I have heard a common saying in the IT industry around updates to software in general:
“if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
Heck, I have even said it myself 🙂
To those saying if it ain’t broke…. Remember we are in an age where being up to date for SECURITY patches etc can be the difference of being part of thousands effected by a harmful threat like Wanna Cry or not.
Apple has traditionally only provided updates, especially for security, for the latest and previous 2 macOS versions. More recently, I have seen this change to the latest and only 1 previous for some updates.
If you are running anything older than El Capitan (macOS 10.11), it’s too old and vulnerable. With High Sierra (10.13) out, you should be planning and testing to have Sierra (10.12) rolled out in the next few months.
On the flip side, if you swing on the other side of the pendulum and always want to be on the latest version you have to remember there are ALWAYS bugs and incompatibilities to deal with.
In the IT consulting company I work for we have already had a few issues with people running macOS 10.13 in our client base. [Currently] It’s .0 software, treat it with that perspective and respect.
The process for anyone considering upgrades should always be:
- Test first in Lab Environment (the sacrificial iMac in the corner as someone said recently)
- Then pilot a small group of machines
- Then eventually roll out to everyone (which I usually do about .3 of a macOS release cycle; usually when the known bugs are sorted by)
Hope this process thinking helps someone to avoid this awful technology disasters none of us want to see in our lifetime 🙂