Re:Apple has stopped providing standalone installers for mac...
by yborg on Thursday December 17, 2020 @09:06PM
(#25462997)
No, HN will rush to Cupertino with torches and pitchforks based on an inflammatory headline without clicking on the link and realizing that:
- Apple hasn't officially said anything about this. The linked rantpost is verklempt because it's been 4 weeks since the release of a major OS revision supporting a new processor architecture and a standalone installer hasn't been provided (yet).
And here are his given arguments for the Collapse of American Way and Civilization in General if this situation continues:
- It's hard to reinstall Safari.
This basically happens ... never. I've been running OS X since the beta and have never had to reinstall Safari.
- It would make it difficult to recreate a specific point release in the future.
This is valid, but also a rare use case and this doesn't prevent you from doing it, you just have to apply the incrementals from Apple.
- It would eliminate "An effective panacea for some system problems."
I think I applied a combo update to fix some hosed up printer drivers after an HP update screwed the pooch one time but I could have just loaded an earlier version. This goes into the general category of "zapping the PRAM" to fix issues which originated from a real problem this actually corrected 20 years ago and morphed into a mystical incantation to utter when you have no idea wtf is wrong with the computer and don't feel like praying the rosary over it.
- Apple hasn't officially said anything about this. The linked rantpost is verklempt because it's been 4 weeks since the release of a major OS revision supporting a new processor architecture and a standalone installer hasn't been provided (yet).
And here are his given arguments for the Collapse of American Way and Civilization in General if this situation continues:
- It's hard to reinstall Safari.
This basically happens ... never. I've been running OS X since the beta and have never had to reinstall Safari.
- It would make it difficult to recreate a specific point release in the future.
This is valid, but also a rare use case and this doesn't prevent you from doing it, you just have to apply the incrementals from Apple.
- It would eliminate "An effective panacea for some system problems."
I think I applied a combo update to fix some hosed up printer drivers after an HP update screwed the pooch one time but I could have just loaded an earlier version. This goes into the general category of "zapping the PRAM" to fix issues which originated from a real problem this actually corrected 20 years ago and morphed into a mystical incantation to utter when you have no idea wtf is wrong with the computer and don't feel like praying the rosary over it.