{"id":47228,"date":"2025-03-28T14:54:24","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T18:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=47228"},"modified":"2025-03-28T14:55:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T18:55:25","slug":"apple-needs-a-snow-sequoia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/28\/apple-needs-a-snow-sequoia\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Needs a Snow Sequoia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Timothy R. Butler<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>, Slashdot<\/a>):<\/p>\n

The latest releases — MacOS Sequoia and iOS\/iPadOS 18 — are screaming<\/em> for such a reset. Yes, they work and are still smoother and less glitchy than Windows 11, but they feel like software developed by people who don’t actually use that software. In the 22 years since I became a “switcher”<\/a>, this is the worst state I can remember Apple’s platforms being in.<\/p>

Some bugs are inevitable with major releases, sure. The troubling aspect is that many are easily reproducible across devices and show up in high-traffic areas, not just forgotten nooks. How do Apple’s engineers not notice these problems?<\/em><\/p>

[…]<\/p>

A year focused on cleaning up these and a thousand similar issues big and small is the single step Apple could take that would most enhance its products.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Rui Carmo<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The whole situation shines a… Spotlight (ha!) into frustrations about a platform that seems to become more and more brittle to the point of actively neglecting the basics it rose to prominence on.<\/p>

Yes, there will always be a bit of rose-tinted longing for the methodical, almost surgical improvements of the Jobs era. But I honestly have no idea how Apple can keep pushing AI features without cleaning house<\/a>, and whatever they’re doing in the platform teams just isn’t working.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Nick Heer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

What I desperately miss is that period of stability after a few rounds of bug fixes. As I have previously complained about<\/a>, my iMac cannot run any version of MacOS newer than Ventura, released in 2022. It is still getting bug and security fixes<\/a>. In theory, this should mean I am running a solid operating system despite missing some features.<\/p>\n\n

It is not. Apple’s engineering efforts quickly moved toward shipping MacOS Sonoma in 2023, and then Sequoia last year. It seems as though any bug fixes were folded into these new major versions and, even worse, new<\/em> bugs were introduced late in the Ventura release cycle that have no hope of being fixed. My iMac seizes up<\/a> when I try to view HDR media; because this Extended Dynamic Range is an undocumented enhancement<\/a>, there is no preference to turn it off. Recent Safari releases have contained several bugs related to page rendering and scrolling. Weather sometimes does not display for my current location.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Ventura was by no means bug-free when it shipped, and I am disappointed even its final form remains a mess.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Matt Birchler<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Snow Leopard would receive 8 updates over the next 2 years before its successor (Lion) was released, and I think that Snow Leopard 10.6.8 is what most people have in their minds as what Snow Leopard was from the start. Imagine if Apple released an update and sent 2 years refining it over and over, instead of what feels like getting it out in the fall and then immediately shifting focus to the next year’s update. On the other hand, do you want the Mac to lag behind iOS in terms of features?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

iOS could use a Snow Leopard, too.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n