I have worked around windows updates enough to make them not be a pain in the ass for me.
But in the last year I have been using Linux more, mostly Fedora and Mint. It is honestly embarrassing how much easier, more lightweight, and more streamlined the updates feel compared with Windows. It’s especially amusing when it’s like “hey we updated your fucking kernel so please do a reboot as soon as you feel like it. Please.”
I miss when new macOS releases were actually paid and came with actually useful features that worked on pretty much every Macintosh they ran on for the most part.
There are high-schoolers alive today (maybe even in this thread) who were born after Apple stopped charging for updates. Maybe it’s time to get some new jokes.
This meme has been doing the rounds for few years now. Also, I don’t remember the exact date now when Apple stopped charging for updates. I assume it has been a decent long time since they last did so. The only pain point is Windows which takes the most time to update and has basically made dual booting tougher than ever, thanks to their ever screwing of Grub configs.
Last time they charged for an OS update was with Mountain Lion, which was also the last “big cat” OS. That was in 2012, and it was only 20$. The last OS release that was over 100$ (or even 50$) was Leopard, in 2007, at 130$. Back then, the only way to get it was on a CD, which is obviously much more expensive to manufacture and distribute than a download…
Mac user: I’ve never once paid for a system update and am wildly confused by this meme.
And hardware support continues for so long I’ve never had a machine be unable to run a new OS before I already needed a new machine (I used my ‘08 MacBook Pro for a solid 10 years no problem).
I feel like some of y’all have never used an Apple machine before.
You had to pay for OS X updates before, but they changed that around 15 years ago. I remember paying I think $60 to upgrade from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion.
But you can’t decline them or postpone indefinitely. It’ll eventually force you to restart and update, and that’s a problem.
When updates break a piece of critical software and can’t be postponed indefinitely it’s a real problem.
I’ve also run into instances where my PC was performing a task that required several weeks of processing time and Windows forced a restart because the process time was longer than the postponement window, so a task that’s supposed to take 3 weeks suddenly takes 6 weeks.
Yes, security is important, but sometimes it’s secondary to the entire fucking reason a computer has been deployed, and Microsoft shouldn’t be dictating my priorities.
I forget the specifics, because I’ve had autoupdates turned off for a while now, but I think it would make you set “active hours” and then would do updates outside of your active hours. Regardless of you actually using your computer at the time. And, back in the day, my sleep schedule was non-existent, so there was no time that was completely safe for doing updates.
There was a time when you could postpone, but they got rid of that, or limited it… eventually you’d end up with an unstoppable update. It seems microsoft is trying tons of things to get people to stay up to date, but none are satisfying to everyone.
I prefer my method, which isn’t easily accessible to all, manually updating periodically. Sometimes I’m a month or 2 late, but the worst of the worst vulnerabilities ends up news and that’ll get me to update sooner.
Semi-related but I remember the ancient days when the original iPod touch (not iPhone though) initially had paid OS upgrades - not too crazy for back then when the firmware was often done when the device shipped save for maybe a small patch or three. But there were also larger updates too but not too common.
And then I remember Steve getting up on stage proclaiming that Apple “has found a way!” to make it free.
I get the general point. Apple apps are more often paid and at a higher price generally. But Mac OS has been free forever. And when they did charge it was waaaaay cheaper than Windows
Which Apple apps are paid for? Their entire productivity suite is free, Office 365 is a hefty enough price. You get a free photo editing app, free video editing app and free music production app on every device. Of course there’s a couple of Pro apps for music and video but they are literally for pro users and generally the investment is worth what you can do with them.
That’s true, and I believe it was to lure people from using Windows computer / make the switch. I almost forgot that they charged it at some point though, it brings back memories!
As much as I hate Mac from the few times I used it for work and helping my wife I never remember paying for an update.
Also it may not be much but windows does get extra features in the yearly feature update. Recent updates brought built in winrar and the last one let you have tabs in notepad.
I don’t doubt it, but that has not really been my experience. Honestly the only OS I have used that breaks things after updating is Mac… applications, printers, and drivers just don’t work until the developer updates them, which sometimes can be 3-6 months after the release.
And my last one (involuntary Windows update) overwrote GRUB because of course that’s what I wanted, then after the first reboot not even Windows would boot and I had to create a live USB on my old laptop instead.
I’ve always been curious how people who give away software for a living make that living. I have a few OSS projects but I make my living other ways, those OSS projects are hobbies and my living takes precedence every time because I like to eat food and buy things.
Like they can sell support, but I have never paid for a solution. They can sell packaged solutions, but I can compile it myself. They can survive on donations but, while I have donated to a lot of FOSS projects, I imagine most people don’t donate.
A lot of good FOSS projects start off as a company’s internal tooling, which they release to the public. The main source of income is sometimes an entirely different product/service.
Especially after Microsoft Updates kept bricking my computer during updates, but wouldnt stop trying to force them, even though every attempt to do so failed FOR THE LAST HALF YEAR. And the only way I could make the update fuck off from attempting to retry waz to turn on and off my computer until it gave up
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