undefined | Better HN

0 pointslittlestymaar1y ago0 comments

> its auto-update mechanism is better than the Mac’s.

Wow, what can a Mac auto-update do that is worse than Windows blocking your screen for 10 minutes during a Powerpoint presentation because the OS is «updating itself». (The only auto-update I know to be worse than Windows is Telsa's, bricking your car in the middle of the road for 45 minutes if you missclick on the touchscreen in traffic)

0 comments

talldayo1y ago

> Wow, what can a Mac auto-update do that is worse than Windows blocking your screen for 10 minutes

Rename random internal user accounts without informing the user, breaking many third-party package managers with an overnight upgrade? https://determinate.systems/posts/nix-support-for-macos-sequ...

Oh, or it could depreciate an entire class of software you may-or-may-not use without any opportunity for replacement besides downgrading your Mac? https://support.apple.com/en-us/103076

pxc1y ago

More mundane, but it also unconditionally blasts a bunch of config files under /etc that rightfully belong to the user/administrator. I've not seen any OS as willing to simultaneously Sherlock existing apps and rip out the APIs they depend on, either.

macOS upgrades are indeed generally exceptionally disruptive to applications.

marcosdumay1y ago

> 10 minutes

I guess I have never seen Windows update take 10 minutes. Did you add the restart time into that? Because the restart after an update usually takes half of that alone.

10 minutes is around the login time for new user at my work computers. (That is, after it is fully booted and loaded, just the time for the user to log in.)

But yeah, the Mac updates aren't even remotely as bad as Windows.

sbuttgereit1y ago

And yet, my Windows machine somehow applies a simple heuristic to figure out my active times and always does the updates when I'm not typically using it. Of course, it means the machine has to be on during those times, but I've never had the update in the middle of the day problem you've described. At least not as long as Windows 10 has been around.

littlestymaarOP1y ago

> when I'm not typically using it. Of course, it means the machine has to be on during those times

This “simple heuristic” only works if you let your computer on while not using it (why would you do that? Except to accommodate for a broken update mechanism…)

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse