So, I’m reviewing the release notes from Sequoia, now that they are finalized. Is this the most blasé macOS release ever?
iPhone Mirroring might be handy, but it remains to be seen how much I’ll use it. I do think, if it’s seamless and doesn’t require unlocking, it might solve the problem of constantly reaching for my iPhone when I’m already working on my Mac, in order to do things that are only available on my iPhone.
But otherwise, seems mostly like a big yawn…
Well, of course there was famously Snow Leopard, the “bug fix update” which deliberately added “no new features” (of course there really were some new features IIRC.)
Based on lots of complaints people make about annual macOS updates adding too many new features, I’d think this aspect of Sequoia might be welcomed.
Of course this is just the prelude - 15.1 brings Apple Intelligence, and that’s probably the meat of the new features coming in Sequoia.
Took the words right out of my mouth. The “Do you use it?” polls that Adam has been running this past year say a lot about how welcome an annual flotilla of new OS features really is.
Constantly and consistently, users say one of the best features of Mac and iOS products is that they just work. Jiggering the UI and bolting on more and more functions takes a toll on that perception.
If Sequoia’s calling card is iPhone mirroring—which I don’t recall asking for, but when did Apple ever ask me what features I wanted? 
—and underlying that one feature is consolidation and stability for everything they’ve added in the past five years, that’s great. That’s what I want.
Because things are going to feel just a bit chaotic again once “Apple Intelligence” makes its way into the ecosystem.
Yea, I thought about that, but I don’t think it was so much a bug fix update as a performance update, which is not entirely lackluster :-) It was a different kind of luster :-D And I don’t see any mention in Sequoia of performance improvements, which would be a big help on one of our aging laptops. So a “Snow Sonoma” would have been more welcome.
Yea, agreed. Let’s see how well they do it. A few years ago they boasted about how Siri was going to be smarter and any improvement was imperceptibly small. The integration of OpenAI is more promising, though.
Hmm, I don’t remember those complaints; but in any case, I don’t share them. Staying where you are in a technical space that is moving aggressively fast is a disaster. Choosing what to focus on, on the other hand, is another matter. But there are plenty of areas needing enhanced features.
The new window management features are a welcome addition for me.
Sure, and if the major OS updates were just to fix bugs, then I would agree with you. But we need more fundamental usability enhancements added. And when year after year I have to deal with stupid, basic productivity annoyances like having a massive “temp” folder that I use to move pictures and attachments back and forth between applications or browser tabs because drag/drop and copy/paste don’t work as expected, then I say that they don’t have their priorities straight. And with $100B in the bank, the excuse cannot be lack of resources; nor can an argument be that it’s a fluffy waste of time, like UI tweaks.
AI will be great. But I expect more. I still can’t upload to YouTube directly from Photos (they took that away about 10 years ago). I constantly have to export to disk then upload. Same with pix to FaceBook. My Finder Favorites still don’t sync across devices, which is how I try to (quickly??) get to my most users folders. Messages still stores many GB locally (also on iPhone), even if I have iCloud enabled, burning lots of valuable space, and leaving us with a “Sync” button we’re never sure when to push. I could go on.
So yea, I’m not at all feeling like Apple has their priorities straight.
Yes, indeed. And your response clarifies that your contention is not so much about a lackluster new feature rollout, but rather that Apple is not fixing enough bugs and annoyances.
That leads us back to what we both appear to be saying: that what you called a “Snow Sonoma” and what I’d prefer to think of as “Sonoma Vintage” 
would land a lot more easily in my lap right now.
Your list goes back 10 years and more. So does mine. Every time I take a quick look at Finder, I marvel at what it could be and then retreat straight back to Path Finder. Every time I launch Safari on my Mac, it feels clunkier compared to Arc. Same with Mail, same with Contacts, same with Calendar.
I am certainly not hankering for AI; I think it’s going to make a few things better and a lot of other things more distracting. (Apple, prove me wrong; I’d love it!) But want it or not, it’s coming.
If you ever figure out when that “Sync” button is supposed to be clicked, do let me know!
6 posts were merged into an existing topic: First Impressions of the iPhone 16 Pro
“Bug fixes” – not sure – Contacts has the spinning beach ball just as often as in Sonoma for example. They have also introduced a slew of new bugs. I am actually a little worried about the backlash that Apple Intelligence is likely to bring, but guess it is going to be of some help (and more along the way, when it may work in other languages than american english).
Aww, man. This is so annoying. For me it happens frequently after making edits to cards. Same for you?
Is it possible to turn off the new window management features? I keep triggering the drop down window when I’m taking the cursor up to the Apple menu or the application window, and it is irritating to have to stop and click somewhere else to get rid of it.
The other thing I have noticed is that Firefox 130.0.1 has been misbehaving since the installation of Sequoia: slow, unresponsive to clicking on links. This might be the fault of Firefox, but I don’t recall this version exhibiting these problems in Sonoma.
From Apple Mail and your e-mail update to the thread, I added you to Contacts. After that I choose to show your card when clicking Dave K in the mail – if Contacts is open (as it now was) it will open your card in a new separate window instead of showing it in my list of all Contacts as it would if I had not had Contacts open – bizarre bug that I reported long ago to Apple (maybe in Monterey or earlier first time). Then doing this once more and I get a spinning beach ball for ca. 2-3 minutes. Then going back to see all Contacts and find your card by the address (or name): tidbits-talk – then try to drag the contact to a group will fail as it has done for 5-6 years now! – Also reported to Apple, but they are busy creating new problems and hide helpful things to users. Restarting Contacts and it will work as expected for a little while until you have done something similar again or maybe just searched on a contact.
Not exactly for professional users, but most such do use it and thus I need to stay with it as I am working with Mac support. Apple fixed one thing I repotrted to them in Mail – it only took ca 7 years – the short-cut to send a message again (can only be done now if it is located in Sent, which is illogical, but better than nothing) cmd+shift+d (which was even given in the menu all the time during the years it did not work). (And why do they have to use cmd+l for editing a card in Contacts when it is always cmd+e otherwise – maybe becaue I use the Swedish language, but it is cmd+e in Calendar … eh.)
Sequoia Mail cannot show mail in date received order … . I have to reorder them constantly … (rebuilding the mailbox might work).
Lackluster alone wouldn’t be so bad, only perhaps making Sequoia largely unnecessary. But it’s worse than lackluster. Sequoia, at least it’s current iteration, portends to solve problems which have never existed for most of us, but has itself caused many new problems and PIAs. I’m surely not going to update at this point, and can only hope that a truly improved version will come out someday.
One of my complaints is that my phone (14 plus) updated to IOS 18.0 and not I can’t upload music to it since I’m still running Ventura on it. Why isn’t it easy to upload music I don’t understand…sigh
Many years ago a term was used to describe the Windows operating system and particularly Microsoft Word - bloatware. Packed with “new”, unwanted features while basic flaws went unresolved. Apple seems to be heading down that path.
Maybe Apple Intelligence will start monitoring user feedback (i.e. complaints) and actually initiate fixes? Even better, maybe a feedback suggestion could respond with “Thank you, we’re already working on it!” 
Omg, I love this. I want to explain the bug to Siri and have her fix it. Now THAT would be good AI.
It reminds me… it has been very common over the last few years, either in my car with CarPlay or taking iPhone calls while popping in AirPods, to have the audio not work and get stuck in a state where it can’t be fixed without a reboot. There are times, esp. when stuck in the car and couldn’t do anything about it, when I asked Siri “Siri, why isn’t my audio working?” Of course, she was useless. But I see no reason why a smart, AI-enabled Siri couldn’t figure out why my audio wasn’t working and fix it.
Maybe a few years down the road…
At the same time, it may turn out that allowing this powerful modern technology to move forward so aggressively fast is a disaster in the making. What’s the hurry???
I’m not sure what Apple’s supposed to do. If they add features without fixing all the existing bugs, they get slammed. If they don’t add features, they get slammed.
(On a side note, is there an OS that fixes all (for practical values of “all”) its bugs before adding new features? This is not a gotcha – I’d be interested to know)
I’m currently looking at a Sequoia Mail inbox sorted by date received, and I just used Contacts without a beachball in sight.