Love Mountain Lion…do I need to upgrade?

[KhunJay]

I have been running on 10.8.5 and just love my experience…everything works the way it should. I am not feeling left out of the future or anything…lol.

Do I really need to upgrade to el capitano….strange name ….i can't help thinking this would not pass Jobs' sense of discernment, but I digress.

What are the negatives I can expect if I stick to my guns and stay with mountain lion? And if I am forced to migrate upwards, kicking and screaming, when would be the time to do it…bearing in mind that I want to put off such a move for as long as possible.

Thanks

 

[redheeler]

Apple will be dropping support for Mountain Lion when 10.11 is released, meaning no more security patches. It also means the number of apps incompatible with it will continue to grow.

10.11 focuses on improving Yosemite, the best time to upgrade from Mountain Lion would be when that is released.

 

[Fishrrman]

Like the OP, I've been using 10.8.5 as my "main OS" on my late-2012 Mac Mini since January 2013.

I -am- experimenting with Yosemite, getting it sorted out.
I -am- looking forward to the user-beta of El Capitan.

BUT -- I see no compelling reason to upgrade beyond 10.8.5 as of yet.

Insofar as "security updates" are concerned...
I'm not really worrying about them. I still use 10.6.8 for the OS on my 2010 MacBook Pro. No "security problems" there -- but then again, I don't really keep anything of importance on it, it's just a "walk-around" and travel Mac.

My advice to the OP above, to paraphrase a familiar quote:
"If you like your 10.8.5, you can keep your 10.8.5 ...."

 

[Paulk]

I have no plans to go over to Yosemite: the flood of complaints on other forums here is unrelenting and I am quite happy with Mountain Lion.

 

[carylee2002]

As long as your system is stable and working fine…why upgrade? If anything I would upgrade to Mavericks in about a year long after El Capitan has matured. I find I would rather be working with a complete OSX with all the fixes done before going into something that is not stable. My current programs is still supporting 10.8.5 so it must tell you that a lot of pros are still using 10.8.5 as their base system. Just recently Adobe CC introduced 2015 version and have many problems with nvidia cuda and OSX working nicely. Stay away from the GAS syndrome and go for stability.

 

[Paulk]

Good point, I fully agree.

 

[e93to]

I debated whether I should update my late 2012 iMac to 10.10 for following reasons:

- Security updates. I'm not an expert on these OS', but I'm sure there are quite a lot of new security features that are not on ML.

- App compatibility. So many new apps are only compatible with 10.10. Fantastical 2, Office 2016, etc only run on 10.10.

- Compatibility with iPhone. On ML, I can't access iCloud Drive. I can't Airdrop from iPhone. I can't use Handoff / Continuity features.

But in the end I decided not to. I prefer the overall aesthetics and design of Mountain Lion compared to Yosemite's "flat UI." And I haven't figured out a way to open folders in new windows instead of tab on Yosemite (this is quite important to me...). Furthermore, some of my existing apps are not compatible with 10.10. Most importantly, ML just works fine on my iMac. It is quick, stable and solid. I haven't experienced fans spinning above idle during 2.5 years of ownership.

I guess I will keep using ML as long as my iMac works.

 

[Paulk]

Join the club, e93to.

 

[Badagri]

Apple will be dropping support for Mountain Lion when 10.11 is released, meaning no more security patches. It also means the number of apps incompatible with it will continue to grow.

10.11 focuses on improving Yosemite, the best time to upgrade from Mountain Lion would be when that is released.

Safari 6.2.7 is starting to show performance issues on a lot of websites now. As well as asking you to upgrade.

Let alone Safari 6 is bugged. http://33p.org/safaribug/

 

[Paulk]

Safari 6.2.7 is starting to show performance issues on a lot of websites now. As well as asking you to upgrade.

Let alone Safari 6 is bugged. http://33p.org/safaribug/

Expected, I guess they hope that some at least will take Yosemite. Needless to say I won't.

 

[e93to]

I experience WebKit / webprocess crashes a couple of times each day. Safari just randomly quits... It also caused kernel panic last November.

 

[Paulk]

I experience WebKit / webprocess crashes a couple of times each day. Safari just randomly quits... It also caused kernel panic last November.

Yes, I've noticed Safari randomly quits as well. It has been like this for several weeks, usually once a day.

 

[e93to]

Hopefully there is one final update for ML before the release of 10.11, and it fixes the Safari issues.

I think these crashes have something to do with flash contents on webpages. Interestingly, I never experienced such issues on my MBP with Snow Leopard during 5-year ownership.

 

[Badagri]

Yes, I've noticed Safari randomly quits as well. It has been like this for several weeks, usually once a day.

I had tried resetting Safari, everything, manually clearing cache, bookmarks, everything restored to default (no extensions installed/or enabled) and it was still crashing. It's very unstable with HTML5. I got sick of it and upgraded to Mavericks. Safari 7.1.7 is solid as a rock.

A lot of websites seems to have changed causing 6.2.7 to become very unstable. As well as laggy scrolling on some sites, not all but some that once never happened. Where Safari 7.1.7 is smooth on the same websites.

 

[Paulk]

Hopefully there is one final update for ML before the release of 10.11, and it fixes the Safari issues.

I think these crashes have something to do with flash contents on webpages. Interestingly, I never experienced such issues on my MBP with Snow Leopard during 5-year ownership.

You may well be right re flash content on webpages, I've suspected this too.

 

[Paulk]

I had tried resetting Safari, everything, manually clearing cache, bookmarks, everything restored to default (no extensions installed/or enabled) and it was still crashing. It's very unstable with HTML5. I got sick of it and upgraded to Mavericks. Safari 7.1.7 is solid as a rock.

A lot of websites seems to have changed causing 6.2.7 to become very unstable. As well as laggy scrolling on some sites, not all but some that once never happened. Where Safari 7.1.7 is smooth on the same websites.

Can you upgrade from mountain lion to mavericks? I've been trying for some time but I keep getting referred to Yosemite.

 

[redheeler]

Can you upgrade from mountain lion to mavericks? I've been trying for some time but I keep getting referred to Yosemite.

Unless you already have it listed under the Purchases tab, you won't be able to download Mavericks from the App Store. There are other methods of obtaining it, if you really want to update to Mavericks and not Yosemite.

If Safari is giving you issues, try Firefox. It's probably the best alternative to Safari on older versions of OS X.

 

[Paulk]

Thanks, Redheeler. I won't bother after all, as it clearly doesn't work, and I am happy with Mountain Lion.

 

[crazypeter]

If Safari is giving you issues, try Firefox. It's probably the best alternative to Safari on older versions of OS X.

Is Firefox as safe as Safari?

eg 1. Safari warns me if a website is fraudulent, will Firefox do that?

2. Also, Safari warns if a website's certificate has run out, does Firefox do that too?

3. Additionally, after I click a link in a google search, I occasionally get a message saying that the site may damage my computer and do I wish to continue, is that a message from google rather than Safari, so that I would still get that message if I use Firefox & google?

 

[Badagri]

3. Additionally, after I click a link in a google search, I occasionally get a message saying that the site may damage my computer and do I wish to continue, is that a message from google rather than Safari, so that I would still get that message if I use Firefox & google?

That is a built in thing from Google if I remember correctly.

 

[potatis]

Any known issues with Safari 6 & facebook?