Admittedly not on the scale of Windows in the past, and most unlikely to trouble the average Mac user, the threat has definitely changed over the last few months. We never really got to the bottom of those problems, but they were clearly low down, either in the kernel itself or kernel extensions such as Bluetooth and graphics drivers.Įl Capitan was also a system beseiged by malware. And these seemed most common on Apple’s most recent, and often current, hardware. Although many users found it stable and reliable, a rising number were suffering kernel panics and other severe problems. To put it bluntly El Capitan was rapidly becoming an embarrassing disaster. Internally, though, Sierra seems very different.

Siri, Universal Clipboard, iCloud Drive and Optimised Storage, and some fancy features in Photos hardly merit a whole new version, the step from 10.11 to 10.12. Looked at in terms of surface features, you might wonder. So if there was no significantly bad news – no bricked iMacs, or swift release of 10.12.0.1 – was this really a major release, or just 10.11.7 in disguise? Search the BBC’s website, for example, and the closest hits are about Sierra Leone.

iOS 10 escaped fairly lightly, generally with brief mention of the initial glitch, which Apple quickly fixed with 10.0.1. Windows 10 only needed its Anniversary Update to be plastered all over the BBC and almost everywhere else.

You can tell how a new operating system release went by its attendant coverage in the news media.

Obs for mac sierra