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224 points chmaynard | 5 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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zackmorris ◴[] No.42137794[source]
I wish there was an independent unit test suite for operating systems and other proprietary software.

The suite would run the most-used apps and utilities against updates and report regressions.

So for example, the vast majority of apps on my Mac can't run, because they were written for early versions of OS X and OS 9, even all the way back to System 7 when apps were expected to still run on 4/5/6. The suite would reveal that Apple has a track record of de-prioritizing backwards compatibility or backporting bug fixes to previous OS versions.

Edit: integration test suite

replies(5): >>42138112 #>>42140845 #>>42142559 #>>42142892 #>>42143717 #
1. wrs ◴[] No.42138112[source]
You don’t need to do anything special to “reveal” that Apple doesn’t prioritize backwards compatibility. That is very well known. For example, standard practice for audio professionals is to wait a year or more to upgrade MacOS, to give all the vendors a chance to fix what broke.
replies(1): >>42139852 #
2. troupo ◴[] No.42139852[source]
Even 15 years ago the common knowledge was to never upgrade to major versions of Apple software, and wait for a .2 release, at least.

However, these days it seems that even point releases only introduce new bugs in the rush to deliver late features, and rarely address any issues

replies(2): >>42140415 #>>42146302 #
3. baq ◴[] No.42140415[source]
I have to disagree. Sequoia .0 was spectacularly broken and .1 is a very noticeable improvement.

…of course I’d rather stay on Sonoma if I could go back in time…

4. badgersnake ◴[] No.42146302[source]
IT departments installing MDM trashware which forces upgrades is the problem.
replies(1): >>42147770 #
5. mh- ◴[] No.42147770{3}[source]
And the compliance-industrial complex that incentivizes/forces that behavior.