The problem here is that many assume that they get to remain on Catalina or Big Sur (and before, Mojave) and enjoy full security, while waiting out the bugs on the new version. It's seen as "responsible" to stay on Big Sur, for example, until macOS 13 is released next year, and only then install Monterey, to let the public beta test it for you. Unfortunately with Apple, that's not true.

That's fine; Apple's under no obligation to have perfect security updates for older versions, and I believe many Linux distros, including the main ones (Ubuntu and Debian comes to mind, though from a while ago) have similar issues with poor backporting of security patches.

I just think more tech people should be aware of this. Now, the "responsible" thing, apparently, is to wait a week or two to see if a major update is bricking devices, and install it if not; and to install minor updates immediately. That would come as a surprise to many people who see themselves as Mac experts, who are more likely to delay updates. Tons of companies also delay updates for many months.

Apple should communicate more on this; and they should consider changing their update schedule. Windows doesn't release a new version every year; you'll run into this issue less than twice a decade, compared to yearly for the Mac.