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Brian Stoppee
Brian Stoppee
Inspiring
January 21, 2018
Answered

Did You Upgrade Your OS?

  • January 21, 2018
  • 11 replies
  • 3714 views

Recent security concerns make us think that everyone is rushing to get the latest operating system (OS) upgrade, but that’s hardly the case. That surprised us. Between Apple and Microsoft, we sometimes see new versions released as fast as every week or two, when security issues exist.

There was a time when Mac owners rushed out and adopted the latest OS. By year’s end, StatCounter was reporting that worldwide, 26.42% of Mac users adopted the High Sierra (10.13) and 29.61% were back on the previous version, Sierra (10.12), with 20.64% on El Capitan (10.11). That tells us that 76.67% of the Macs in the world, according to StatCounter, have bought into an OS update since September 2015.

But, that’s the whole wide world. How about North America? Here on Apple’s home turf, it’s actually a little less: 75.94% with quite a few less for High Sierra: 23.15%.

Okay. That’s Mac. How about Windows 10? That was released a few weeks before macOS El Capitan, in 2015. Worldwide, by year’s end, 41.69% of Windows users made the jump to 10, with 41.89% still on Windows 7, which was initially released in 2009 and mainstream support for 7 stopped 3 years ago, last week.

North Americans are keeping up with Windows 10 a little better than the rest of the world. Here on Microsoft HQ’s continent, 48.13% have move to version 10.

So, what does all of this mean? The updates are free. Are some users lazy?

Well, that’s not always the case. Though we’re not sure why some users choose not to upgrade, we know some people who feel a new OS could be buggy. And, yes, in the enterprise world, big corporations and government agencies do testing before they upgrade. In other cases, the end user’s hardware has some age and cannot be updated.

Then, many inexpensive PCs do not ship with Windows 10. So, new computers ship with an old OS, which might not upgrade. (Sounds obscene, huh?)

Then, there’s always the theft of intellectual property. There are places in the world which are not concerned about enforcing intellectual property laws, so computers are sold with a stolen OS. (Definitely obscene.) In those cases, if the user goes to update their operating system, the update cannot happen. You get what you pay for (or don’t pay for).

Our advise? Be smart. Be safe. Keep your OS up to date:

https://www.apple.com/macos/high-sierra/
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/b/windows?invsrc=search&cl_vend=google&cl_ch=sem&cl_camp=907489892&cl_adg=50890631932&cl_crtv=214422983182&cl_kw=windows%2010&cl_pub=google.com&cl_place=&cl_dvt=c&cl_pos=1t2&cl_mt=e&cl_gtid=aud-341489308769:kwd-297131559738&cl_pltr=&cl_dim0=WmUCaAAABV40jKxB:20180121211312:s&OCID=AID620866_SEM_WmUCaAAABV40jKxB:20180121211312:s&s_kwcid=AL!4249!3!214422983182!e!!g!!windows%2010&ef_id=WmUCaAAABV40jKxB:20180121211312:s

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Brian Stoppee

    I don't really blame either side when it comes to things breaking like this.

    The OS vendor has every right to release new features, and while it would be nice they surely can't test all software.

    The software vendors often have to react, which is unfortunate but understandable.

    However, where they could improve in many cases is timeliness.

    The Captivate example is perfect - why is this still a 'hot fix' and not an official update?

    Meh


    https://forums.adobe.com/people/Erik+Lord  wrote

    I don't really blame either side when it comes to things breaking like this.

    We don't either, Erik, mainly because we have no idea who to blame.

    In the early Mac days (1985 to 1993) Janet & I had a regular parade of studio owners coming through our studio asking a plethora of technical questions. We'd frequently hear, "We got the upgrade to ___ (insert name of Adobe app) ____ and now the ___ (insert name of feature) ____ won't work." Better than 90% of the time they had a 3rd party plug-in which needed to be updated but no update had been made available.

    The point is that the end user launched a new version of an Adobe app, something didn't work, it's Adobe's fault.

    If we told people to disable a favorite filter or how type was displayed, we had the wrong answer.

    11 replies

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    Ussnorway7605025
    Ussnorway7605025
    Legend
    January 22, 2018
    https://forums.adobe.com/people/Brian+Stoppee  wrote
    So, what does all of this mean? The updates are free. Are some users lazy?

    ask the Mac users that upgraded to Sierra only to find their software doesn't work anymore,

    the Windows 10 users that find their "my documents" folder mested up after the last patch put them back on the C drive (without asking) and buggered up the links,

    the Adobe Muse users that had to redo their sites just before Max,

    the Windows 7 users that Microsoft lied to about their hardware being Windows 10 compatible,

    the Windows XP users that assumed a service patch from Microsoft must do something more than just slow their network down so Vista can keep up

    I agree you get what you pay for, free updates = use at your own risk

    Brian Stoppee
    Brian StoppeeAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 22, 2018

    Ussnorway  wrote

    ask the Mac users that upgraded to Sierra only to find their software doesn't work anymore,

    You're referring to High Sierra, maybe? That macOS 10.13.2, the latest.

    Without a doubt, it created some problems—no awful, for us, but just the same, problems. Most of the industry suppliers, including Apple are aware of them, we're told. But that doesn't mean they are fully fixed.

    As mentioned, in another Adobe Lounge thread, you have to be your own IT professional and explore the situation before diving in head first. So, just as we mentioned that enterprise users run tests before committing to upgrading many installations, mom and pop shops have to do the same.

    Ussnorway7605025
    Ussnorway7605025
    Legend
    January 24, 2018

    yes and no

    when Microsoft tells windows users they MUST update now and disable other options or Adobe removes the opportunity to roll back to a stable release they are at fault

    bug's are fact of life but taking away opt out makes it impossible for clients to fix issues on their own

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