Yep this one is a bit of a dumpster fire. I had acquired a bit of security in the idea of upgrading Mac operating systems but that is now destroyed. In my opinion Apple tried to change too much at once and this OS will be updated often to resolve these issues. While there are plenty of new features and options, all those positive things, do we really need them? I could care less that iTunes is now split into different apps. I’m most likely not going to use Apple TV because services like Amazon Prime offer me free shipping PLUS free music and video. Maybe Apple TV should give away free iPads if I subscribe to Apple TV.
Anyway what broke in Catalina? So far after only a few days of usage I am fully agitated with the constant disconnect from my NAS drives. Every time my laptop or desktop is woken from sleep the NAS folders are no longer accessible. The FIX is to relaunch finder. Great so now every time I open my laptop I need to relaunch finder. Ok these are basic computing things here people!!! I need my NAS drive to be always accessible. Still could care less that iTunes is split into several apps.
Next fun thing is the constant prompting for access permissions. Every app that wants to access any hardware or hard drive resource must be granted permission. This has now become one of the most paranoid operating systems that I have ever used. Is this just a CYA for Apple? Everyone just cowboy clicks OK so what are we really preventing here? I’ll call it out, it’s legal protection for Apple.
And just to complain a little more, because after all, it’s my blog and I can complain if I want to. VLC video playback is sucking big time on MacBook Pro after the Catalina upgrade. It stutters and tries to adjust video size and seems to struggle to figure out the video size area. This didn’t happen before the upgrade, and who knows maybe this one is on VLC. But their latest version still has issues.
So with that said, just wait on Catalina. Do not give in to the nagging of the update notifications. And for me, from here on out I will wait at least 6 months post new OS release before upgrading.