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Apple Core Rot: Introduction

162 points by mikecane 14y ago

mergy 14y ago
Just excellent.
Someone 14y ago
Lots of opinion, but extremely few facts. I'll limit myself to one example: Mac OS X gets worse and worse because of its _continued_ use of HFS Plus?
- sigzero 14y ago
  I wonder if Apple is even contemplating that one?
- wmf 14y ago
  Perhaps the author's expectations are increasing over time. If HFS+ stays the same, that means it is worse and worse compared to the state of the art.
- ksec 14y ago
  Exactly... >>Having been a professional software engineer (C++, Java, assembly code, drivers, compression, encryption, threading, server code) for 25 years, and having used Macs since they first appeared back in the early 1980’s, I have a long and deep perspective on the evolution of Mac OS X (now just “OS X”). I expect A LOT more then that is that is really what he did.
darkxanthos 14y ago
I personally have been feeling the quality bar slipping but this article goes way too far. For me things aren't that bad but I can see where it's heading. Hoping to get another 5-10 years out of the Apple ecosystem.
- nodata 14y ago
  Hardware support should be better. I've had at least four firmware updates since the Air was released, which seems extraordinarily high for a product in a closed ecosystem.
- venus 14y ago
  And by the time that 5-10 years is up we will probably be in the middle of a huge paradigm shift. I am not sure of the details but I think everyone can sort of sense it on the distant horizon. Yeah, OSX is subject to consumerisation. So is Windows. I don't think it will get too bad though - after all, the Apple developers have to use it. I think we just have to kind of roll with it. The consumerisation of computing has a momentum all its own and I don't think anyone knows where it is going to end up.
- Ixiaus 14y ago
  It has been slipping - to the point that I've been considering moving to a linux machine next instead of upgrading my Mac.
stcredzero 14y ago
> Time Machine Silently Excludes Critical Data Sorry, but you simply didn't read the docs when setting up backup of your critical data. It's explicit that Time Machine does not back up removable drives. Try: http://www.bombich.com/ http://www.bombich.com/ EDIT: Apparently, this runs deeper. Time Machine mistakenly marks his internal drives as removables. However, he also states that he's done lots of system modding and that he has 10 internal drives. I don't think he's the target user TM was designed for. I'm not either. I have also had some TM problems and now use CCC as my primary backup, with TM as a convenience and secondary backup. > Finder Refuses to Delete 'Backup Items' Author states he uses OS X for serious work, and implies he has the technical wherewithal to evaluate OS X's stability and coding excellence. Apparently, he's not a programmer, or not one competent enough to use lsof and kill. > Bottom line: Fusion as-is and as supplied by Apple is OK (maybe, hard to say for sure in multi-drive systems). Other than that, messing around carries some ugly risks. Sorry, but if you mod your setup, then you should look in the mirror when you complain. For what you want to do there, you should be using diskutil corestorage on the command line. However, the diskutil GUI doesn't tell end users everything about corestorage yet, and I agree that this is bad. It contravenes expectations established by Disk Utility and OS X in the past -- without sufficiently warning users.
- chmars 14y ago
  What's the connection between a complaint about Time Machine's silent exclusion of critical data and Time Machine's missing support for removable drives?
  - X-Istence 14y ago
    Yo dawg I heard you like backups so I made a backup of your backup on your backup. The idea here is that Time Machine is generally not useful on transient drives that come and go, thus for each time that you plug in the drive Time Machine would have to re-scan the entire drive looking for changes, to then back those changes up to yet another external drive. Time Machine is meant to protect the files on your computer, not those on external media. Do I agree with that? No, I think I should be able to specify that Disk A should have a Time Machine backup on Disk B, and that Disk A and B are stationary to my desk, but most people don't need that. There is no requirement for that, people want to backup their main hard drive to an external so that in case something goes wrong their data is safe. The authors complaint seems to stem from the fact that Time Machine can't find a drive to backup to (which BTW, Time Machine will warn you about every single day that it is unable to backup), probably because he spent an awful amount of time partitioning his drives in weird ways with weird names, and copying stuff back and forth thereby probably getting all drives tagged by Time Machine as not viable for a backup location. -- Personally I haven't had any issues with Time Machine. I've got it setup over iSCSI to an OpenIndiana host and to a local 1TB external drive and all is well, haven't had any issues what so ever with it no backing up data, and restoring has been a breeze in the past.
vor_ 14y ago
This is a very subjective and vague list of criticisms. It reminds me of the iPod haters around 2003 who didn't like that Apple was spending so much time on its music player. I mean, what exactly is he talking about when he says OS X is becoming more of an entertainment platform or that features are getting "dumbed down"? No examples are given, so apparently it's just a general feeling he has. Due to its lack of details, the article isn't persuasive.
- mikecane 14y ago
  >>>an entertainment platform or that features are getting "dumbed down"? No examples are given One thing he mentioned was keyboard shortcuts removed from iPhoto. "iPhoto — arbitrary removal of keyboard shortcuts and similar made a slightly useful program into a useless toy."
  - simonh 14y ago
    If only it had an alternate user interface, like a GUI or something.
    - mikecane 14y ago
      Heh. Mac OS had keyboard shortcuts from the beginning, tho.
alimoeeny 14y ago
I would not have believed the "Finder can't copy files reliably" if it had not happend to me more than once, (lost parts of the code + .git directory)
- weiran 14y ago
  I wonder if this is more to do with HFS+ rather than Finder.
  - alimoeeny 14y ago
    Yes, I don't know if it is the Finder itself, or so other part of the OS/kernel that is in fault, and NO, I don't know how to reproduce it because it is such a scary experience (happend two or three times if I remember correctly) that I don't even want to go explore it, since I never even received an automated acknowledgment email from apple for bug reports or dump posts or anything like that. One time, there was a directory deep inside the one that was beeng moved that had the same name as the top level (I don't know if this was related to the error though) and midway there was a useless error saying some error happened and half the files could not be found not in the source not destination.
- X-Istence 14y ago
  Is there a way to reproduce this? I haven't had any issues with losing files from Finder in any way shape or form.
peterevans 14y ago
> OS X is degrading into a base for an entertainment platform. As it stands, the trend is entirely downhill for serious work (albeit a mild grade so far, but steadily downhill nonetheless). When was OS X not an entertainment platform? iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes -- these applications have been around for a long time.
- X-Istence 14y ago
  OS X is less of an entertainment platform than Windows ... when you look at the fact that games are still almost always released for Windows only/first. OS X was and still is a platform for creating, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, and I would even go so far as putting iWork into that same category. Windows has Windows Movie Maker but it doesn't compare to iMovie in terms of output and the kinds of things the average user can accomplish with it.
  - rednukleus 14y ago
    I think you are both missing the point. The author is trying to argue that Apple are removing features and "dumbing down" the OS, to make it easier for casual users to use it as an entertainment hub.
  - WayneDB 14y ago
    OS X is less of an entertainment platform than Windows and it's also less of a business platform than Windows.
  - simonh 14y ago
    There's also a lot more to entertainment than games. iTunes is the dominant media application, and it's so much better on OSX than Windows. A lot of people consume their entertainment online nowadays anyway, my kids are growing up that way. Between Steam for Mac and the Mac App store availability of top tier games on the Mac is excellent and getting better all the time. Can't play Far Cry 3? Oh well, I'll just play Portal 2, CoD Black Ops or The Darkness II instead and there are scads more. +1 for your point about creating though. Both my kids are very musical and are playing with Garageband on the iPad already, and when they're a little older it's there for them on the desktop too. My eldest is getting into photography as well and while she may well outgrow iPhoto at some point, it's hard to imagine a better way to get started. But then I'm squarely in Apple's largest target demographic for the Mac. That doesn't mean the mac is only for home users though, any more than Windows is only for gamers and Enterprise users. It's just that those are their particular strengths.
napierzaza 14y ago
What? Each of those bulleted points need supporting "evidence" or at least anecdotes. And the proofs below are fewer than the arguments. And after arguing that Apple doesn't do "productivity" apps anymore, most of the OP's proofs are for leisure apps like iPhoto and iTunes. Apple doesn't use ZFS is a real argument in there? File systems are contentious for a lot of reasons. And I'm not sure who DOES use ZFS anyhow.
morty16 14y ago
>Deprecation with threat of removal of robust long-standing threading APIs with rewrite required. What's he referring to here?
- Ixiaus 14y ago
  Grand Central probably? They might be enforcing its use and deprecating other API's.
  - jevinskie 14y ago
    pthreads isn't going anywhere. Grand Central Dispatch uses it!
- X-Istence 14y ago
  I'd like to know as well, and I wasn't able to find it in any of the rest of his articles...
- chrisdevereux 14y ago
  Probably talking about the old carbon threading apis, which were depracated along with the rest of carbon in 10.8. I'd be surprised if anyone has been using them since 2006.
CletusTSJY 14y ago
Don't the bullet points all repeat themselves. It could have been just: * Software products are being dumbed down for novices at the expense of power users * OSX isn't getting enough attention because the iPhone and iPad are so big now
minikites 14y ago
> This problem is only an issue for those doing certain types of upgrades; it won’t occur with as-shipped Fusion setups. But it shows an inattention to detail with severe consequences— many users do modify their systems. So if you go way out of your way to DIY a Fusion Drive and set up all of the pieces required, it becomes Apple's fault when Disk Utility fails to acknowledge your heavy modifications? I wonder if the author gets mad that you can't move files out of /System and still expect the Mac to boot. After all, many users do move files.
- STRML 14y ago
  Even with a DIY Fusion setup, Disk Utility unhelpfully offering to wipe all your drives to fix a filesystem error points to a pretty major bug in Disk Utility's decision-making capabilities.
blowski 14y ago
When I was young OSX, was so much better. It used to read my mind and produce everything I needed even before I'd thought of it. Including coffee, and sweet blueberry muffins. Without even plugging it in or turning it on. It was so much better than Windows. These days, it is merely an operating system. I may switch to Arch Linux, which I hear has a voice-activated Cappuccino machine and dry cleans shirts.
logn 14y ago
"OS X is degrading into a base for an entertainment platform. As it stands, the trend is entirely downhill for serious work..." ->Interesting. I see more and more developers switching to Mac and taking it seriously. My last office switched completely from Ubuntu to Mac. "OS updates are fast and furious— a lot of hype but little of real value..." ->The real value is stability. I don't care for a 100% revamped UI every 4 years like Microsoft pushes. I like a familiar platform that is steadily improved. "Core operating system quality is declining as resources are diverted to software development in more profitable lines" ->The core OS is Unix. Unix has had decades to get it right and I doubt Apple is somehow ruining it in the last few years. Yes, Apple focuses attention to the consumer appliances, but I feel that's mostly because investors and press are obsessed with that so that's just what it appears to us. I suspect they fund Mac OS pretty well. "We begin to tread in dangerous territory: potential data loss" ->I agree here 100%. I've seen too many Time Machine problems. "Developers are forced without recourse (by API changes and Apple Store requirements) into costly and arbitrary updates which themselves carry the risk of new bugs." ->I wouldn't know. The great thing about Mac is that it's a good OS for webapp development which I focus on. So I encounter none of these issues. "Useful functionality is prohibited in the name of security." ->Have you been around in that last 20 years? Do you like ActiveX and Applet plugins in browsers too? "Outright removal of an API in a minor release." ->Well, if you know that, isn't that half the battle? Pay attention to minor releases then. Maybe since they can't really upgrade beyond the major version of 10... "Apple’s iron hand over what constitutes a 'right and proper' application leaves no room for disagreement." ->Agreed this is a step backwards. But the blame is partly on users for accepting this. "Hardware for professional use is released in 3-6 year cycles (Mac Pro), or is dropped entirely (XServe and related)." ->All the professionals I know like the MacBook Airs increasingly. Hardware has stagnated overall in the industry. Apple has pushed forward with thinner cases, NAND drives, and Retina displays: much more innovation than competitors. "The trend to a new breed of 'shallow' features: those useful only for beginners and entertainment" ->Bells and whistles sell. So sue them. They got the core, essential features done on the first OSX release. "The general dumbing-down of features in every Apple OS X program." ->I like this. The default OS X software is more about managing your life. I don't need a fancy shortcut to sync my camera to iPhoto (no idea if this exists). I need shortcuts for development where it actually saves time since I rebuild 50 times a day, and Xcode for instance has configurable shortcuts. "The general trend to introducing stupidly inappropriate iOS-isms into OS X (e.g., Mission Control)." ->Really? "The OS X donkey cart is getting loaded with ribbons and flyers and decorations and marching band" ->Did you run out of ideas for the article at this point? "So-called OS X 'upgrades' now consist largely of ill-conceived dilettante eye-candy features that reduce usability, clutter the user interface and introduce scads of new bugs." ->Apple QA could improve. But I think their UI's have steadily improved which is important. Look at the first release of OSX to now: much better. "The real talent at Apple has probably been diverted away from OS X to iP* development" ->[citation needed]
chaostheory 14y ago
> Outright removal of an API in a minor release. Deprecation with threat of removal of robust long-standing threading APIs with rewrite required. Hasn't Apple always done this even before OSX? I could be wrong, but I vaguely remember Joel Spolsky writing about this as a core difference between MS and Apple.
jeffehobbs 14y ago
This essay starts strong and goes down fast. It would have been improved by fewer examples and a greater depth on each one. C-
- untog 14y ago
  Yeah, it's a little bit of a 'turd in the punchbowl' with regards to OS X criticism. I stand by my opinion that Snow Leopard was the last version of OS X that I felt truly enhanced my experience, but a lot of what he says in the article is nonsense.
  - rsync 14y ago
    Snow Leopard was indeed the high water mark for OSX, and probably will be. It will be a real shame when SL is end of lifed and 3rd parties no longer target it, etc.
    - zwass 14y ago
      Even Apple doesn't target it anymore... XCode.
nikcub 14y ago
The biggest bug for me in OS X is the lack of emphasis on backward compatibility. I can pick up a copy of Windows 8 today and it will still run SIMCITY.EXE from 1992. A month ago I had to upgrade my entire operating system (and lose a ton of customizations I had made) because the new XCode wouldn't run on my two year old Macbook.
- stephencanon 14y ago
  That's forward compatibility, not backwards compatibility. Will the SimCity being released next month run on Windows 3.1? (Of course not, that's an intentionally extreme example, but you're fundamentally talking about two different things -- new app on old OS vs. old app on new OS).
  - aviraldg 14y ago
    Forward compatibility for the software, backward compatibility for the OS. Nitpicking, but still.
  - nikcub 14y ago
    You're right, bad example. A better example is that I spent a decade on VC++ 6.0 without upgrading and could still build software and use SDK's for and from future versions of Windows. On OS X it started with wanting to test an iOS 6 feature, which required the new simulator, which required the new SDK, which required the new XCode, and before I knew it I was upgrading the entire operating system.
    - veemjeem 14y ago
      I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but Apple isn't on the PowerPC or MC68k arch anymore. Would you expect them to continue supporting apps that were made to run on the PowerPC & Motorola 68k chips too?
      - nikcub 14y ago
        i'm not asking for 10 years, just more than ~2 there is no technical reason why the latest iPhone SDK cannot run on Snow Leopard[0]. this is purely apple forcing users into the upgrade cycle and everything that comes with it - the App Store, code signing, etc. [0] it has been backported and works. see: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9613565/is-it-possible-to-get-the-ios-5-1-sdk-for-xcode-4-2-on-snow-leopard http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9613565/is-it-possible-to... amongst others. It is as easy as copying the library over.
X-Istence 14y ago
There is a lot to complain about in OS X, but as a programmer I am not sure I would have picked the points he did. Things like kqueue() support not being up to par with the other kqueue() providers, notably FreeBSD. kqueue() is considered so broken by libev for example that it just doesn't use it. The deprecation of OpenSSL (although I'm happy about that, but installing a secondary OpenSSL alongside the OS provided one can break things, so you have to install to a separate path and use include directives in your compile line, and or an alternate pkg-config path). The fact that a replacement libc++ now exists, but parts are still using the old stdlibc++ and the two can't be linked together if you use std::string for example, thus making it harder to use C++11 features. This is going to be an issue for a little bit, but hopefully that gets better. Outdated utilities or libraries make life more difficult, however a lot of that can be fixed with homebrew. Debugging USB issues is more difficult than it should be, this is especially an issue when attempting to figure out why a driver from a vendor crashes when you use certain USB to serial devices. The new sandboxing requirement for apps while making everything a little more secure makes it more difficult to make certain types of apps ... slowly but surely new API's or permissions are being made available to fix those issues, or at least improve the pain points.
- paddy_m 14y ago
  Do you have some links with information about kqueue being broken? I know that the python integration doesn't work well. We started using polling on OS X instead of watchdog's kqueue driver. http://pypi.python.org/pypi/watchdog http://pypi.python.org/pypi/watchdog
  - X-Istence 14y ago
    http://pod.tst.eu/http://cvs.schmorp.de/libev/ev.pod#code_kqueue_code_is_buggy http://pod.tst.eu/http://cvs.schmorp.de/libev/ev.pod#code_kq... kqueue()'s support of process monitoring on OS X doesn't allow for tracking of new processes that are created, and automatically attaching to them. There are also differences that make it more difficult to port various kqueue() features from one platform to another. I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes to you. The documentation on OS X is also lacking, for example EVFILT_USER is supported on Darwin/XNU but it is not documented in the man page for kqueue.
jpxxx 14y ago
The execution is spastic but the intent is correct: substantial portions of the Apple codebase are lipsticked pigs. Mail.app is, to my mind, the single most flagrant troublemaker in small-biz use. But there are thousands of little cockroaches found all over the place and I can't stop seeing them anymore.
- revscat 14y ago
  What's the matter with Mail.app? I've used it quite successfully in various office settings with no problems.
  - M4v3R 14y ago
    I also use Mail.app all the time. Tried the alternatives, but they don't add enough value for me to switch.
  - jpxxx 14y ago
    here we go! -- Doesn't (officially) support HTML signatures. -- Requires a lengthy reindex on any internal database change, which can happen multiple times a year. -- Severe, egregious issues with corrupted or blanked out Keychain entries -- Easily works itself into a lather where it cannot properly authenticate with anything until the entire system is restarted -- GMail IMAP sync-thrashing and message corruption that can render some accounts unusable -- Crashes on queueing massive message previews -- Customers almost uniformly loathe the recent UI changes -- The new search UI is nearly unusable for most, requires frequent spotlight rebuilds -- Drafts-on-server duping -- Plugin hassles and failures, especially as regards Archive Utility and PDF handling -- Evaporating local folders -- New rules about Archiving that don't play nicely with grandfathered Archives -- Auto-setup of new accounts that gets hung so badly you have to back in a patently entry just to get the chance to hand-edit settings It is unreliable and unfit for heavy duty use. I've lost a third of my customers to Outlook.
headShrinker 14y ago
This article is dribble. Some of these are issues some are not. All of this is hyperbole and has little to with reality. Phrases like "can't copy" are a red herring, as copying is easy and reliable, HFS vs. ZFS, Etc etc. Very few, if any facts or evidence.
- jff 14y ago
  The word is "drivel".
Osmium 14y ago
There's a lot of misinformation and half-truths in this article. To pick one example, the filesystem: yes, we're sadly not using ZFS but that's in all likelihood due to licensing restrictions, not because Apple thinks HFS+ doesn't need replacing. What Apple has done is introduce CoreStorage, a "storage virtualisation system" (see link below), which beyond allowing new features to be added now (e.g. full disk encryption), will presumably allow easier migration to a new filesystem in future. And this was added in Lion. http://blog.fosketts.net/2011/08/04/mac-osx-lion-corestorage-volume-manager/ http://blog.fosketts.net/2011/08/04/mac-osx-lion-corestorage... As a self-described power user, I've found 10.8 to be a nice upgrade on 10.7 and worlds better than 10.6. That's not to say there aren't issues -- there are many, as there are with any OS -- but Apple currently isn't showing any sign of slowing down, with many of the issues I've experienced having been fixed in 10.8, while any power user is quite capable of disabling new consumer-facing features that don't benefit them (e.g. Launchpad, iCloud). Edit: reading further, there's a better example -- the author's criticism of Fusion Drives. I quote "Bottom line: Fusion as-is and as supplied by Apple is OK (maybe, hard to say for sure in multi-drive systems). Other than that, messing around carries some ugly risks." Not only are Apple's Fusion drives a new technology (and it's a relatively pioneering one at that, at least in the consumer space -- they're not HDDs with an SSD cache, but rather SSD/HDD hybrids that intelligently move data from one to the other), thus disproving the point that Apple isn't innovating on OS X anymore, but his criticisms apply when you're making your own Fusion drive, rather than buying a computer with a Fusion drive installed. This is something unsupported right now, especially since Fusion drives have only existed for several months, so although of course it should be fixed I don't think Apple deserves too much criticism for this. Second edit: this is perhaps controversial, but I think it comes down to the difference between a power user and a dangerous user. Power users who have to get work done will generally stick to supported system configurations, or will be damn careful (and with full knowledge of what might happen if things go wrong) if doing anything unsupported. I don't think any "power user" would have a custom Fusion drive setup and then complain about Apple when something goes wrong. That's not to say all of the criticisms in the article are wrong, because they're not, and some are quite serious. But some things are definitely disingenuous too.
- rayiner 14y ago
  What's the value of ZFS on a client platform on an SSD?
lucian1900 14y ago
This is a more general trend in computing. iOS and similar are much too popular with "normal" people for anyone to still care about having a real general purpose machine. It worries me.
khitchdee 14y ago
Apple's product design philosophy is getting diluted: http://nextbigwhat.com/forum/discussion/1677/apple039s-product-design-philosophy-is-getting-diluted#Item_1 http://nextbigwhat.com/forum/discussion/1677/apple039s-produ...
rayiner 14y ago
He says the platform is going downhill and becoming entertainment only, then mentions a bunch of stuff that is either a new addition or media-related. E.g. iTunes doesn't suck any more now than it ever has, nor does the Finder. Relative to OS X 10.2, 10.8 has: 1) full screen support, which is a huge advantage to coding on a constrained laptop screen; the newest Emacs supports it, so you can easily swipe between your editor, your browser, etc. 2) much better and more complete POSIX support; 3) an entirely new tool-chain in Clang/LLVM; XCode sucks, but it has always sucked; 4) fleshing out of little low-level features (improved Obj-C runtime, thread local storage, etc) I just don't see anything non-trivial that OS X 10.8 can't do that say 10.2 could do, and a lot that's the opposite.
- wmf 14y ago
  OTOH, full screen works worse on large monitors, spaces is worse, save as was removed, etc.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- fyolnish 14y ago
  > XCode sucks, but it has always sucked Xcode 3's degree of suck wasn't anywhere near 4's..
urlwolf 14y ago
I'm sort of happy that these things (bitching about your OS) happen for OSX too. I'd recommend to have a look at gnome shell. I was pleasantly surprised, many good UX decisions there. I switched to it from awesomewm.
SeanLuke 14y ago
Wow, that list of problematic Apple products doesn't even include the buggiest, unrecoverable-crashiest, worst-interface-with-a-bullet Apple product I have ever had the misfortune to be forced to use: Final Cut Pro X. With near-zero documentation and essentially required additional-cost "options" like Compressor. The reviews and feedback on this thing are absolutely dismal. Of course, you could use iMovie. Which has a posterization bug so big you can drive a truck though it, making it of little value for HD. Still unfixed after at least three years. http://www.aibal.com/imovie-banding-posterization/ http://www.aibal.com/imovie-banding-posterization/
nvarsj 14y ago
I think part of the problem w/ performance issues is that Apple doesn't seem to give a crap about older hardware. The upgrade from snow leopard to lion pretty much left my mid 2009 macbook pro unusable. After many miserable months I gave up and switched over to a linux desktop for full time development work. However, my brand new shiny 2012 macbook air _flies_. It's about as fast (build times, and what not), as my 2009 era desktop running linux. I have had similar experiences with my iphone hardware. You have to keep upgrading hardware if you want to keep up with the latest software. Given that, there are still some awful bugs in later incarnations of OS X that remain unfixed. For example, lion's retina support broke external 30" displays in landscape mode. This is still not fixed 2 years later, despite bug reports and a very easy to reproduce problem. Apple just doesn't give a f*ck about power users anymore.
- epochwolf 14y ago
  My early 2008 macbook pro runs Mountain Lion (10.8) just fine. If I added an SSD it would be much faster but I don't feel like removing 40 screws. :)
- oeufsaujambon 14y ago
  > I think part of the problem w/ performance issues is that Apple doesn't seem to give a crap about older hardware. The upgrade from snow leopard to lion pretty much left my mid 2009 macbook pro unusable. Just curious, in what way did the upgrade make you MacBook Pro unusable? I had a 2007 MBP that used up until August 2012 running Mountain Lion and never had performance issues. Eventually the keyboard died and rather than repair it, I sold the laptop and replaced it with an 11" MacBook Air (which has been great thus far).

162 points by mikecane 14y ago

mergy 14y ago

Just excellent.

Lots of opinion, but extremely few facts. I'll limit myself to one example: Mac OS X gets worse and worse because of its _continued_ use of HFS Plus?

sigzero 14y ago
I wonder if Apple is even contemplating that one?
wmf 14y ago
Perhaps the author's expectations are increasing over time. If HFS+ stays the same, that means it is worse and worse compared to the state of the art.
ksec 14y ago
Exactly... >>Having been a professional software engineer (C++, Java, assembly code, drivers, compression, encryption, threading, server code) for 25 years, and having used Macs since they first appeared back in the early 1980’s, I have a long and deep perspective on the evolution of Mac OS X (now just “OS X”). I expect A LOT more then that is that is really what he did.

darkxanthos 14y ago

I personally have been feeling the quality bar slipping but this article goes way too far. For me things aren't that bad but I can see where it's heading. Hoping to get another 5-10 years out of the Apple ecosystem.

nodata 14y ago
Hardware support should be better. I've had at least four firmware updates since the Air was released, which seems extraordinarily high for a product in a closed ecosystem.
venus 14y ago
And by the time that 5-10 years is up we will probably be in the middle of a huge paradigm shift. I am not sure of the details but I think everyone can sort of sense it on the distant horizon. Yeah, OSX is subject to consumerisation. So is Windows. I don't think it will get too bad though - after all, the Apple developers have to use it. I think we just have to kind of roll with it. The consumerisation of computing has a momentum all its own and I don't think anyone knows where it is going to end up.
Ixiaus 14y ago
It has been slipping - to the point that I've been considering moving to a linux machine next instead of upgrading my Mac.

stcredzero 14y ago

> Time Machine Silently Excludes Critical Data Sorry, but you simply didn't read the docs when setting up backup of your critical data. It's explicit that Time Machine does not back up removable drives. Try: http://www.bombich.com/ http://www.bombich.com/ EDIT: Apparently, this runs deeper. Time Machine mistakenly marks his internal drives as removables. However, he also states that he's done lots of system modding and that he has 10 internal drives. I don't think he's the target user TM was designed for. I'm not either. I have also had some TM problems and now use CCC as my primary backup, with TM as a convenience and secondary backup. > Finder Refuses to Delete 'Backup Items' Author states he uses OS X for serious work, and implies he has the technical wherewithal to evaluate OS X's stability and coding excellence. Apparently, he's not a programmer, or not one competent enough to use lsof and kill. > Bottom line: Fusion as-is and as supplied by Apple is OK (maybe, hard to say for sure in multi-drive systems). Other than that, messing around carries some ugly risks. Sorry, but if you mod your setup, then you should look in the mirror when you complain. For what you want to do there, you should be using diskutil corestorage on the command line. However, the diskutil GUI doesn't tell end users everything about corestorage yet, and I agree that this is bad. It contravenes expectations established by Disk Utility and OS X in the past -- without sufficiently warning users.

chmars 14y ago
What's the connection between a complaint about Time Machine's silent exclusion of critical data and Time Machine's missing support for removable drives?
- X-Istence 14y ago
  Yo dawg I heard you like backups so I made a backup of your backup on your backup. The idea here is that Time Machine is generally not useful on transient drives that come and go, thus for each time that you plug in the drive Time Machine would have to re-scan the entire drive looking for changes, to then back those changes up to yet another external drive. Time Machine is meant to protect the files on your computer, not those on external media. Do I agree with that? No, I think I should be able to specify that Disk A should have a Time Machine backup on Disk B, and that Disk A and B are stationary to my desk, but most people don't need that. There is no requirement for that, people want to backup their main hard drive to an external so that in case something goes wrong their data is safe. The authors complaint seems to stem from the fact that Time Machine can't find a drive to backup to (which BTW, Time Machine will warn you about every single day that it is unable to backup), probably because he spent an awful amount of time partitioning his drives in weird ways with weird names, and copying stuff back and forth thereby probably getting all drives tagged by Time Machine as not viable for a backup location. -- Personally I haven't had any issues with Time Machine. I've got it setup over iSCSI to an OpenIndiana host and to a local 1TB external drive and all is well, haven't had any issues what so ever with it no backing up data, and restoring has been a breeze in the past.

vor_ 14y ago

This is a very subjective and vague list of criticisms. It reminds me of the iPod haters around 2003 who didn't like that Apple was spending so much time on its music player. I mean, what exactly is he talking about when he says OS X is becoming more of an entertainment platform or that features are getting "dumbed down"? No examples are given, so apparently it's just a general feeling he has. Due to its lack of details, the article isn't persuasive.

mikecane 14y ago
>>>an entertainment platform or that features are getting "dumbed down"? No examples are given One thing he mentioned was keyboard shortcuts removed from iPhoto. "iPhoto — arbitrary removal of keyboard shortcuts and similar made a slightly useful program into a useless toy."
- simonh 14y ago
  If only it had an alternate user interface, like a GUI or something.
  - mikecane 14y ago
    Heh. Mac OS had keyboard shortcuts from the beginning, tho.

alimoeeny 14y ago

I would not have believed the "Finder can't copy files reliably" if it had not happend to me more than once, (lost parts of the code + .git directory)

weiran 14y ago
I wonder if this is more to do with HFS+ rather than Finder.
- alimoeeny 14y ago
  Yes, I don't know if it is the Finder itself, or so other part of the OS/kernel that is in fault, and NO, I don't know how to reproduce it because it is such a scary experience (happend two or three times if I remember correctly) that I don't even want to go explore it, since I never even received an automated acknowledgment email from apple for bug reports or dump posts or anything like that. One time, there was a directory deep inside the one that was beeng moved that had the same name as the top level (I don't know if this was related to the error though) and midway there was a useless error saying some error happened and half the files could not be found not in the source not destination.
X-Istence 14y ago
Is there a way to reproduce this? I haven't had any issues with losing files from Finder in any way shape or form.

peterevans 14y ago

> OS X is degrading into a base for an entertainment platform. As it stands, the trend is entirely downhill for serious work (albeit a mild grade so far, but steadily downhill nonetheless). When was OS X not an entertainment platform? iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes -- these applications have been around for a long time.

X-Istence 14y ago
OS X is less of an entertainment platform than Windows ... when you look at the fact that games are still almost always released for Windows only/first. OS X was and still is a platform for creating, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, and I would even go so far as putting iWork into that same category. Windows has Windows Movie Maker but it doesn't compare to iMovie in terms of output and the kinds of things the average user can accomplish with it.
- rednukleus 14y ago
  I think you are both missing the point. The author is trying to argue that Apple are removing features and "dumbing down" the OS, to make it easier for casual users to use it as an entertainment hub.
- WayneDB 14y ago
  OS X is less of an entertainment platform than Windows and it's also less of a business platform than Windows.
- simonh 14y ago
  There's also a lot more to entertainment than games. iTunes is the dominant media application, and it's so much better on OSX than Windows. A lot of people consume their entertainment online nowadays anyway, my kids are growing up that way. Between Steam for Mac and the Mac App store availability of top tier games on the Mac is excellent and getting better all the time. Can't play Far Cry 3? Oh well, I'll just play Portal 2, CoD Black Ops or The Darkness II instead and there are scads more. +1 for your point about creating though. Both my kids are very musical and are playing with Garageband on the iPad already, and when they're a little older it's there for them on the desktop too. My eldest is getting into photography as well and while she may well outgrow iPhoto at some point, it's hard to imagine a better way to get started. But then I'm squarely in Apple's largest target demographic for the Mac. That doesn't mean the mac is only for home users though, any more than Windows is only for gamers and Enterprise users. It's just that those are their particular strengths.

napierzaza 14y ago

What? Each of those bulleted points need supporting "evidence" or at least anecdotes. And the proofs below are fewer than the arguments. And after arguing that Apple doesn't do "productivity" apps anymore, most of the OP's proofs are for leisure apps like iPhoto and iTunes. Apple doesn't use ZFS is a real argument in there? File systems are contentious for a lot of reasons. And I'm not sure who DOES use ZFS anyhow.

morty16 14y ago

>Deprecation with threat of removal of robust long-standing threading APIs with rewrite required. What's he referring to here?

Ixiaus 14y ago
Grand Central probably? They might be enforcing its use and deprecating other API's.
- jevinskie 14y ago
  pthreads isn't going anywhere. Grand Central Dispatch uses it!
X-Istence 14y ago
I'd like to know as well, and I wasn't able to find it in any of the rest of his articles...
chrisdevereux 14y ago
Probably talking about the old carbon threading apis, which were depracated along with the rest of carbon in 10.8. I'd be surprised if anyone has been using them since 2006.

CletusTSJY 14y ago

Don't the bullet points all repeat themselves. It could have been just: * Software products are being dumbed down for novices at the expense of power users * OSX isn't getting enough attention because the iPhone and iPad are so big now

minikites 14y ago

> This problem is only an issue for those doing certain types of upgrades; it won’t occur with as-shipped Fusion setups. But it shows an inattention to detail with severe consequences— many users do modify their systems. So if you go way out of your way to DIY a Fusion Drive and set up all of the pieces required, it becomes Apple's fault when Disk Utility fails to acknowledge your heavy modifications? I wonder if the author gets mad that you can't move files out of /System and still expect the Mac to boot. After all, many users do move files.

STRML 14y ago
Even with a DIY Fusion setup, Disk Utility unhelpfully offering to wipe all your drives to fix a filesystem error points to a pretty major bug in Disk Utility's decision-making capabilities.

blowski 14y ago

When I was young OSX, was so much better. It used to read my mind and produce everything I needed even before I'd thought of it. Including coffee, and sweet blueberry muffins. Without even plugging it in or turning it on. It was so much better than Windows. These days, it is merely an operating system. I may switch to Arch Linux, which I hear has a voice-activated Cappuccino machine and dry cleans shirts.

logn 14y ago

"OS X is degrading into a base for an entertainment platform. As it stands, the trend is entirely downhill for serious work..." ->Interesting. I see more and more developers switching to Mac and taking it seriously. My last office switched completely from Ubuntu to Mac. "OS updates are fast and furious— a lot of hype but little of real value..." ->The real value is stability. I don't care for a 100% revamped UI every 4 years like Microsoft pushes. I like a familiar platform that is steadily improved. "Core operating system quality is declining as resources are diverted to software development in more profitable lines" ->The core OS is Unix. Unix has had decades to get it right and I doubt Apple is somehow ruining it in the last few years. Yes, Apple focuses attention to the consumer appliances, but I feel that's mostly because investors and press are obsessed with that so that's just what it appears to us. I suspect they fund Mac OS pretty well. "We begin to tread in dangerous territory: potential data loss" ->I agree here 100%. I've seen too many Time Machine problems. "Developers are forced without recourse (by API changes and Apple Store requirements) into costly and arbitrary updates which themselves carry the risk of new bugs." ->I wouldn't know. The great thing about Mac is that it's a good OS for webapp development which I focus on. So I encounter none of these issues. "Useful functionality is prohibited in the name of security." ->Have you been around in that last 20 years? Do you like ActiveX and Applet plugins in browsers too? "Outright removal of an API in a minor release." ->Well, if you know that, isn't that half the battle? Pay attention to minor releases then. Maybe since they can't really upgrade beyond the major version of 10... "Apple’s iron hand over what constitutes a 'right and proper' application leaves no room for disagreement." ->Agreed this is a step backwards. But the blame is partly on users for accepting this. "Hardware for professional use is released in 3-6 year cycles (Mac Pro), or is dropped entirely (XServe and related)." ->All the professionals I know like the MacBook Airs increasingly. Hardware has stagnated overall in the industry. Apple has pushed forward with thinner cases, NAND drives, and Retina displays: much more innovation than competitors. "The trend to a new breed of 'shallow' features: those useful only for beginners and entertainment" ->Bells and whistles sell. So sue them. They got the core, essential features done on the first OSX release. "The general dumbing-down of features in every Apple OS X program." ->I like this. The default OS X software is more about managing your life. I don't need a fancy shortcut to sync my camera to iPhoto (no idea if this exists). I need shortcuts for development where it actually saves time since I rebuild 50 times a day, and Xcode for instance has configurable shortcuts. "The general trend to introducing stupidly inappropriate iOS-isms into OS X (e.g., Mission Control)." ->Really? "The OS X donkey cart is getting loaded with ribbons and flyers and decorations and marching band" ->Did you run out of ideas for the article at this point? "So-called OS X 'upgrades' now consist largely of ill-conceived dilettante eye-candy features that reduce usability, clutter the user interface and introduce scads of new bugs." ->Apple QA could improve. But I think their UI's have steadily improved which is important. Look at the first release of OSX to now: much better. "The real talent at Apple has probably been diverted away from OS X to iP* development" ->[citation needed]

chaostheory 14y ago

> Outright removal of an API in a minor release. Deprecation with threat of removal of robust long-standing threading APIs with rewrite required. Hasn't Apple always done this even before OSX? I could be wrong, but I vaguely remember Joel Spolsky writing about this as a core difference between MS and Apple.

jeffehobbs 14y ago

This essay starts strong and goes down fast. It would have been improved by fewer examples and a greater depth on each one. C-

untog 14y ago
Yeah, it's a little bit of a 'turd in the punchbowl' with regards to OS X criticism. I stand by my opinion that Snow Leopard was the last version of OS X that I felt truly enhanced my experience, but a lot of what he says in the article is nonsense.
- rsync 14y ago
  Snow Leopard was indeed the high water mark for OSX, and probably will be. It will be a real shame when SL is end of lifed and 3rd parties no longer target it, etc.
  - zwass 14y ago
    Even Apple doesn't target it anymore... XCode.

nikcub 14y ago

The biggest bug for me in OS X is the lack of emphasis on backward compatibility. I can pick up a copy of Windows 8 today and it will still run SIMCITY.EXE from 1992. A month ago I had to upgrade my entire operating system (and lose a ton of customizations I had made) because the new XCode wouldn't run on my two year old Macbook.

stephencanon 14y ago
That's forward compatibility, not backwards compatibility. Will the SimCity being released next month run on Windows 3.1? (Of course not, that's an intentionally extreme example, but you're fundamentally talking about two different things -- new app on old OS vs. old app on new OS).
- aviraldg 14y ago
  Forward compatibility for the software, backward compatibility for the OS. Nitpicking, but still.
- nikcub 14y ago
  You're right, bad example. A better example is that I spent a decade on VC++ 6.0 without upgrading and could still build software and use SDK's for and from future versions of Windows. On OS X it started with wanting to test an iOS 6 feature, which required the new simulator, which required the new SDK, which required the new XCode, and before I knew it I was upgrading the entire operating system.
  - veemjeem 14y ago
    I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but Apple isn't on the PowerPC or MC68k arch anymore. Would you expect them to continue supporting apps that were made to run on the PowerPC & Motorola 68k chips too?
    - nikcub 14y ago
      i'm not asking for 10 years, just more than ~2 there is no technical reason why the latest iPhone SDK cannot run on Snow Leopard[0]. this is purely apple forcing users into the upgrade cycle and everything that comes with it - the App Store, code signing, etc. [0] it has been backported and works. see: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9613565/is-it-possible-to-get-the-ios-5-1-sdk-for-xcode-4-2-on-snow-leopard http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9613565/is-it-possible-to... amongst others. It is as easy as copying the library over.

X-Istence 14y ago

There is a lot to complain about in OS X, but as a programmer I am not sure I would have picked the points he did. Things like kqueue() support not being up to par with the other kqueue() providers, notably FreeBSD. kqueue() is considered so broken by libev for example that it just doesn't use it. The deprecation of OpenSSL (although I'm happy about that, but installing a secondary OpenSSL alongside the OS provided one can break things, so you have to install to a separate path and use include directives in your compile line, and or an alternate pkg-config path). The fact that a replacement libc++ now exists, but parts are still using the old stdlibc++ and the two can't be linked together if you use std::string for example, thus making it harder to use C++11 features. This is going to be an issue for a little bit, but hopefully that gets better. Outdated utilities or libraries make life more difficult, however a lot of that can be fixed with homebrew. Debugging USB issues is more difficult than it should be, this is especially an issue when attempting to figure out why a driver from a vendor crashes when you use certain USB to serial devices. The new sandboxing requirement for apps while making everything a little more secure makes it more difficult to make certain types of apps ... slowly but surely new API's or permissions are being made available to fix those issues, or at least improve the pain points.

paddy_m 14y ago
Do you have some links with information about kqueue being broken? I know that the python integration doesn't work well. We started using polling on OS X instead of watchdog's kqueue driver. http://pypi.python.org/pypi/watchdog http://pypi.python.org/pypi/watchdog
- X-Istence 14y ago
  http://pod.tst.eu/http://cvs.schmorp.de/libev/ev.pod#code_kqueue_code_is_buggy http://pod.tst.eu/http://cvs.schmorp.de/libev/ev.pod#code_kq... kqueue()'s support of process monitoring on OS X doesn't allow for tracking of new processes that are created, and automatically attaching to them. There are also differences that make it more difficult to port various kqueue() features from one platform to another. I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes to you. The documentation on OS X is also lacking, for example EVFILT_USER is supported on Darwin/XNU but it is not documented in the man page for kqueue.

jpxxx 14y ago

The execution is spastic but the intent is correct: substantial portions of the Apple codebase are lipsticked pigs. Mail.app is, to my mind, the single most flagrant troublemaker in small-biz use. But there are thousands of little cockroaches found all over the place and I can't stop seeing them anymore.

revscat 14y ago
What's the matter with Mail.app? I've used it quite successfully in various office settings with no problems.
- M4v3R 14y ago
  I also use Mail.app all the time. Tried the alternatives, but they don't add enough value for me to switch.
- jpxxx 14y ago
  here we go! -- Doesn't (officially) support HTML signatures. -- Requires a lengthy reindex on any internal database change, which can happen multiple times a year. -- Severe, egregious issues with corrupted or blanked out Keychain entries -- Easily works itself into a lather where it cannot properly authenticate with anything until the entire system is restarted -- GMail IMAP sync-thrashing and message corruption that can render some accounts unusable -- Crashes on queueing massive message previews -- Customers almost uniformly loathe the recent UI changes -- The new search UI is nearly unusable for most, requires frequent spotlight rebuilds -- Drafts-on-server duping -- Plugin hassles and failures, especially as regards Archive Utility and PDF handling -- Evaporating local folders -- New rules about Archiving that don't play nicely with grandfathered Archives -- Auto-setup of new accounts that gets hung so badly you have to back in a patently entry just to get the chance to hand-edit settings It is unreliable and unfit for heavy duty use. I've lost a third of my customers to Outlook.

headShrinker 14y ago

This article is dribble. Some of these are issues some are not. All of this is hyperbole and has little to with reality. Phrases like "can't copy" are a red herring, as copying is easy and reliable, HFS vs. ZFS, Etc etc. Very few, if any facts or evidence.

jff 14y ago
The word is "drivel".

Osmium 14y ago

There's a lot of misinformation and half-truths in this article. To pick one example, the filesystem: yes, we're sadly not using ZFS but that's in all likelihood due to licensing restrictions, not because Apple thinks HFS+ doesn't need replacing. What Apple has done is introduce CoreStorage, a "storage virtualisation system" (see link below), which beyond allowing new features to be added now (e.g. full disk encryption), will presumably allow easier migration to a new filesystem in future. And this was added in Lion. http://blog.fosketts.net/2011/08/04/mac-osx-lion-corestorage-volume-manager/ http://blog.fosketts.net/2011/08/04/mac-osx-lion-corestorage... As a self-described power user, I've found 10.8 to be a nice upgrade on 10.7 and worlds better than 10.6. That's not to say there aren't issues -- there are many, as there are with any OS -- but Apple currently isn't showing any sign of slowing down, with many of the issues I've experienced having been fixed in 10.8, while any power user is quite capable of disabling new consumer-facing features that don't benefit them (e.g. Launchpad, iCloud). Edit: reading further, there's a better example -- the author's criticism of Fusion Drives. I quote "Bottom line: Fusion as-is and as supplied by Apple is OK (maybe, hard to say for sure in multi-drive systems). Other than that, messing around carries some ugly risks." Not only are Apple's Fusion drives a new technology (and it's a relatively pioneering one at that, at least in the consumer space -- they're not HDDs with an SSD cache, but rather SSD/HDD hybrids that intelligently move data from one to the other), thus disproving the point that Apple isn't innovating on OS X anymore, but his criticisms apply when you're making your own Fusion drive, rather than buying a computer with a Fusion drive installed. This is something unsupported right now, especially since Fusion drives have only existed for several months, so although of course it should be fixed I don't think Apple deserves too much criticism for this. Second edit: this is perhaps controversial, but I think it comes down to the difference between a power user and a dangerous user. Power users who have to get work done will generally stick to supported system configurations, or will be damn careful (and with full knowledge of what might happen if things go wrong) if doing anything unsupported. I don't think any "power user" would have a custom Fusion drive setup and then complain about Apple when something goes wrong. That's not to say all of the criticisms in the article are wrong, because they're not, and some are quite serious. But some things are definitely disingenuous too.

rayiner 14y ago
What's the value of ZFS on a client platform on an SSD?

lucian1900 14y ago

This is a more general trend in computing. iOS and similar are much too popular with "normal" people for anyone to still care about having a real general purpose machine. It worries me.

khitchdee 14y ago

Apple's product design philosophy is getting diluted: http://nextbigwhat.com/forum/discussion/1677/apple039s-product-design-philosophy-is-getting-diluted#Item_1 http://nextbigwhat.com/forum/discussion/1677/apple039s-produ...

rayiner 14y ago

He says the platform is going downhill and becoming entertainment only, then mentions a bunch of stuff that is either a new addition or media-related. E.g. iTunes doesn't suck any more now than it ever has, nor does the Finder. Relative to OS X 10.2, 10.8 has: 1) full screen support, which is a huge advantage to coding on a constrained laptop screen; the newest Emacs supports it, so you can easily swipe between your editor, your browser, etc. 2) much better and more complete POSIX support; 3) an entirely new tool-chain in Clang/LLVM; XCode sucks, but it has always sucked; 4) fleshing out of little low-level features (improved Obj-C runtime, thread local storage, etc) I just don't see anything non-trivial that OS X 10.8 can't do that say 10.2 could do, and a lot that's the opposite.

wmf 14y ago
OTOH, full screen works worse on large monitors, spaces is worse, save as was removed, etc.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
fyolnish 14y ago
> XCode sucks, but it has always sucked Xcode 3's degree of suck wasn't anywhere near 4's..

urlwolf 14y ago

I'm sort of happy that these things (bitching about your OS) happen for OSX too. I'd recommend to have a look at gnome shell. I was pleasantly surprised, many good UX decisions there. I switched to it from awesomewm.

SeanLuke 14y ago

Wow, that list of problematic Apple products doesn't even include the buggiest, unrecoverable-crashiest, worst-interface-with-a-bullet Apple product I have ever had the misfortune to be forced to use: Final Cut Pro X. With near-zero documentation and essentially required additional-cost "options" like Compressor. The reviews and feedback on this thing are absolutely dismal. Of course, you could use iMovie. Which has a posterization bug so big you can drive a truck though it, making it of little value for HD. Still unfixed after at least three years. http://www.aibal.com/imovie-banding-posterization/ http://www.aibal.com/imovie-banding-posterization/

nvarsj 14y ago

I think part of the problem w/ performance issues is that Apple doesn't seem to give a crap about older hardware. The upgrade from snow leopard to lion pretty much left my mid 2009 macbook pro unusable. After many miserable months I gave up and switched over to a linux desktop for full time development work. However, my brand new shiny 2012 macbook air _flies_. It's about as fast (build times, and what not), as my 2009 era desktop running linux. I have had similar experiences with my iphone hardware. You have to keep upgrading hardware if you want to keep up with the latest software. Given that, there are still some awful bugs in later incarnations of OS X that remain unfixed. For example, lion's retina support broke external 30" displays in landscape mode. This is still not fixed 2 years later, despite bug reports and a very easy to reproduce problem. Apple just doesn't give a f*ck about power users anymore.

epochwolf 14y ago
My early 2008 macbook pro runs Mountain Lion (10.8) just fine. If I added an SSD it would be much faster but I don't feel like removing 40 screws. :)
oeufsaujambon 14y ago
> I think part of the problem w/ performance issues is that Apple doesn't seem to give a crap about older hardware. The upgrade from snow leopard to lion pretty much left my mid 2009 macbook pro unusable. Just curious, in what way did the upgrade make you MacBook Pro unusable? I had a 2007 MBP that used up until August 2012 running Mountain Lion and never had performance issues. Eventually the keyboard died and rather than repair it, I sold the laptop and replaced it with an 11" MacBook Air (which has been great thus far).