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diglloydTools™
OS X Sierra
Coming this fall: macOS Sierra. That’s right “macOS Sierra”. I wish I could get paid the big bucks to rebrand this brilliantly, or to design that web page that is 90% blank space (scroll down) and thus difficult to read comprehend. Maybe it is a preview of the poor quality of the release to come? That is, in keeping with the past 5 years of Apple tradition.
From what I can tell, macOS Sierra is almost entirely flashy features that I would never use. So in essence it will just destabilize my work environment while adding no value. And maybe worse.
Front and center is Siri, which has a nearly 100% failure rate for anything I’ve tried with it. I long ago abandoned it as a science fair project. It cannot even be fully turned off on the iPhone (even if the setting says it is off), popping up at odd times from some something done inadvertantly.
Setting aside Siri and other fluff that is sure to destabilize the usability experience for non-casual users, the main thing of interest to nerds is the new file system, the low level OS code that stores and organizes files. [No, not the “offload to iCloud” feature, which if it has the robustness of current iCloud feature set may be data suicide].
The new APFS file system brings with it all sorts of new features, some very modern such as being optimized for SSDs. And it may well bring compatibility problems. As yet, MPG doesn’t know how diglloydTools might or might not work, or whether key APIs for the current HFS+ files system might vaporize.
Jim G writes:
Based on the way that Apple has been doing things recently I am seriously thinking of going to Windows. Thought I would never say it but between hardware issues with the MacPro when it went to the tube, the lack of consistent support for the duel graphics cards, the buggy OS versions (I'm still on 10.9 even though some software requires 10.10+), their insistence on adding more bling over stability in the OS (can we just have a pro OS with no bling) and their obsession with iDevices, maybe it's time to look elsewhere. I have used Macs since the original 128k right up to the 2009 MacPro so this is both saddening and a bit intimidating. They have gone from Apple Computer to Apple iConsumer. I find no fault in them expanding their business but it shouldn't be at the cost of what got them here.
On MacRumors forum there was a poll (granted a small one) and 48% said they'd stay with Mac, 24% will go PC on their next computer and the rest are either transitioning or transitioned to PC. From what I have read, Apple is losing the video industry.
I have to wonder if the new AFS is more to promote file sharing between Mac and iDevices than it is about a better file system for their computers.
Jobs cared about the creatives and Apple thrived. I have to wonder if Adobe saw something in the 90's when they added Windows support.
Have you ever thought about leaving Mac?
MPG: Apple no longer values once-loyal pro users, or even semi-serious users and is a full-on consumer products company. MPG agrees that the new file system is almost certainly driven by “progress” in unifying iPhone/iCloud to desktops and future products. That is a good thing in concept, but could prove to have ugly side effects in execution—it shall be seen.
I’ll be sticking with Mac. I have way too much invested in it (workflow, software, web site, knowledge).
