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by justinmayer 1760 days ago
As someone who has used Apple computers for decades — including the ][+ and dozens of Macs — I feel I must rebut some of the specious arguments being made here. To wit:

* Mac software quality has indeed declined precipitously over the last decade.

* It is not “Apple bashing” to point out that fact.

* OP never claims the failed upgrade is the only example of said quality decline, but rather that it is one of many representative examples of that trend.

* One failed upgrade in 20 years is not good, nor is it anything to brag about. As the OP pointed out, what is a normal computer user supposed to do in this scenario? This simply should not happen, ever. Features should be dropped, deadlines should be eliminated, and work on everything else at Apple should stop until they can ship an upgrade that does not fail, or at least fails gracefully with an easy way to recover.

* For those who point out they upgraded just fine: “It works for me” is not a compelling argument. On the contrary, it is a terrible argument that should never be made, or be taken seriously, by anyone, ever.

In past years I always looked forward to upgrading to Apple’s latest and greatest. Now I dread upgrades and avoid them until I can’t avoid them any longer. I am still running Mojave, and experiences like the OP’s only reinforces my confidence in the validity of that strategy.

See also: https://justinmayer.com/posts/early-adopter-tax/

1 comments

>It is not “Apple bashing” to point out that fact.

It is Apple bashing when you make dumb extrapolations out of a 1 in 19 year event that happens to 1 Apple computer out of how many millions (billions ?) that Apple have sold over the same 19 year period.

> what is a normal computer user supposed to do in this scenario? This simply should not happen, ever.

Failure of a software update should "not happen, ever" ?!?!!?!?!?!?

Have you ever worked in a technical role in IT (or any sort of technology) ?

My god !

As I already explained, there is no extrapolating: pointing out one example of poor software quality does not mean that is the only evidence at hand. In fact, you are the only person who seems to be making that argument. Which is nonsense, since this incident report is one of many, many documented problems that clearly indicate a decline in software quality.

I have worked in a technical role for many years, and if my department shipped Big Sur, I would find immediate replacements for everyone in that department.