#327  6th September 2024

Snow Leopard was the last release of Mac OS X before Apple started the yearly upgrade cycle. But it still was a rough release in the early months. Back then it was generally accepted that managed deployments should wait for the ".3" or ".4" update before rolling out the new major version and Snow Leopard was no different. The last version of of Snow Leopard was v10.6.8 v1.1 which earned the reputation of being stable, but notice the 'v1.1' in that version number? They didn't even get the release of that update right on the first try. The release of Mac OS X Lion 10.7 was also quite rocky and soured the yearly release cycle from the very beginning.

Contrast that to now where Apple recommends "day zero" adoptions and MDM vendors pride themselves on "day zero" support. It actually works quite well for many organizations. The more adventurous of us will switch to the betas over the summer as even those have become quite reliable.

Since Snow Leopard, Apple has increased the release schedule from a major feature release every two years, to a major feature release every year, to introducing new features half-way through the cycle in a 'Spring release.' Now, features may appear at any time during the release cycle. New features will be announced at WWDC with the immediate acknowledgement that they will ship later. If you are complaining about the yearly release cycle, you have missed that we have been on a 6-8 week cycle for the past few years already.

Devices are now permanently exposed to the internet in a way that was hard to imagine 20 years ago. Security updates are the main reason managed devices should be updated. New features (and new emojis) are what motivates everyone else.

With some exceptions during the pandemic years, Apple's upgrade cycle has become quite predictable, something which MacAdmins in the early 2000s were clamoring for. The predictable, faster update cycle is a generally a good thing. There is an argument to be had whether the deterioration of the quality of Apple software is merely perceived, a side effect of the proliferation of platforms, frameworks, services and APIs from Apple, or a hard fact. Probably all of the above. And Apple needs to address this, regardless of whether it perceived or real.

Maybe Apple does need to slow down on adding new features and focus on improving the existing ones. But a different release cycle will not magically change Apple's focus. The priorities within have to change.