6 ms·

I feel the biggest disappointment in Sierra that this review didn't really harp on is the lack of new features for non-iOS users. There's not that much in this

I feel the biggest disappointment in Sierra that this review didn't really harp on is the lack of new features for non-iOS users. There's not that much in this update and the end user features that are available right now are solely focused on iPhone users. As an android user, I can't use siri on a day to day basis, I can't do automatic unlock with my watch, etc. You'd suspect that most mac users have iPhones, but that's not been my experience since most developers use mac but also use android.

djrogers 10y ago
> As an android user, I can't use siri on a day to day basis But with Sierra, now you can. You seem to be under the impression that this requires an iPhone - it does not.
- SSLy 10y ago
  he meant to say he can't run siri on android
- israrkhan 10y ago
  Siri, Cortana, and Google Now are mainly for collecting personal user data, and understanding user behaviour. Microsoft has already made cortana available on iOS and Android (though it is not baked into OS). Similarly Google has made their tech available on other platforms. Apple's data harvesting ambitions are not huge currently, mainly because of their absence from search and advertising business, but I wont be surprised if one day they make Siri available on other platforms too.
  - corv 10y ago
    As opposed to how Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex and Baidu text search are not collecting personal data?
jws 10y ago
The Photos upgrade for "moments" is quite nice, assuming you use Photos to store your photos. The storage upgrade where they can remove forgotten debris files and then migrate your unused files to the cloud is great for most people. I realize most HN readers have already drawn their saber and are 2/3rds over the gunwale at my suggestion that a computer make a decision about the disposition of a file, but this one feature is going to reduce my "friends and family tech support debt" by about 75%. A couple of clicks and I can fix their full computer. In the process of that I have quietly gotten them to backup their documents to the cloud so when I get the "my computer won't turn on" call I don't have to spend hours extracting and recovering their hard drive because they NEVER backup. Thanks to "apps", I can finally convince people that paying $1.99/mo for cloud storage isn't some evil plan to loot the world economy. People are used to small payments for computer services.
- CJefferson 10y ago
  The 'migrate to the cloud' is no good for backups -- it doesn't put files in the cloud which you actually use regularly!
  - matt4077 10y ago
    I'm pretty sure it does. It just doesn't replace the local copy with a reference to the cloud version. Otherwise it could't synchronize between computers.
  - mhurron 10y ago
    No sync service is good for backing up. Delete it locally and it's deleted remotely, same with making edits to a file.
    - toomuchtodo 10y ago
      Dropbox. I disable syncing for certain files, and its only stored in Dropbox. I need access again without using a web browser? I turn on syncing for that folder again and the files are synced back locally within a few seconds to minutes. I priced out getting an external SSD drive ($300 for 1TB). Its cheaper for me to just buy a year of Dropbox at a time (1TB @ $100/year if paid annually). https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/113 https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/113
Osiris 10y ago
That's what I noticed as well. The upgrades are Siri, iMessage, iOS integrations, and iWatch integrations. I don't own an iPhone or iWatch. The Photos upgrade doesn't matter to me since I use Lightroom on a more powerful PC rather than my Macbook. I have noticed one small upgrade, clicking the speaker icon in the system tray now shows Output Devices by default rather than having to hold down OPTION. Has anyone noticed any other small, but convenient, changes?
- nicky0 10y ago
  You can use Siri and iMessage without owning an iPhone or Watch.
  - JustSomeNobody 10y ago
    I've been able to iMessage my wife from my mac to her iPhone for some time without my needing an iPhone.
  - tuxracer 10y ago
    It's not very practical to use without an iPhone in many circumstances. If I use iMessage people will message me there asking to meet up, etc.. and actually I won't receive those messages until I get home and boot up my Mac. Most people spend the vast majority of their time at work, or out of their home for whatever reason. Using iMessage on a Mac without an iPhone is a bit like the messaging version of only having a landline phone.
- glhaynes 10y ago
  Window edges now snap to other windows' edges/display edges. (No doubt doable with a 3rd party component before, but not built-in.) Also, tabs (like in a browser) are now available in most of the built-in apps and lots of 3rd party ones.
  - eridius 10y ago
    3rd party apps could reposition your windows for you, but I'm not aware of any that could do this sort of behavior in the middle of dragging a window.
vlunkr 10y ago
I guess my question is what non-iOS features do we want? I'm already pretty happy with macOS, and I don't really care to see updates just for the sake of updates. iOS integration may just be a place they feel like they are lacking.
- glhaynes 10y ago
  Main thing that comes to my mind is a new file system (and associated revamps of Time Machine/Versions/etc to take advantage), which is clearly being worked on and just isn't ready yet. I might be annoyed with the lack of new stuff if I'd paid $129 for Sierra, but, as a free update it's fine and I'm more than happy for them to let the FS stuff mature until it's ready. As a user of both platforms (which I'm sure is true for a very large portion of their macOS users), the iOS integration stuff of the last several releases is very valuable and has been toward the top of my wishlist.
  - vlunkr 10y ago
    now that you mention filesystem, I would love to be rid of DS_store and other garbage hidden files they love to create.

djrogers 10y ago

> As an android user, I can't use siri on a day to day basis But with Sierra, now you can. You seem to be under the impression that this requires an iPhone - it does not.

SSLy 10y ago
he meant to say he can't run siri on android
israrkhan 10y ago
Siri, Cortana, and Google Now are mainly for collecting personal user data, and understanding user behaviour. Microsoft has already made cortana available on iOS and Android (though it is not baked into OS). Similarly Google has made their tech available on other platforms. Apple's data harvesting ambitions are not huge currently, mainly because of their absence from search and advertising business, but I wont be surprised if one day they make Siri available on other platforms too.
- corv 10y ago
  As opposed to how Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex and Baidu text search are not collecting personal data?

jws 10y ago

The Photos upgrade for "moments" is quite nice, assuming you use Photos to store your photos. The storage upgrade where they can remove forgotten debris files and then migrate your unused files to the cloud is great for most people. I realize most HN readers have already drawn their saber and are 2/3rds over the gunwale at my suggestion that a computer make a decision about the disposition of a file, but this one feature is going to reduce my "friends and family tech support debt" by about 75%. A couple of clicks and I can fix their full computer. In the process of that I have quietly gotten them to backup their documents to the cloud so when I get the "my computer won't turn on" call I don't have to spend hours extracting and recovering their hard drive because they NEVER backup. Thanks to "apps", I can finally convince people that paying $1.99/mo for cloud storage isn't some evil plan to loot the world economy. People are used to small payments for computer services.

CJefferson 10y ago
The 'migrate to the cloud' is no good for backups -- it doesn't put files in the cloud which you actually use regularly!
- matt4077 10y ago
  I'm pretty sure it does. It just doesn't replace the local copy with a reference to the cloud version. Otherwise it could't synchronize between computers.
- mhurron 10y ago
  No sync service is good for backing up. Delete it locally and it's deleted remotely, same with making edits to a file.
  - toomuchtodo 10y ago
    Dropbox. I disable syncing for certain files, and its only stored in Dropbox. I need access again without using a web browser? I turn on syncing for that folder again and the files are synced back locally within a few seconds to minutes. I priced out getting an external SSD drive ($300 for 1TB). Its cheaper for me to just buy a year of Dropbox at a time (1TB @ $100/year if paid annually). https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/113 https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/113

Osiris 10y ago

That's what I noticed as well. The upgrades are Siri, iMessage, iOS integrations, and iWatch integrations. I don't own an iPhone or iWatch. The Photos upgrade doesn't matter to me since I use Lightroom on a more powerful PC rather than my Macbook. I have noticed one small upgrade, clicking the speaker icon in the system tray now shows Output Devices by default rather than having to hold down OPTION. Has anyone noticed any other small, but convenient, changes?

nicky0 10y ago
You can use Siri and iMessage without owning an iPhone or Watch.
- JustSomeNobody 10y ago
  I've been able to iMessage my wife from my mac to her iPhone for some time without my needing an iPhone.
- tuxracer 10y ago
  It's not very practical to use without an iPhone in many circumstances. If I use iMessage people will message me there asking to meet up, etc.. and actually I won't receive those messages until I get home and boot up my Mac. Most people spend the vast majority of their time at work, or out of their home for whatever reason. Using iMessage on a Mac without an iPhone is a bit like the messaging version of only having a landline phone.
glhaynes 10y ago
Window edges now snap to other windows' edges/display edges. (No doubt doable with a 3rd party component before, but not built-in.) Also, tabs (like in a browser) are now available in most of the built-in apps and lots of 3rd party ones.
- eridius 10y ago
  3rd party apps could reposition your windows for you, but I'm not aware of any that could do this sort of behavior in the middle of dragging a window.

vlunkr 10y ago

I guess my question is what non-iOS features do we want? I'm already pretty happy with macOS, and I don't really care to see updates just for the sake of updates. iOS integration may just be a place they feel like they are lacking.

glhaynes 10y ago
Main thing that comes to my mind is a new file system (and associated revamps of Time Machine/Versions/etc to take advantage), which is clearly being worked on and just isn't ready yet. I might be annoyed with the lack of new stuff if I'd paid $129 for Sierra, but, as a free update it's fine and I'm more than happy for them to let the FS stuff mature until it's ready. As a user of both platforms (which I'm sure is true for a very large portion of their macOS users), the iOS integration stuff of the last several releases is very valuable and has been toward the top of my wishlist.
- vlunkr 10y ago
  now that you mention filesystem, I would love to be rid of DS_store and other garbage hidden files they love to create.