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0 pointswlesieutre10y ago0 comments

One wonders if the yearly release schedule has something to do with this. It's got to be a constant rush to tick off the new feature boxes, and then we don't get the period of bug fixing and stability before the engineers all rush off to start implementing next year's new additions.

For a long time it was effectively on a two year clock; they had releases in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011. Now it's half that.

0 comments

timdeneau10y ago

I also think this is the root problem.

The thing is, we don't need a new OS every year, and most people I know don't want to update their devices either.

Where is the demand coming from?

tajen10y ago

Accelerated growth and capex.

I once saw a very nice chart about the number of users for a great, cool start-up everyone knows about. The CEO illustrated: "You see that inflexion point on the release day? That's what happens for every release. If we postpone it by 3 months, we not only lose 3 months of new customers (painting the 3-months area between lower and higher sales). We also miss on the offset." and he painted the unlimited area between the lower sales and higher sales. And he talked about the recurrence of the inflexion for each release, and he talked about the immobilized capital inventory.

timdeneau10y ago

But their growth primarily comes from hardware, how much would OS X updates influence that growth?

Their hardware from 2008 is running El Capitan, so there isn’t much persuasion for existing customers to upgrade. It seems like if someone is going to switch to Mac, they would do it regardless of any features introduced in the last 3-4 OS X releases.

I don’t know, I’m not a sales guy. But it seems like the tradeoff of losing your customer base due to unreliable software isn’t worth it.

2 more replies

sharkjacobs10y ago

It comes from matching iOS releases.

Can't release new iOS features which involve the Mac without a corresponding OSX release.

nowey10y ago

Hardware releases

wlesieutreOP10y ago

Mac Mini is 1.5 years old, Mac Pro is >2 years old, 13" Macbook Pro is 1 year next month (and conspicuously absent from rumors of Apple's upcoming announcement event, gotta release those watch bands though).

The iPhone is definitely on a 1-year cycle, but it's not really something they put effort into maintaining on their computers. MacBook Air and iMac are probably the closest.

I blame iOS/Mac features tie-in like Continuity. OS X definitely gets the short end of the stick from that.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

timdeneau10y ago

I also think this is the root problem.

The thing is, we don't need a new OS every year, and most people I know don't want to update their devices either.

Where is the demand coming from?

tajen10y ago

Accelerated growth and capex.

timdeneau10y ago

But their growth primarily comes from hardware, how much would OS X updates influence that growth?

I don’t know, I’m not a sales guy. But it seems like the tradeoff of losing your customer base due to unreliable software isn’t worth it.

2 more replies

sharkjacobs10y ago

It comes from matching iOS releases.

Can't release new iOS features which involve the Mac without a corresponding OSX release.

nowey10y ago

Hardware releases

wlesieutreOP10y ago

The iPhone is definitely on a 1-year cycle, but it's not really something they put effort into maintaining on their computers. MacBook Air and iMac are probably the closest.

I blame iOS/Mac features tie-in like Continuity. OS X definitely gets the short end of the stick from that.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse