MacOS Update: Avoid the Temptation of Fall

Avoid the lure of the System Upgrade!

In addition to the frantic escapades of this political season, it is also the time of year when upgrades loom. Are you trying to get work out the door? Do you have projects in your queue? Then let others be the test team! Don’t upgrade yet…

In last week’s Twisted Wave webinar through GVAA, I covered a good number of changes and updates in version 24.1. (And a few more of the nested tricks which likely have been a part of this robust recording software for a while…)

But for the past few years, fall has been the big reveal date for Apple’s newest OS*. Then each year, I get panicked messages from voice actors who quickly (or accidentally) upgraded their operating system and found that some key functionality had been broken. 

This is not uncommon. It is to be expected. 

It gets back to Rule #1 – Don’t Change a Working System

If your system is working, there’s no reason to change anything. Period. 
As a voice actor, you are running a production studio. Every update has the potential to disrupt that studio.

That means it is OK to ignore the nagging and cajoling from your computer. You will begin to see encouragements to download updates. One of the great things about MacOS (the Apple computer operating system) is that it lets you say “Remind me tomorrow”… Just be careful that you click the correct choice. 

And that’s it. You don’t have to let it update. Get back to getting that work out the door. A slightly out of date system that works remains the best choice. 

This is particularly important with Operating System updates. System updates often cause a cascade of issues throughout other applications, even if it is as simple as having to update to the newer version of key applications. Under the best of circumstances, you lose the time it takes to download, install, update, restart and figure out why you can’t find the controls which used to be right there…

This is not a knock against Apple, the new Apple Silicon computer chips or the pending Big Sur MacOS update. Everything I’ve seen in early testing and beta user reports indicates good things.

We just want to let other people be the early adopters. 

*I want to be very clear that everything I’ve heard about Big Sur has been very positive. But no matter how great it might be, system updates are complicated beasts and we operate in a small niche of the computer users. There are going to be issues in the best of circumstances. I’d rather avoid those. 

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