Favorite Mac OS Version, Anyone?

[wstrohm]

Mac OS Tiger ran both Mac OS 10 and 9 (Classic). Then Steve switched to Intel. High Sierra supported nVidia's Pascal and Maxwell graphics cards, later versions do not. Mojave runs both 32- and 64-bit apps and will run under both HFS+ and APFS, later versions do not. Installers' footprints went from 6+ GB for Mojave to 8+ for Catalina, then 12+ later. All the latest "stuff" seems to be targeted at interoperability with iOS and M-series. I have installers for High Sierra, Mojave, Big Sur, and Ventura (at the moment). Where is the "peak of the marque" in your opinion?

Or is the latest always the best?

 

[trs96]

For me it's always been Mavericks #1 and Tiger #2. Yosemite started the transition to more of a flat iOS look to the GUI and it's been all downhill since then. For nine years now, Apple has kept making macOS more iOS like.

 

[menelkir]

For me, Tiger and Snow Leopard. Mojave was the last one I could call it "good", after that is just a massive amount of band-aids, with minor improvements and flat design makeup

 

[remington]

For me.. Mavericks and Mojave are the best macOS. Going forward with Catalina and beyond are crapOS with lockdowns, locked root folders, integration with iOS and eventually macOS will be replaced with iOS. It's becoming more and more like iPhone and less desktop experience.

 

[craighazan]

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

 

[Nodarkthings]

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Hail to thee, culture lover!

 

[centraljava]

i also like Mojave versatility, stability
sure the latest versions added tools and conveniences, but not revolutionary functionalities

 

[c-o-pr]

I'm always sort of annoyed by every release's UI changes and all the pointless re-festooning of the system.

But later, after being accustomed to whatever is the latest, I look back and get the sense of the old stuff seeming archaic. Like I'm forced to agree in retrospect that the designers were on a better track than I previously thought. I enjoy the sense of enuii at having my mind changed.

My favorite modern UI is Catalina because of the economy of the Finder windows and things are still almost contrasty enough in dark mode. Late-stage Catalina was also very stable, until Apple introduced a couple of key bugs in the very last security release for 10.15.7. Yarrrgh

The earliest OS Xs are completely grotesque to me, as were many of the plastic Apple HW designs of early 2000s. But compared to beige it was quite exciting!. I recall a dancing high-res icon in the very first OS X as seeming magical compared to OS 9 and Windows 95. And how the web was littered with Photoshop tutorials about how to create the jellybean effect. Weird stuff that should be best forgotten, like skeumorphic brushed metal and suede UI panels. I miss the UI novelty of SoundJam MP! (Which apple bought and destroyed to make iTunes).

My most disliked Mac OS is Big Sur, but it's not my most feared—which was the 32 to 64-bit crossing—because I'd already ridden out so many architecture regime changes and losses of previous apps that I've come to just accept the future is inevitable and doesn't care what I think. But at Big Sur, bugs were being intriduced just as fast as things were being improved.

There were other horrific crossings, like when iWork was desroyed to make it iCould compatible. There was a beautiful moment around 2012ish when Pages was an excellent program for easy beautiful document production that put the horror of Word completely to shame—eveything that Claris had learned over decades was in there. Then Apple through it all away. Others reacted to FCP X the same way but maybe it's not actually less functional just different.

Ventura is OK for me. It stlll has ten-year old bugs like spring-loaded tabs always have be sprung twice to stay open, and half the time my window positions are partially forgotten on reboot. Color management in the built-in apps is still broken after years and many bug reports. But Spotlgitht is back to working pretty well. Usually, after a hellish regression in Monterey.

The new Settiings are abyssmal. There is no UI continuity like the old days. iPhone is horrific and the worst of it has come to Mac.

I understand others' love for the High Sierra era, it was clean and effective the way the best Pages was good, which I guess it meant it had to die.

Most unloved app: Disk Utility. How can an app be apparently good and attrocious at the same time?

Overall I think in terms of the complete experience, this new AppleSi era is the best Mac ever. But 15 years ago I was saying that Mac has become just as inscrutible, bug ridden and unreliable as Windows and my feeling hasn't chamged save for Windows just seeming worse and worse to me. I thought I'd made my peace with Win10, but they can't stop improving things.

I am truely grateful that most of Mac works pretty much the same way as it always did in OS X, and that my finger habits from Photoshop 6 (not CS6 just 6) still work in recent PS.

Regards and thanks for some memories

 

[sburnsmail]

Snow Leopard and Mojave.
10.6 really improved performance, cleaned up the UI a bit, but didn't change it much on front end, but mostly backend.
10.14 felt like a sweet spot between all the previous stuff and getting AFPS right, metal, and new security measures, without it being like a hammer dropping in newer release (beachball anyone).
On Ventura now, it's better then Big Sur & Monterey, but noticing lots of little bugs, not in previous releases.