Real end of the line for Mojave?

[nospamboz]

Mojave is already unsupported by Apple, but now it looks like it's really being left behind.

https://eclecticlight.co/2022/08/07/last-week-on-my-mac-is-your-mac-still-secure-from-malware/

I'm already using an unsupported macOS (Mojave) on an unsupported Mac (mid-2009 Macbook5,2), but I've stuck with macOS as my main OS since I started in 2006, after the Intel transition. Sure, I triple boot with Windows 10 and Debian 11, but that's just for fun. For usual things I always worked on macOS, Mojave since the end of 2020. I don't want to advance to Catalina or beyond, because I want to stick with HFS+, which is more portable than APFS. (I know there are ways to make HFS work with Catalina, but there's too much hassle.)

Thus I was grateful that Apple continued to update XProtect and MRT for Mojave. Those tools acted as an anchor, giving me a reason to stick with macOS, as long as Apple does.

Well, now it looks like Apple is stopping that. MRT is probably already dead, and XProtect looks to soon follow. Apple will be leaving Mojave completely in the dust.

I knew this was coming, but, as usual, dealing with it in reality is different. I could use a third-party antimalware, like the free Avast for Mac, but what would be the point? Soon enough Apple will make producing Mojave-compatible apps in XCode too difficult, and even apps like Firefox or Chrome will move on.

I've been preparing for this, one reason I worked so hard to get Debian to work. But with the end in sight, I just feel sad.

I think my XMas project will be to make a clean break from macOS, reducing it to a VM in Debian. At least, until Apple embraces booting Linux on their silicon.

 

[opeter]

But I don't see a big problem here... you can use 10.14 Mojave as long as your Mac is working and, if you don't visit suspicious websites or don't install legit software, you should not have bigger problems.

For portability I use NFTS. Especially the later works really well under Linux too.

I could use exFAT, but in the past, I had a problem with a crash and the exFAT formated partition on the external drive got corrupt. It was pure luck, that I've had a backup copy and only some files were missing.

 

[nospamboz]

But I don't see a big problem here... you can use 10.14 Mojave as long as your Mac is working

Apologies for being unclear in my reasoning. By ending releases of MRT and XProtect, Apple no longer has any reason for XCode to produce Mojave-compatible apps, and so will remove the capability. That means apps like Firefox and Chrome will soon stop supporting Mojave. When you can't update your browser security, that's when you have to stop using an OS, at least for regular use.

 

[BrianBaughn]

That MacBook can be updated to Catalina via dosdude1's patcher…although I don't know what the situation is with Catalina and the newly patched exploit. I've got Catalina running on my MacBook 5,1 and recently had a Safari update on it.

 

[MarkC426]

When you can't update your browser security, that's when you have to stop using an OS, at least for regular use.

This is not necessarily true, I was using Snow Leopard for many years before upgrading to Yosemite.
This was BEFORE I new of MacRumors.
So was blissfully ignorant to any Security issues (real or not).
A lot of people are 'scared' into upgrading when Apple makes an announcement.

The majority of safety, comes from safe surfing, avoiding dodgy sites and free downloads (except from legit sources of course). There is a reason these things are free (to sucker you in).

 

[opeter]

When you can't update your browser security, that's when you have to stop using an OS, at least for regular use.

I did fully understand. But as you already mentioned in your first post, if you want to use this machine daily in the future, you can always install any other operating systems, that supports x86 CPUs, get updates and allows installing/using modern applications.

The best thing with the Intel Macs is, that you're not just tied to Apple's operating systems.
PowerPC Macs had less options in comparison (some PPC Linux distributions, BSD, BeOS... and you could try to run one of the AMIGA OS variants).

 

[Slartibart]

IMHO this is a non-issue.

If you use already e.g. uBlock and NoScript in your browser, take recommendations like the ones from @MarkC426 in account, backup, and in case you’re suspicious check with the system and additional tools like the one provided by Objective-See - your Mac has years of usage ahead.
Taking in account that it is already for 12 years+ in use, I say you’ll still have a nice run using macOS ahead. Enjoy! 😎

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

I’ve tried Big Sur on my (ahem!) office duties Hackintosh and really didn’t liked it. Boot was slower, updating kext cache was complicated, random USB devices disconnected, etc…. The UI is ugly (IMHO) and so on.

Back to the old trusty Mojave on this hack. Still on Mojave too on my second Hackintosh (DAW machine) and on a real MBP 2015. My MBP early 2011 is stuck on Sierra forever.

I didn’t tried Monterey or Ventura but I would guess the user experience is closer to Big Sur than Mojave.

Maybe it’s sacrilege to talk about Windows on a Mac forum but at least, the different updates of Windows 10 didn’t messed up my computer like it does on MacOS.

Long live Mojave!

**I did want to update to Big Sur after reading this thread for security reasons but in retrospect, my MBP with Sierra wasn’t compromised as I don’t surf on shady sites and use an Antivirus. In the worst case, I have a TM and a CCC backups for all my MacOS machines. Same goes for Windows, an image backup for each computer…

 

[saudor]

I’ve tried Big Sur on my (ahem!) office duties Hackintosh and really didn’t liked it. Boot was slower, updating kext cache was complicated, random USB devices disconnected, etc…. The UI is ugly (IMHO) and so on.

Back to the old trusty Mojave on this hack. Still on Mojave too on my second Hackintosh (DAW machine) and on a real MBP 2015. My MBP early 2011 is stuck on Sierra forever.

I didn’t tried Monterey or Ventura but I would guess the user experience is closer to Big Sur than Mojave.

Maybe it’s sacrilege to talk about Windows on a Mac forum but at least, the different updates of Windows 10 didn’t messed up my computer like it does on MacOS.

Long live Mojave!

**I did want to update to Big Sur after reading this thread for security reasons but in retrospect, my MBP with Sierra wasn’t compromised as I don’t surf on shady sites and use an Antivirus. In the worst case, I have a TM and a CCC backups for all my MacOS machines. Same goes for Windows, an image backup for each computer…

What is your hack specs? I went from mojave to big suck (specs in signature) and it's pretty stable for my workflow (adobe, office, vscode) 11.6 is what made me switch full time. Make sure your USB map is done correctly as later versions are way more pickier (USBToolbox from windows makes it super easy)

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Apologies for being unclear in my reasoning. By ending releases of MRT and XProtect, Apple no longer has any reason for XCode to produce Mojave-compatible apps, and so will remove the capability. That means apps like Firefox and Chrome will soon stop supporting Mojave.

No it won't. Chrome doesn't use XCode, and only just dropped support for El Capitan a few months ago.

There's also a third-party fork of Chromium that supports all the way back to Lion. https://github.com/blueboxd/chromium-legacy

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

What is your hack specs? I went from mojave to big suck (specs in signature) and it's pretty stable for my workflow (adobe, office, vscode) 11.6 is what made me switch full time. Make sure your USB map is done correctly as later versions are way more pickier (USBToolbox from windows makes it super easy)

It is an old Dell Optiplex mini tower Haswell dated from 2014. I first installed Sierra when I got it in 2017 then Mojave in 2019. My USB map was fine, I’ve just reused and modified it for iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS. Weird choice, I know, but I needed to have TV DRM working with a Radeon Pro WX5100. Another no go was that the display wasn’t waking up after sleep. Known bug (I learnt after the facts) with this computer when Hackintoshed with an AMD dGPU.

Finally, except the security worries, there were absolutely no advantages going to Big Sur. Mojave is stable and really fluid, even on an old machine. On my « new » DAW, it’s blazing fast.

With new MacOS comes a point where older machines aren’t able to cope as easily as new computers…

**Oh, no intention to update the « newer » Z390 DAW: if ain’t broken, don’t fix it!

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

No it won't. Chrome doesn't use XCode, and only just dropped support for El Capitan a few months ago.

There's also a third-party fork of Chromium that supports all the way back to Lion. https://github.com/blueboxd/chromium-legacy

Good to know as often, new versions of browsers not supporting older OS’ses, are a big problem and an incentive to update.

 

[Agret]

Still on Mojave too on my second Hackintosh (DAW machine) and on a real MBP 2015. My MBP early 2011 is stuck on Sierra forever.
Long live Mojave!

Mojave is my favourite MacOS too, it’s got one of the best UI layouts. I really hate what they’ve done with Ventura.

You should be able to update your MBP 2011 to Mojave using the dosdude patcher

macOS Mojave Patcher

You could also use his Catalina patcher on it

macOS Catalina Patcher

 

[MBAir2010]

WHO DOES NOT LOVE MOJAVE?