Mac OS - High Sierra

**Anastasius** · 23-09-17, 20:42

Why rush in at all ? Seems to me that these OS versions have reached the point of diminishing returns. If you're a steam-powered user like me who has no other Apple stuff of note, doesn't need the ability to start typing on an iPhone and finish the sentence on my iMac.

I'm on Mavericks, had a brief foray with El Crappo and went back to Mav.

**french frank** · 23-09-17, 20:53

Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post

and MS is actually suggesting that even the 2016 version may have problems.

That's not good. On the other hand, there seem to be some applications that demand the update. But better to find out if that's going to affect anything. Like Anastasius, I think some upgrades do nothing for me and the way I work. I'll stay in the Low Sierra for the moment.

**Nick Armstrong** · 23-09-17, 21:55

Originally posted by Anastasius View Post

Why rush in at all ? Seems to me that these OS versions have reached the point of diminishing returns.

I'm on Mavericks, had a brief foray with El Crappo and went back to Mav.

Same here - and I agree

**OldTechie** · 28-09-17, 22:53

MS Info here

Upgrade macOS to continue receiving Microsoft 365 and Office for Mac updates - Microsoft Support

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Microsoft-Office-support-for-macOS-10-13-High-Sierra-80bbd3cc-2412-4593-988a-1c5607b26b28

Learn more about upgrading Mac operating systems to continue receiving Microsoft 365 and Office for Mac updates.

**french frank** · 29-09-17, 12:15

Originally posted by OldTechie View Post

MS Info here

https://support.office.com/en-us/art...a-1c5607b26b28

Publically. Hmmph [Sorry

]

Thanks for the info re Office.

**Dave2002** · 29-09-17, 16:32

Originally posted by french frank View Post

Publically. Hmmph [Sorry

]

Thanks for the info re Office.

https://english.stackexchange.com/qu...and-publically
Tim Lymington

**french frank** · 29-09-17, 18:06

Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post

https://english.stackexchange.com/qu...and-publically
Tim Lymington

Interesting that the OED doesn't actually say that it is an "alternate" spelling; it says publically = publicly adv.. Which I'd still take as meaning "the spelling publically is also found". OED doing its job.

Re Tim Lymington's comment - I can't see that publically is more logical on the grounds that basic > basically. That seems itself to be something of an exception.

Not that I really mind. It's just that the changes that become acceptable alternatives often start off as being straightforward "mistakes". At some point the "mistakes" pass into common usage. I'm not sure that publically has yet done so. But it will, oh, it will.

**Dave2002** · 13-11-17, 10:56

Originally posted by Anastasius View Post

If you're a steam-powered user like me who has no other Apple stuff of note, doesn't need the ability to start typing on an iPhone and finish the sentence on my iMac.

I'm on Mavericks, had a brief foray with El Crappo and went back to Mav.

I didn't think you were a steam powered user - surely you use some more recent and powerful stuff. I'm curious as to what, in the end you didn't like about El C, and what you prefer in Mav.

Re steam powered users - mrs d seems to have a few problems with her laptop, possibly because updates and "upgrades" need to be done. The machine is on Yosemite - and - somewhat interestingly - has "only" 120 Gbytes of memory, of which more than 70 Gbytes is still available. For contrast, my MBP has 251 Gbytes and typically it has less than 10 GBytes spare - sometimes even under 1 Gbyte at which point I get warning messages. She does mostly word processing, web browsing and email. I do a multitude of things, including video, photo editing and audio.

My keenest techie friend has shied away from High Sierra for a while - which is unusual behaviour for him. Says to wait until it settles down, and also it makes use of a "new" file system called APFS - which may be a superset of HFS+ - supposed to be for optimising flash storage and iOS compatibility - and we're not really sure (a) if that is really necessary for us, and (b) tinkering with file formats seems possibly asking for trouble at the moment.

This article on APFS is gradually fleshing out - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_File_System

In particular see this section https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_...em#Limitations
and the section on Support which immediately follows it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_File_System#Support

**Anastasius** · 13-11-17, 11:20

I don't like Photos. Nor the system font. The way Mail is laid out. The fact that it makes my elderly iMac seem sluggish. I can see me being forced to upgrade (I think) as Safari is increasingly causing difficulties with more and more websites.

**Dave2002** · 13-11-17, 12:23

Originally posted by Anastasius View Post

I don't like Photos. Nor the system font. The way Mail is laid out. The fact that it makes my elderly iMac seem sluggish. I can see me being forced to upgrade (I think) as Safari is increasingly causing difficulties with more and more websites.

Ah - so you use iPhoto still, do you? Or maybe something else? I never really bothered much with that, as I felt that like iTunes it would copy my data files (photos) and trap them inside - I didn't know whether it was supposed to be non-destructive re editing or not. Picasa was a very useful alternative for a while, but has now been obsoleted, though if you have an old copy which works (I still do) it's OK to use it.

Re your elderly iMac - how old is it? I have a couple of now quite old ones, but apart from video editing they are perfectly serviceable - but I did put more memory in. The extra memory does not make raw cpu run any faster, so no good for cpu intensive tasks - such as video editing, but OTOH does make the system feel faster on regular tasks as it reduces any swapping to and from disk. I ended up maxing out at 16 Gbytes on one, and 8 Gbytes on the other. On a slowish machine 16 Gbytes which I did was probably overkill for the tasks I'm likely to use, but 8 Gbytes is definitely worth it, and even 12 Gbytes is a good idea if machines can be upgraded that far. If you are still running on 4 Gbytes (or maybe less ...) then definitely put more memory in, though some really old machines are limited to 3 Gbytes.

Re Safari problems, I have seen a machine which was becoming unusable - though that was still running Snow Leopard. It wasn't my machine, but I put more memory in, and then with a bit of concerted effort several of us upgraded it to one of the newer OS systems - probably Yosemite. The machine had severe over heating problems (which also caused it to slow down - we think), particularly on some web pages, and the organisation was considering replacing it - but since we did the maintenance work it has been functioning well enough for months now and doesn't overheat. The specific problems with some websites also disappeared. Funds for a replacement have been allocated for future budgets, but for the time being this has definitely been a money saver.

**Anastasius** · 13-11-17, 12:39

No...iPhoto. Not that I use it that much TBH.

It's an early 2009 and so not upgradeable to Sierra - I checked. I maxed out on extra memory a long time ago (8GB)! I also keep a beady eye on the memory thingie in Activity Monitor. Safari issues not memory related in my case. Re Safari..I'm finding that many sites never other to check any backward compatibility with Safari 9.1.3 on 10.9.5 even though Safari 9.1.3 comes with El C - AFAIR. Interestingly my wife also has a slightly older iMac (but not by much). Also runs Safari 9.1.3 and 10.9.5 and RAM also maxed out (4GB). Subtle differences between the two machines though.

**french frank** · 13-11-17, 14:06

Just had another disembodied reminder that High Sierra is available for download. I'll probably download it on to the MacBook first for testing. If there are things it won't do anymore I'll do them on the iMac. It's Firefox that keeps incompatibilising.

**Dave2002** · 13-11-17, 16:32

Originally posted by french frank View Post

Just had another disembodied reminder that High Sierra is available for download. I'll probably download it on to the MacBook first for testing. If there are things it won't do anymore I'll do them on the iMac. It's Firefox that keeps incompatibilising.

Bearing in mind that my very keen friend with bull at a gate tendencies is still holding back on this I wouldn't rush to install High Sierra. Do you really need iOS compatibility or to try to otimise flash drives? I suspect not. If you do decide to become a pioneer, please let us know how it goes, and if there are any problems.

What's the problem with Firefox? I don't have major problems with Firefox on most of my machines.

Our (You know who's) Macbook Air is still on Yosemite, and works, but I gather there are some peculiar problems. If they're not too serious I'll try to fix them on that system, but it might be necessary to "upgrade" to El C or lowland Sierra to clear them.

**french frank** · 13-11-17, 18:46

Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post

What's the problem with Firefox? I don't have major problems with Firefox on most of my machines.

Occasionally rendering Add-ons obsolete. Not really important issues. I was used to the Addon bar which they discontinued; but I found Addon Bar [Restored] which worked; now they've clobbered that.

I suppose I'm seduced by the promise of higher security features. Though really I shouldn't worry. I set out for London last week with a flash drive in my bag and have returned without it: I do speculate as to what might have been on it :-/

Mac OS - High Sierra

Mac OS - High Sierra

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