Will you really need Yosemite?

[grahamperrin]

I need things that Apple has removed from Yosemite

Will you really need Yosemite?

No.

… Will 10.10.5 be better than 10.9.5? If not, I'll be sticking with 10.9.5!

Whilst I can't predict what will be in 10.10.5, I assume that it will not have the things that I need.

Theoretically: if I focused solely on needed features that are integral to a released version of the OS, I would probably aim for OS X 10.9.4.

Realistically: I want more than is integral to any release of the OS – and these wants include ZFS with support for Spotlight – so I'm aiming for OS X 10.8.5 and tuned use of ZEVO.

 

[imasterus]

The only reason that stops me to upgrade to Yosemite is that I have iPhone 4 without iOS 8 and as far as I know I won't have a "seamless experience" between my devices

 

[entropi]

What does it hurt to upgrade to a free software?

Well, it's free because it costs to use all it's full functionality - a lot of the new features require an update to your iOS unit too, that will come with new sluggishness and additional bugs to your iOS units (and no way to get back!).

For full functionality everything - both software AND hardware needs to be quite up to date. Many features are gimmicks to make buying new hardware seem necessary and important. Some software you run on your 10.9 mac may require paid updates to be up to date. For me it's mostly maintenance apps that require paid updates, haven't still jumped on the 1Password-subscription-train and are currently evaluating my OmniFocus use and all those related current updates.

OS updates are never REALLY free, the costs may just come in other ways than in an actual price on the OS-update itself. Costs often come in less monetary ways - more in form of bugs and various compability problems. Does all your accessories work with the new OS? Printers, scanners...etc.

I prefer a well maintained OS with low running costs, minimal of technical problems and no forced subscriptions. I find quite a lot of inspiration in professionals who often use quite antique OS (10.6!!!) and apps cause it is well adjusted, learned and gets the job done. I like that kind of approach.

 

[fisherking]

yosemite by itself is, imho, apple's best os x since snow leopard. it's fast, light. stable (beta bugs notwithstanding).

looks great, works great. seriously...it's the under-the-hood stuff that matters most...the OS should support the work (web, email, apps, etc) we use.
and (for me) this is happening...

AND it looks great.

the IOS options are great, but the OS stands up on it's own.

still...whatever works. the OS should never be more important that the work we do.

 

[WilliamDu]

Correct, the new features that Yosemite brings to the table have no impact on me since I currently do no not own an iPhone. I'm not totally enmeshed in the iOS ecosystem.

I'll need to upgrade when the apps I use or need require it, but until then I don't see the need.

Amen to that and iTunes 12 tied to Yosemite is DREADFUL ! Messing up the Sidebar is just DUMB!

Also you have to revert to an old Dymo driver to use your Labelwriter.

Most of the changes I see so far are just changes for changes sake, not personally needing a smartphone or continuity. Lots of stuff like that is admittedly great for users that need it.

I regret not waiting for at least the .1 update. Cosmetically pretty OS but not necessary for all users.

Safari changes may be neat for some, but I see no advantages as yet. Ives apparently never heard the one about "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!".

I wonder how many man years the new Dock icons took to make pretty that could have been used for QC so we didn't have to do stuff like reverting to an old Dymo driver..

I will read lots on the forums before jumping on IOS 8.1 for the iPad Air 2 I'm buying in a couple of months after the bugs reported on the Forum settle down. Not yet impressed with 8.0. and its warts.

Owned over a dozen Macs starting with Little Mac in '84, and not impressed with the new management crew.

The Beats semi integration nonsense and youth orientation a disturbing trend for the creators of the now deserted click wheel, the iMac, and the original iTunes, iPhone and iMac. Apple Watch a big "Maybe".

Concentration on iPhone/Yosemite/etc. while burying Apple TV update disappointing with the main line TV hardware companies rapidly providing built in equivalents.

 

[S.B.G]

Amen to that and iTunes 12 tied to Yosemite is DREADFUL ! Messing up the Sidebar is just DUMB!

Agreed. I'm quite unhappy about the new iTunes as well. I want my sidebar back. Its also buggy. I plugged my 30GB iPod Classic in yesterday and trying to browse the music tab wasn't working well. It wouldn't scroll down to the albums part of the page or would only half-display it. Other times it would only show blank lists with one or two albums, or song in it. I kept having to switch away to another area of iTunes and go back in order for it to work properly.

 

[sbmeyer001]

When you have to upgrade

I agree, it seems obvious that if you do not like the upgrade, do not upgrade. If you are patient enough to read what others have written about the latest version, you might get enough information to make a decision.

But, what happens when your favorite apps get new features, or fix bugs, and the update only works on Yosemite, or some newer version of OSX? Then, you are sort of forced to upgrade the OS, despite its failings, and you chose between the lesser of two evils.

For now, Yosemite does NOT have much to offer me, so I will stick with Mavericks as long as I can. When I watched the Apple Event, I saw the latest updates to OSX favoring business use, so I can see where some of those users might find the new features useful. I do not need handoff if my document is in the cloud, not really. I do not need the Mac to be a phone.

But, what really bothers me is that Apple is ruining iCloud, not making it better. I really looked forward to iCloud when it was released and it has done exactly what is useful for me. iCloud Drive is a step backwards and we are losing control of our photos, documents, and other content. Apps that used iCloud are now breaking.

 

[DoNoHarm]

I agree, it seems obvious that if you do not like the upgrade, do not upgrade. If you are patient enough to read what others have written about the latest version, you might get enough information to make a decision.

But, what happens when your favorite apps get new features, or fix bugs, and the update only works on Yosemite, or some newer version of OSX? Then, you are sort of forced to upgrade the OS, despite its failings, and you chose between the lesser of two evils.

For now, Yosemite does NOT have much to offer me, so I will stick with Mavericks as long as I can. When I watched the Apple Event, I saw the latest updates to OSX favoring business use, so I can see where some of those users might find the new features useful. I do not need handoff if my document is in the cloud, not really. I do not need the Mac to be a phone.

But, what really bothers me is that Apple is ruining iCloud, not making it better. I really looked forward to iCloud when it was released and it has done exactly what is useful for me. iCloud Drive is a step backwards and we are losing control of our photos, documents, and other content. Apps that used iCloud are now breaking.

I agree completely. I'm using a Macbook Pro from 2009, which is an awesome machine that is still as powerful as the day I bought it. I did notice, however that Mavericks slowed down the machine a little, and even in Mavericks, all this icloud integration was really annoying me. So I actually just busted out my time machine and went back to OSX Lion. No icloud stuff, the machine runs like a top, and I'm happy. I feel like an old man, but then again, maybe I'm normal and it's this insane cycle of constantly upgrading to the latest and greatest electronic device that is crazy...

 

[la4est]

Aeeeeeeee!!!!

I "updated" to Yosemite. After a chat with Apple Care, I found out that I'm stuck with it. It's juvenile and minimalistic. It slowed my macbook pro down and has a lot of glitches. I have a Windows 7 disc. I'm thinking about using it.

 

[grahamperrin]

If ever you had something less than Yosemite on a Mac, you're not stuck with Yosemite

I "updated" to Yosemite. After a chat with Apple Care, I found out that I'm stuck with it. …

If you're asked to rate that care, please consider a poor rating.

If you have a Time Machine backup of Mavericks, you should be able to perform a clean installation, which involves erasing the volume where Yosemite was installed; then restore Mavericks.

And so on; if ever you had anything less than Yosemite on the Mac, you're not stuck with Yosemite.

 

[nope7308]

We should upgrade to new systems if they provide new functionalities that we will need. So I'm always interested in new stuff from apple (and their competitors).

But if we don't really need the new functionalities, then we needn't bother upgrading.

In the past I was very interested in mountain lion and mavericks because of airplay mirroring and both had a lot to offer with that.

But I'm not so sure with yosemite though.

It seems the main new thing is just turning your mac into a phone.

Do you really need that though? I don't.

The rest - changing fonts, the general look of things, etc, just seems to be about tinkering at the edges.

And I criticise their youtube video. They say that "We reconsidered every element of the Mac interface, large and small. The result is something that feels fresh, but still inherently familiar. Completely new, yet completely Mac."

Did they reconsider something central to my interest to mac os in recent years, namely airplay mirroring? Anything new there? Nope.

Fast forward several months. Will 10.10.5 be better than 10.9.5? If not, I'll be sticking with 10.9.5!

Yosemite is more than just eye candy. To cite just 3 examples: Spotlight, Safari, and SMB File Sharing.

But I don't understand your complaint. You are criticizing a free OS upgrade on the grounds that it doesn't introduce any new features or functionality that you personally would find useful.

That's like complaining about complementary mints at a restaurants because you don't like the flavour.

 

[Asclepio]

hey it's garbage but it's free! free!

 

[grahamperrin]

Yosemite, Spotlight, Safari 8, AirPlay Mirroring

Yosemite is more than just eye candy. To cite just 3 examples: Spotlight, Safari, and SMB File Sharing. …

The incompleteness of changes to Spotlight are, to me, symbolic of Apple's lack of vision for OS X. Neither 'completely new' nor 'completely Mac'.

Safari exemplifies a truly ridiculous approach to development.

SMB, I did not test.

… criticizing a free OS upgrade on the grounds that it doesn't introduce any new features or functionality that you personally would find useful.

That's like complaining about complementary mints at a restaurants because you don't like the flavour.

The mint metaphor could be a good choice of word for the many people who view Yosemite as candy-like, childish by design.

I suspect that thoughts about Yosemite and AirPlay Mirroring in OS X are shared by more than a few customers; they're not merely personal. In that context, I can't accept the mint candy metaphor.

 

[ScottishCaptain]

Yes.

I don't personally need it, but it's only a matter of time until Apple starts tightening down the Xcode screws and developers are forced to target 10.10. At that point, if you want to continue receiving updates to your applications, you'll have no choice.

The popular belief that "you don't have to upgrade if you don't want to" is absurd. Apple holds the keys to the kingdom. If they want you to upgrade (which they do), then you will upgrade.

-SC

 

[Partron22]

I think I'll stick w Yosemite for a while, despite neither having an iPhone nor neeeding my Mac to be a phone, and despite Time Machine being unusable. Once I got rid of a few ugly folder icons, ironed out a few wrinkles, and seemingly got security/cloud under control , Yosemite seems to be not a bad OS. A few more iterations, and it might be pretty good. I could be wrong on that, but I haven't had much trouble with old 3rd party software, and would like to avoid problems with New AppleStore stuff which henceforth will all have to be Yosemite compliant.
OTOH, I did just downgrade my nexus 7 from Lollipop to Kit Kat. That update broke a lot of software.

 

[Sgtarky]

I dont like it. its sluggish, wifi drops when connecting to airplay, notes dont show up in icloud, video skips when playing, video drops frames when importing yahoo mail works when you first set up then it quits downloading. I left it for 3 days never got an email, so I have to delete the account and add it again. at least with 10.10.1 fixed the boot up, prior to that update it would boot normal, it would just hang, I would have to restart in safemode and reboot from there.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Lots of performance improvements. The system feels leaner and meaner. I disagree that it's "turning into an iPhone". It has a unified design language, but that doesn't mean it's an iPhone. Lots of features relating to Continuity/Handoff that are genuinely useful. I found myself using Handoff all the time.

 

[tywebb13]

But I don't understand your complaint.

It is not a complaint. It is a question.

A question that some people don't ask before they install. They just blindly install upgrades without considering do they even need it. Many people could still keep using older systems if they don't actually need the new functionalities of yosemite. In some cases installing yosemite could even make their system worse, not better.

So I would just implore that these people start asking do they really need a new system before they install it.

 

[leman]

It is not a complaint. It is a question.

A question that some people don't ask before they install. They just blindly install upgrades without considering do they even need it. Many people could still keep using older systems if they don't actually need the new functionalities of yosemite. In some cases installing yosemite could even make their system worse, not better.

So I would just implore that these people start asking do they really need a new system before they install it.

By your logic and the way you ask the question, most people should still be running Panther. It strikes me as empty polemics. Your approach is extremely conservative.

A good reason to install an update is simply that it gives you access to the newest features, which in turn means that the developers can rely on a certain minimal feature set. One reason why Windows software ecosystem is a disaster is that so many users are still sitting on the awful, outdated XP.

Of course, it is important to consider whether the update will break some important software of yours or maybe if you are simply opposed to the update (as with folks who dislike the new UI design). Here, I am definitively on your side — the customer should inform themselves before making decisions. But this is more 'will updating break something for me?' and not your original question.

 

[Omega Mac]

No.



Whilst I can't predict what will be in 10.10.5, I assume that it will not have the things that I need.

Theoretically: if I focused solely on needed features that are integral to a released version of the OS, I would probably aim for OS X 10.9.4.

Realistically: I want more than is integral to any release of the OS – and these wants include ZFS with support for Spotlight – so I'm aiming for OS X 10.8.5 and tuned use of ZEVO.

I never upgraded to Maverick on any of my SL machines but I need to now to future proof. However I have two machines with Mavericks.

Using this guide you can unhide the OS X install drive

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20110831105634716

Also diskmakerx is a handy app along the way.

http://diskmakerx.com/faq/

This might help those who need to roll back and don't have an app store version.

 

[la4est]

Back to Mavericks

I successfully returned to Mavericks without a Time Machine backup. I went to app store/purchases and downloaded it. I put it on a usb drive and was able to do a restore on my macbook pro.