Apple Releases "High Sierra" -- New macOS

[Tim Robinson]

The new filesystem is a welcome change; speaking as a techie. The old filesystem HFS is from the 80's and a bit long in the tooth. Personally I'm a big ZFS fan and Apple was planning to use ZFS instead until Oracle's purchase of SUN Microsystems. APFS is nowhere near as robust as ZFS but it's magnitudes better than HFS. Unfortunately, it takes a long time for a filesystem to be seen as stable and robust. At least we've been running it for the better half year on our iPhones .

I wonder if that ZFS slant will change since Oracle is selling off all of it's Sun business...(at least the hardware stuff, not sure about the IP)....

 

[Walter Rowe]

For anyone who, like me, is still on Aperture: it still works just fine in High Sierra! I grabbed a random image I had lying around and did a quick-and-dirty cropping, etc., just to see if Aperture would still behave as it has in the past for me and it does. I can postpone for a little longer the search for a replacement.... That said, the other day I ran across mention of a program called Mylio, and it sounds interesting. Anyone here familiar with it?

Mylio – Free Photo Organizer | Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android

Mylio is both a software package and a service – like Apple Photos and iCloud Photo Library. I haven't used it, but that is conceptually what you are getting.

 

[Walter Rowe]

I wonder if that ZFS slant will change since Oracle is selling off all of it's Sun business...(at least the hardware stuff, not sure about the IP)....

Oracle isn't selling off it's Sun business. Oracle has had a decades-long partnership with Fujitsu who has also participated in developing the SPARC processor and Solaris operating system. Oracle will still "own" the product line, but Fujitsu will take over as primary developer and manufacturer. You don't see that in the press, but as a long time Sun customer I can tell you that is what is happening. I've been a Sun customer for 30 years now.

ZFS is a stellar filesystem and I wish Apple had just worked out a licensing arrangement with Oracle to bake it into macOS vs developing their own "version" of it, but I can understand the concern they have over intellectual property issues given the propensity for large billion-dollar law suits we see out there – look at Oracle V Google over the Java platform. Apple developed HFS+ and it has lasted 3 decades now. ZFS is not entirely open source, but enough of the source code is available that I'm sure Apple had plenty of head start on APFS to insure it is solid and will last far into the future. If Oracle would make it open source, that would benefit a very large IT community but Oracle doesn't do things like that.

 

[Terri French]

Interesting. My two iMacs both have Fusion drives, but my laptop, a MacBook Pro, has only SSD.

I like some of the improvements I read about with APFS but I'm concerned about having different file systems on my computers. Maybe I'll skip "High Sierra".

I've always updated right away, but I'm hesitant this time. Think I'm going to pass on High Sierra for now. I have a fusion drive on my iMac. I put Parallels and windows 10 on my iMac last spring and I'm not sure how the update would interact with that.

 

[Tim Robinson]

Oracle isn't selling off it's Sun business. Oracle has had a decades-long partnership with Fujitsu who has also participated in developing the SPARC processor and Solaris operating system. Oracle will still "own" the product line, but Fujitsu will take over as primary developer and manufacturer. You don't see that in the press, but as a long time Sun customer I can tell you that is what is happening. I've been a Sun customer for 30 years now.

Interesting. I’m curious as to why the company I previously worked for was told (by their Oracle hardware rep) they were exiting the hardware business and wouldn’t be able to purchase any more ZFS appliances and they were laying off a few thousand people...maybe not in the news yet and rep relaying info he shouldn’t have? Either way I hold no cards in that arena and haven’t for a couple years so either way not something I will track. I’ve got maybe 7 years at most left in the IT industry, less if I can get away with it.

 

[crazy]

I've always updated right away, but I'm hesitant this time. Think I'm going to pass on High Sierra for now. I have a fusion drive on my iMac. I put Parallels and windows 10 on my iMac last spring and I'm not sure how the update would interact with that.

Apple Support Communities page has the typical new release issues being identified, but with the new file structure being part of High Sierra, I agree with waiting on the side of caution. Forthcoming updates are said to be planned to include Fusion drives.

 

[Minuteman3]

I have a 2015 MBP and have been running High Sierra for the past several betas and now the final version. Really cannot tell a difference with Sierra on the outside (user interface). Absolutely LOVE that Safari blocks those auto-run audios and videos that so many websites use!! That alone is worth the cost of the upgrade!!

Also pleased that Aperture continues to work perfectly.

My SSD MBP did convert to APFS and from a user standpoint I cannot tell a difference. I suspect there's a lot of things at the 0's and 1's level that I cannot see. I have had no issue with any software incompatibilities.

Cheers!!

Ken

 

[rick_reno]

I've read the NIK plugins work with Aperture. I assume they'll work with PS. I might try it on my MBP, but am in no real hurry.

 

[Clix Pix]

Mylio – Free Photo Organizer | Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android

Mylio is both a software package and a service – like Apple Photos and iCloud Photo Library. I haven't used it, but that is conceptually what you are getting.

Thanks, Walter! The was the impression I had, too, when I took a quick look around their website. I don't use Apple Photos and I don't use iCloud Photo Library, either, so I don't think that it would make sense to jump into this program, then!

 

[Clix Pix]

I've always updated right away, but I'm hesitant this time. Think I'm going to pass on High Sierra for now. I have a fusion drive on my iMac. I put Parallels and windows 10 on my iMac last spring and I'm not sure how the update would interact with that.

I agree that for now you should hold off, especially since APFS does not automatically install on fusion drives and Apple has to work out some kinks regarding that. I'm sure that they're working on that pretty carefully, inasmuch as many of the machines they sell do have fusion drives. The fact that you've got Parallels and Windows 10 on your iMac, too, may complicate matters a bit.

 

[Walter Rowe]

Interesting. I’m curious as to why the company I previously worked for was told (by their Oracle hardware rep) they were exiting the hardware business and wouldn’t be able to purchase any more ZFS appliances and they were laying off a few thousand people...maybe not in the news yet and rep relaying info he shouldn’t have? Either way I hold no cards in that arena and haven’t for a couple years so either way not something I will track. I’ve got maybe 7 years at most left in the IT industry, less if I can get away with it.

I still work with long time “Sun” people with deep connections inside. I was told Fujitsu was taking over primary duties. Oracle is still selling SuperCluster hardware. I think you will see more cloud offerings and less pizza box oriented hardware.

 

[Tim Robinson]

I still work with long time “Sun” people with deep connections inside. I was told Fujitsu was taking over primary duties. Oracle is still selling SuperCluster hardware. I think you will see more cloud offerings and less pizza box oriented hardware.

I think what my former people are dealing with is the storage side of the house - not so much the server side. Since I left that particular company I haven't tracked it much. So it may just be that business they're vacating...

 

[Walter Rowe]

The (almost) complete guide to apps that don't play well with macOS High Sierra

 

[rick_reno]

Good find Walter, thanks for sharing that one. Google drive is the only one I've used, and Google is killing that one off. All I do on my macs is run PS (IMac) and LR (mBP). I'm still going to wait, what I've got is working. Same with IOS11, everything works now, no hurry on that one either. I used to upgrade immediately, but I've gotten gun shy in the past couple of years with Apples missteps, they really screwed me once and I don't need a repeat of that.

 

[Walter Rowe]

I got that link from a news site called MacHash that aggregates all things Apple.

 

[rooster]

I keep my Aperture/Capture One libraries in the basement and access them over the network via NFS. I have a FreeBSD running ZFS and export out the filesystems via NFS to my Macintosh. I don't keep anything I my Mac except for the OS and applications. Good to see others with knowledge of ZFS here.

 

[Deleted member 4116]

Wow, that list is frightening. Some great programs (and popular ones) listed that'll piss a lot of people off. Firefox, I hope, is just an update that needs to happen. But some others are good keeps and if they kill support there will be a lot of pissed off people.

 

[Walter Rowe]

I keep my Aperture/Capture One libraries in the basement and access them over the network via NFS. I have a FreeBSD running ZFS and export out the filesystems via NFS to my Macintosh. I don't keep anything I my Mac except for the OS and applications. Good to see others with knowledge of ZFS here.

ZFS is probably the best thing Sun Microsystems ever invented.

 

[Palouse]

I'm gonna back up today and make the move . . .
I'd read somewhere that MS Office 11 for Mac was not compatible. Can't find it, but it may have been our Univ ITS folks trying to get us to move to Office 365. But since I'm now retired I no longer need to format complex documents, spreadsheets and PowerPoints so I may just revert to pages and numbers for my needs.

 

[SteveK]

I'm gonna back up today and make the move . . .
I'd read somewhere that MS Office 11 for Mac was not compatible. Can't find it, but it may have been our Univ ITS folks trying to get us to move to Office 365. But since I'm now retired I no longer need to format complex documents, spreadsheets and PowerPoints so I may just revert to pages and numbers for my needs.

I have office 2008 and it works fine.