Catalina – Wait a while!

Apple have, as they do this time every year, released their latest operating system; Catalina.

And in theory it is fantastic.

For starters you can now use your iPad as a second screen, a boon to those of us that like to have a spreadsheet on one screen and our email on the other… or some other combination.

Security has been improved and so it is now less likely for a badly written or unscrupulous application being installed on your Mac.

The interface has been tweaked to more closely resemble the applications it shares with iOS, making the creation and management of Reminders and Notes far less jarring.

iTunes has finally been broken up into its individual parts (Music for music, Apple TV for Movies and Podcasts to listen to podcasts) so it is no longer a head scratcher when you open and application with ‘tunes’ in the title to buy or watch a movie.

It has also forced, after a very long period of warnings, people to replace or upgrade older applications that no longer support the security and memory efficiency of 64bit.(If that seems a bit nerdy, don’t worry, it is a good thing… even though it can lead to you losing your beloved scanning software)

The Photos application has been updated and now better curates your photos.

And the new OS makes life a whole lot better for developers. This means that the applications they write for iOS port over to the desktop with very little (if any) effort from them at all. This will, I am sure, lead to an explosion of apps and choices for your Mac.

So after all that you’d be forgiven for thinking that I want you to upgrade right now. 

But I don’t.

My recommendation is wait. You see this last week really has been a case of “I have upgraded so you don’t have too.”

Not yet anyway.

So I bet you are asking yourself… if I love it so much, why am I recommending you stay away from the party.

Here are a few reasons…

It is buggy

Yes, I know. New operating systems always have a few bugs but, like iOS13 before it, this one has more than a few significant bugs that were not taken care of in pre-production.

I for one cannot log into Music, TV or Podcasts for reasons that Apple are not saying. They are aware of the issue and they are working on an update, but until then…

It isn’t the end of the world though. It is not like I have lost all my data but for one of their flagship services it is a surprise that this isn’t working right out of the gate.

Upgrading can be costly

Yes, Apple’s software is free but the cost to replace your apps can be steep. I tested my system thoroughly before upgrading (as per my article here) but even I was caught out. $75 for new VMware, $135.00 for new scanning software and $180 for a new copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Now this last one is a prime example why waiting and testing first is a good idea. This Elements, while important to me, was something I missed when I tested my system but because I had time to think it through I was able to find a free alternative but had this software been vital for my business my pocket might be a lot lighter than it is)

There really is no need…yet

If you have been reading this website or you have seen me recently, you will recall that I am always banging on about being up-to-date… or at the very least supported. Right now, Apple are still sending security updates for 10.12, 10.13 and 10.14 and while they continue to do that there is no crushing need, especially in light of the above drivel, to apply the upgrade just yet.

Far better, in my view, to wait a few months and wait for the digital dust to settle.