With the beta program, will Yosemite launch as Apple most stable OS X yet?

[katewes]

I've used Mac OSX since Tiger 10.4, and remember going to the Apple Store on Leopard launch day, buying my upgrade and getting a free T-shirt. Then, the upgrade killed my Mac and I spent 4 hours on the helpline trying to beg for mercy because I stupidly had not backed up years worth of photos. No help. I only discovered the solution by reading MacWorld forums by surfing the net on my Microsoft PC. And I was burned again with Snow Leopard's early releases too. Since then I've sat on the sidelines and watched people fry their nerves and raise their blood pressure doing paid-beta-testing for Apple, while I come in at about iteration .5 and reap the benefits of a stable system after about 10 months of being in use.

So, with Apple's new beta program for Yosemite, will this be the best, most stable release of an OSX, ever?

What makes me think otherwise is that the features being introduced are so complex that even a short beta program might not iron out even the most obvious bugs. It's just about Fall, when Yosemite has been promised for launch, and these forums attest to major bugs still running rampant.

I really can't care less about all these fancy hand-off features. I mean, seriously, in the past years, how many times have you started typing on your iPhone, and then felt, oh, I need to pause and continue on my Mac. No. It's a solution to a non-existent problem. It is innovation for the sake of change. Being clever for the sake of being clever.

Am I asking too much for plain old Mail, in Yosemite, to be rock solid at the time of launch?

If there are no useful features, then Apple should either work on standalone software, and not mess with the OSX so we can get along and do useful work without this annual cycle of progressing from buggy to stable, only for it to repeat every year.

Apple Mail can be made a standalone software -- all other mail clients seem to be fine.

iCloud Drive can be a standalone software -- Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive all did it.

Are any of you old enough to remember Bill Gates being charged with abusive practices by integrating the browser into the OS?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.

Apple are doing the same dirty tricks, except for feature software, when they could be creating standalone software that works just as well.

A major reason for the OSX being upset with each new OS is because Apple embeds these features into the OS, when in fact they could leave the OS alone, and just create standalone apps.

 

[bmac89]

I agree with you. I don't like the way users are forced into an upgrade when all they need is an updated browser, mail app etc... I realise exactly why they do it. The fact that the OSX is free is good from the users perspective (in one way) but it also is very good for Apple to get user to upgrade hardware.

I have a 2009 Imac which came with Leopard and I only recently upgraded to Snow Leopard. I have been beta testing Yosemite on external drive and also have Mavericks installed on External drive. Whilst some features on the new OS are nice - they are certainly not necessary for my needs. Snow Leopard still remains rock solid and fast on my system. I do not wish to slow down my system and have the need to upgrade all my software.

I fear that Apples main focus is the Iphone & Ipad and that they will turn the mac into a big igadget and forget the userbase which rely on a solid computer for creative work/hobby - photography, film etc and also simply everyday use without the need for Facebook integration or the latest fancy features.

 

[BuleepMan]

Wow! And I thought I was a cynic

I have a tendency of being a bit negative and cynical but I am not regarding Yosemite. I am actually eagerly anticipating the final release. I like trying out new features and being a new iPad Air owner, I am interested in Continuity and Handoff. That being said, I really don't know how stable or bug free the release will be. Since beta 3 hit the update page, I have submitted 14 feedbacks about problems and bugs. Beta 3 actually introduced many new bugs especially in the Finder. How will they get things ironed our fast enough for developers to program their releases? How can this all be done by late October? We'll see I guess.

 

[Crosscreek]

From my perspective I think the public Beta is a good thing to iron out bugs.
The first release was totally unusable for me with finder freezes and hard resets. The second beta was better but still lockups and freezes and more hard resets. The third beta for me has run trouble free on everything including mail. I use Air Mail in Maverick because the mail app totally sucked but it is a definite improvement in Yosemite.
I do agree that all the apps such as mail and ICloud Drive should be stand alone apps for the purpose of refinements without having to update the complete OS but that's the way Apple does it. It would seem much simpler the other way but I'm no software engineer.
From what I see now I think it has a good chance of being a stable release. I would never had said that a month ago.
I am of the opinion that Apple will try to turn the Mac into a IDevice and I dread the day.

 

[deviant]

Been a user since Tiger and never, ever, ever had any problem with updates. am i lucky or something? never lost anything either. In fact, on my mac mini i've gone thru snow leo, lion, ML and mavericks just updating, never formatting and installing as new. i mean... i'll be installing yosemite the minute it comes out.