sync for nearly 4 days. I only noticed this after a day and it took quite some time to collect all of the most recent versions of Drive files and Notes. I disabled and re-enabled iCloud, I restarted countless times, I ran some Terminal commands... Nothing helped. I was at the point when it was either switch to Dropbox or try Mojave. I did the latter and guess what, it’s running flawlessly again. I initially did a clean install of Catalina and obviously then a clean reinstall of Mojave. And I still lost files I’d edited/created in Catalina and hadn’t remembered to backup. But yes I should have just backed up the whole folder.

On a less serious note, the Music app made me miss iTunes, which is strange to say. Too many bugs and poor usability, and in good modern Apple tradition, too few error messages when things go wrong.

I tried to resolve the sync issue with Apple Support but that was arguably the most frustrating part. I wasted days without getting any useful feedback, just something like a bot that's reading through a quick-start guide.

I’m so glad to be back on Mojave, and Bear instead of Notes.

 

[canering]

I like to do a clean install on my Apple devices every year when there’s a new major release. This is the first time that I have regretted upgrading so quickly for both iOS and macOS. For mac, the issue is mostly third party incompatibilities and unpreparedness, which I expect will be resolved in the coming months. But I’ve also been experiencing some kernel overheating, freezing during restarts, nothing serious yet but I never had this with 10.14

 

[sugargliderdude]

I like to do a clean install on my Apple devices every year when there’s a new major release. This is the first time that I have regretted upgrading so quickly for both iOS and macOS. For mac, the issue is mostly third party incompatibilities and unpreparedness, which I expect will be resolved in the coming months. But I’ve also been experiencing some kernel overheating, freezing during restarts, nothing serious yet but I never had this with 10.14

Mojave has been a good OS for me, no complaints, High Sierra was good also.

 

[frou]

Everyone forgets to mention the fonts on external monitors, they look hideous, and workaround that we used in Mojave to turn on subpixel antialiasing barely does anything in Catalina.

As part of Apple's environmental commitment, they are nudging us to throw non-Retina monitors into a lake and go and buy LG 5Ks from the Apple Store! #EarthDay

 

[StellarVixen]

So far, no troubles other than installation troubles.

But memory management...god, that memory management. Hovering around 17 percent memory pressure with Safari open with 3 tabs, Microsoft Word, Outlook and Terminal so far. Total amount of RAM I have is 8 GB.


I haven't seen this before. The reason for this might be doing away with 32 bit stuff.

 

[steve62388]

I upgraded my elderly parent’s Mini and Catalina broke the Logitech M510 mouse connection. Weirdly the Logitech keyboard sharing the same usb receiver still works. Even weirder the mouse works at the login screen, but ceases working once logged in. Troubleshot for an hour+ doing all the things Logitech’s support notice said to with no luck, so I ordered them a Macally wired mouse lol. I got them a Mac and Logitech hardware to avoid this kinda crap

In general I have gone off running Logitech products with MacOS. They screwed over their users with Harmony Remotes really really badly. Check out the Logitech forums if you’re interested. https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/c...acOS-to-no-longer-support-32-bit-applications

 

[Martyimac]

In general I have gone off running Logitech products with MacOS. They screwed over their users with Harmony Remotes really really badly. Check out the Logitech forums if you’re interested. https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/c...acOS-to-no-longer-support-32-bit-applications

While I agree that Logitech in general has not treated their Harmony users well, the glimmer of hope is for the new MacOS app coming in Nov. Since Logitech bought Harmony, the best remote for sale at the time, their apps/programs have steadily decreased in usability and features.
I have three Harmony's, 650, 659, and a 665. All three work flawlessly AND, since I don't change my setups frequently, I can wait for the new Catalina app.
And I have one other ace in the hole, the wife uses a Windows PC and I can always use her computer to update/reprogram if needed. I know, if you don't have one of them, does you no good.
The biggest thing to take from all this is if I ever have to replace a remote, Logitech will be the last company I look at when it comes to buying a new universal remote.

 

[steve62388]

While I agree that Logitech in general has not treated their Harmony users well, the glimmer of hope is for the new MacOS app coming in Nov. Since Logitech bought Harmony, the best remote for sale at the time, their apps/programs have steadily decreased in usability and features.
I have three Harmony's, 650, 659, and a 665. All three work flawlessly AND, since I don't change my setups frequently, I can wait for the new Catalina app.
And I have one other ace in the hole, the wife uses a Windows PC and I can always use her computer to update/reprogram if needed. I know, if you don't have one of them, does you no good.
The biggest thing to take from all this is if I ever have to replace a remote, Logitech will be the last company I look at when it comes to buying a new universal remote.

I hope you get the app you want. But knowing Logitech it will be crippled in some way.

It’s such a bizarre decision for them to shaft users of their recent remotes. Normally companies drop support for their older stuff (but in this case it benefits you). Logitech defies logic.

 

[Ethosik]

Please share these system breaking bugs that would make you downgrade. What is your workflow that was disrupted by these bugs?
I'm totally interested in reading how some people have such major issues while others seemingly have minor to none.

Uhh how about kernel panics 4+ times a day? This seems very common with Vega GPUs.

 

[dogslobber]

10.15.1 will have all the stability bugs not deemed stoppers for 10.15 GA. 10.15.2+ is where we have stabilization and security fixes. In other words, 10.15 GA is the marketing release which means we absolutely have to hit that date which is why some fixes get in and others not.

 

[Paco II]

Used Catalina as an excuse to blow out and start fresh with my MBP13 2014 i7. Other than some very minor glitches, my experience so far has been really good. Laptop feels peppy. All of my modern applications have installed and run without issue. I have another Mac running Mojave to deal with remaining 32 bit applications, so that wasn't an issue for me. Makes me wonder if too much testing by Apple was on the happy path (clean install), and not enough testing of upgrades.

 

[Ethosik]

Used Catalina as an excuse to blow out and start fresh with my MBP13 2014 i7. Other than some very minor glitches, my experience so far has been really good. Laptop feels peppy. All of my modern applications have installed and run without issue. I have another Mac running Mojave to deal with remaining 32 bit applications, so that wasn't an issue for me. Makes me wonder if too much testing by Apple was on the happy path (clean install), and not enough testing of upgrades.

See that seems to be the issue. It works fine for older hardware. But if you have a Vega GPU (which I have an iMac so I cannot replace it), it has massive issues. I spent $4,000 for my 2019 iMac and I find it very irritating they chose to ignore the top spec hardware in their QA tests.