5 ms·

On the plus side compared to its main competitor, when you uncheck “Automatically keep my Mac up to date,” it won’t spontaneously reboot your computer and kick

On the plus side compared to its main competitor, when you uncheck “Automatically keep my Mac up to date,” it won’t spontaneously reboot your computer and kick off an update while you need to use it. I had no idea updates got slower in Big Sur, because I hit the install button and go to bed. It could take 8 hours for all I care.

intricatedetail 6y ago
I think M$ did this as a favour for people who need to weasel out of meetings etc. "Sorry guys Windows triggered an update." and that will sound plausible where in reality you had to close the laptop to spread a line on the lid.
trevorishere 6y ago
Big Sur updates are as bad as applying any patch to Windows Server 2016. But I agree, less of an issue given it attempts to auto update overnight.
- will4274 6y ago
  Windows also updates overnight.
  - craftinator 6y ago
    > Windows also updates overnight. Lol not for me.
    - mmis1000 6y ago
      It tries to guess when will you use the computer(you can also change it in the config), except it did not work for everyone.
wlesieutre 6y ago
Most painful thing in Big Sur for me is all the paid major updates to utilities because it broke compatibility with a bunch of stuff. Even bigger headache for the developers of said utilities, but they’re at least getting paid for it.
- katbyte 6y ago
  I think if my 20/30 paid apps only 2 needed $ for big air - really bit that bad (for me)
fortran77 6y ago
> it won’t spontaneously reboot your computer and kick off an update while you need to use it. I've never had this happen on Windows. The worst effect is when I want to shut down and it installs an update before powering off.
cptskippy 6y ago
> it won’t spontaneously reboot your computer and kick off an update while you need to use it. That only happened if you ignored and dismissed updates for weeks. It's amazing how much hyperbole is permitted around here as long as it's about Windows.
- wlesieutre 6y ago
  If 5 years after release, Windows 10's "active hours" setting wasn't still braindead, I would be more inclined to cut them some slack. But it still hasn't occurred to anyone at Microsoft that the hours I need my home computer to be functional might not be the same on a Wednesday and a Saturday. Even with working from home during COVID where I'm using my Windows machine for a large chunk of every day and the weekday/weekend use patterns are more similar, they're still not the same. And not everyone is on an office worker's weekday/weekend schedule either. If it's so important that updates can be installed all the time, just give me a damn weekly calendar and let me say when to do it. "Active Hours" is already buried in a nested page of UI with mostly empty space, it's not like this would over complicate the settings app or take up room that they can't spare. https://i.imgur.com/x5I65Jx.png https://i.imgur.com/x5I65Jx.png A $10 clock/radio has more sophisticated and user-friendly alarm scheduling than Microsoft has managed to create in the world's most popular desktop operating system. Edit to add: why does "Update and Shut Down" mean "Update and Shut Down then Update a Bit More When Turned Back On Later"? Even if it has to reboot a couple times before staying off, "Update and Shut Down" should have the updates completely done the next time I turn it on to use it. Edit 2: Also should point out that the "reopen apps after restart" feature on macOS is pretty much universally supported across apps and works nearly flawlessly. You can reboot and hardly notice it happened afterward. Not as much the case for Windows, where a forced reboot when you're away from the computer is probably going to destroy any unsaved changes in documents that you had open. Apple has been working on seamless reboots since 2011 (OS X Lion) instead of just shoving in "3 AM is update time and we're forcing your computer to reboot, hope you didn't need the stuff you left open yesterday."
  - layer8 6y ago
    I fully agree. Luckily there’s RebootBlocker: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25971264 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25971264

intricatedetail 6y ago

I think M$ did this as a favour for people who need to weasel out of meetings etc. "Sorry guys Windows triggered an update." and that will sound plausible where in reality you had to close the laptop to spread a line on the lid.

trevorishere 6y ago

Big Sur updates are as bad as applying any patch to Windows Server 2016. But I agree, less of an issue given it attempts to auto update overnight.

will4274 6y ago
Windows also updates overnight.
- craftinator 6y ago
  > Windows also updates overnight. Lol not for me.
  - mmis1000 6y ago
    It tries to guess when will you use the computer(you can also change it in the config), except it did not work for everyone.

wlesieutre 6y ago

Most painful thing in Big Sur for me is all the paid major updates to utilities because it broke compatibility with a bunch of stuff. Even bigger headache for the developers of said utilities, but they’re at least getting paid for it.

katbyte 6y ago
I think if my 20/30 paid apps only 2 needed $ for big air - really bit that bad (for me)

fortran77 6y ago

> it won’t spontaneously reboot your computer and kick off an update while you need to use it. I've never had this happen on Windows. The worst effect is when I want to shut down and it installs an update before powering off.

cptskippy 6y ago

> it won’t spontaneously reboot your computer and kick off an update while you need to use it. That only happened if you ignored and dismissed updates for weeks. It's amazing how much hyperbole is permitted around here as long as it's about Windows.

wlesieutre 6y ago
If 5 years after release, Windows 10's "active hours" setting wasn't still braindead, I would be more inclined to cut them some slack. But it still hasn't occurred to anyone at Microsoft that the hours I need my home computer to be functional might not be the same on a Wednesday and a Saturday. Even with working from home during COVID where I'm using my Windows machine for a large chunk of every day and the weekday/weekend use patterns are more similar, they're still not the same. And not everyone is on an office worker's weekday/weekend schedule either. If it's so important that updates can be installed all the time, just give me a damn weekly calendar and let me say when to do it. "Active Hours" is already buried in a nested page of UI with mostly empty space, it's not like this would over complicate the settings app or take up room that they can't spare. https://i.imgur.com/x5I65Jx.png https://i.imgur.com/x5I65Jx.png A $10 clock/radio has more sophisticated and user-friendly alarm scheduling than Microsoft has managed to create in the world's most popular desktop operating system. Edit to add: why does "Update and Shut Down" mean "Update and Shut Down then Update a Bit More When Turned Back On Later"? Even if it has to reboot a couple times before staying off, "Update and Shut Down" should have the updates completely done the next time I turn it on to use it. Edit 2: Also should point out that the "reopen apps after restart" feature on macOS is pretty much universally supported across apps and works nearly flawlessly. You can reboot and hardly notice it happened afterward. Not as much the case for Windows, where a forced reboot when you're away from the computer is probably going to destroy any unsaved changes in documents that you had open. Apple has been working on seamless reboots since 2011 (OS X Lion) instead of just shoving in "3 AM is update time and we're forcing your computer to reboot, hope you didn't need the stuff you left open yesterday."
- layer8 6y ago
  I fully agree. Luckily there’s RebootBlocker: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25971264 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25971264