BigFeynmanFan

Q: Why should anyone upgrade to Mavericks when 30% of the user feedback on the download site describes horrific results and rates Mavericks 1 out of 5???

I would really like to upgrade my MBP from 10.6 to Mavericks and was just about to download when I reveiwed the recent user feedback on the download site.

Mavericks was released on Oct 22 2013. I am wrting this on Jan 9 2014 and of the 735 reviews for the current version on the download site 219 or 30% describe horric results and rate this OS at 1 out of 5.

 

So I would like to hear from Apple - Why should anyone upgrade to Mavericks when there's a 30% chance of disaster !!!

 

I would have asked this question on the download site but users must first install before being allowed to post a review !!!

 

Have Apple provided any expalantion as to why so many users are having problems upgrading? or even provided a checklist of precautions to minimize the chance of such problems?

 

I am hoping this community can provide some useful information even if Apple is silent on this matter.

 

Optimistically,

 

BigFeynmanFan

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Jan 9, 2014 5:42 PM

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Q: Why should anyone upgrade to Mavericks when 30% of the user feedback on the download site describes horrific results and rates Mav ... more

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  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Jan 9, 2014 5:59 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    Jan 9, 2014 5:59 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan

    Google how many millions have downloaded Mavericks. Do you think that 219 people represent them? I have had no issues at all running Mavericks on all my Macs. Most of the people with issues either have incompatable third party software or hard ware issues. Others just complain about the change of a feature they may have used for years and are unwillig to change their workflow habits.

     

    But no one has said you have to upgrade. Try reading some positive reviews on Maverick from around the Net. There are plenty of them. If you don't want it, simply don't download it.

     

    Cheers

     

    Pete

  • by frazzm737,

    frazzm737 frazzm737 Jan 9, 2014 6:02 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan
    Level 3 (912 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 9, 2014 6:02 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan

    The 30% chance of disaster you mention is only the percentage of those who have actually taken the time to review their results on the download site.  There have been only 735 reviews out of the many hundreds of thousands of downloads and you base your worries on 219 bad reviews.  Obviously those who have had trouble will be more apt to review their upgrade.  Most of us who are happily using Mavericks did not go to the trouble of posting our rave reviews.  This is a user's forum, so you will not receive a reply from Apple here.  I can assure you that I had no problems downloading or installing Mavericks and have had no problems while using it.  That said, no one can guarantee that you will have a flawless installation or that you will be happy with the new system.  

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Jan 9, 2014 6:12 PM in response to frazzm737
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    Jan 9, 2014 6:12 PM in response to frazzm737

    Agreed, although you will find that it has been downloaded many millions of times.

     

    Cheers

     

    Pete

  • by YeOldMacFan,

    YeOldMacFan YeOldMacFan Jan 9, 2014 6:14 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan
    Level 3 (738 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jan 9, 2014 6:14 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan

    I would not extrapolate the 30% "disaster rate" to a real world analysis of the Mavericks user base.

     

    Apple does not provide feedback on this site.  I've seen no evidence they even monitor it.

     

    Most of the discussions here are related to folks who are experiencing problems with their devices.  Those that are not experiencing problems have no reason to come here.

     

    If you search through the questions and comments regarding Mavericks you will find that most issues are related to older systems that have third-party software installed that is out-of-date and does not run efficiently.  Other problems are due to software such as anti-virus and "cleanup" applications that are unnecessary and likely to degrade the system.

     

    If you search the Mavericks threads you will quickly see the types of problems encountered and how to fix and even prevent them.  One option is to install Mavericks on an external drive which you can boot from and test your system and applications.  If you encounter problems you can post a description here and someone will help you.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Jan 9, 2014 6:28 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan
    Level 8 (49,666 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 9, 2014 6:28 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan

    Here is the checklist:

     

    • Back up your system.
    • Uninstall any and all non-Apple "cleaners" or "optimizers" or "anti-virus" or "security" or similarly categorized garbage according to their respective instructions.
    • Verify their complete eradication from your Mac.
    • Verify that your essential software is compatible with Mavericks. "Essential" is defined to include none of the aforementioned junk. If its developer does not specifically indicate Mavericks compatibility, assume it is not.
    • Read: Mavericks - are the bugs finally out?
    • Work on improving your apparent statistical analysis ability.

     

    Do all that and enjoy Mavericks' many new features and performance improvements all for the affordably low price of $0.

  • by frazzm737,

    frazzm737 frazzm737 Jan 9, 2014 6:31 PM in response to petermac87
    Level 3 (912 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 9, 2014 6:31 PM in response to petermac87

    Yep, my figures were way off, but I knew it was more than a few hundred on which this poster was basing his 30% dasaster rate.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Jan 9, 2014 8:13 PM in response to frazzm737
    Level 8 (49,666 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 9, 2014 8:13 PM in response to frazzm737

    frazzm737 wrote:

     

    Yep, my figures were way off, but I knew it was more than a few hundred on which this poster was basing his 30% dasaster rate.

     

    During the June 2012 WWDC Apple disclosed an installed base of 66 million Mac users. For every quarter since then Apple sold an average of over four million Macs, but it's not reasonable to assume not a single Mac was removed from service during that time. Therefore I will assume one Mac was retired for every one of the 24 million additional Macs sold, and that 66 million Macs remain in active service, despite the fact the Mac user base is increasing even as the overall PC market is shrinking.

     

    As of December Mavericks was installed on about 35% of them, so of all the Macs in existence over 23 million of them are running Mavericks. I will also make the absurd assumption that Apple sold zero brand new Mavericks-equipped Macs during the Christmas season.

     

    There are 219 "horrific results" reported by the OP, a number I have not verified. It's not reasonable to assume that everyone is going to post a review, perhaps one person in 100 will bother to do so. Therefore let's assume 21900 "horrific" reviews would exist if every single one of those with a bad experience bothered to tick a star in the App Store.

     

    21900 of 23 million Mavericks users is less than 0.1%.

     

    Yep, I agree 30% is a bit off.


  • by David Stelly,

    David Stelly David Stelly Jan 10, 2014 5:45 AM in response to BigFeynmanFan
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Jan 10, 2014 5:45 AM in response to BigFeynmanFan

    My recommendation is don't "upgrade" based on the fact that in my experience, Mavericks has SERIOUS problems, including a tendency to wipe out external HDs and glacial Finder and Mail listing/sorting performances. For verification -- consult the web. People are screaming.

    In fact, I am now looking for way to return to ML.

    The problems with its core OS suggest to me that there may be really deep-seated problems at Apple. Have too many of their top people moved to iOS, to Google, and other highly energized companies? Given that the OS is core to the company's ability to offer a well integrated tech package for work, the major failures of Mavericks have bode poorly for Apple, and have me asking myself if Apple is to be my future platform, or not. Maybe it is time for me to move again? IMO, the current problems with Mavericks are not tolerable in a professional work setting, i.e., given the loss of data and time. The last time I reached this level of frustration with an OS, I moved from Windows to OS9. I.e., the level of frustration is Apple has gotten very high.

    If you go to Mavericks, do it with the assumption that you will have to reverse the process when you get fed up.  Make sure that you have backups that include a facile means of returning to ML without data loss -- AND DO NOT CONNECT THOSE EXTERNAL HDs TO A MAVERICKS MACHINE -- they could get wiped out, like mine and those of many other people.  Not all externals are affected (not sure why), but it is not limited to WD HDs, for sure.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jan 10, 2014 5:49 AM in response to David Stelly
    Level 9 (50,871 points)
    Desktops
    Jan 10, 2014 5:49 AM in response to David Stelly

    I disagree with your analysis entirely.

     

    And, what is a 'facile' means as far as a backup is concerned.

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Jan 10, 2014 9:00 AM in response to David Stelly
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    Jan 10, 2014 9:00 AM in response to David Stelly

    So no one should upgrade to Mavericks based soley on YOUR experience?

    Compelling arguement.

     

    Cheers

     

    Pete

  • by BobTheFisherman,

    BobTheFisherman BobTheFisherman Jan 10, 2014 9:35 AM in response to David Stelly
    Level 6 (15,483 points)
    Jan 10, 2014 9:35 AM in response to David Stelly

    Thousands are using Mavericks without issue, including me. I think if I were you I would look at the cause of my issues, beyond Mavericks. Look at third party software, hardware, user processes, etc.

     

    I would not advice people not to install Mavericks based on your limited and somewhat unique experience.

  • by tbirdvet,

    tbirdvet tbirdvet Jan 10, 2014 12:41 PM in response to BobTheFisherman
    Level 4 (3,013 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 10, 2014 12:41 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

    I still believe there is some OS issue with Mavericks.  I have not changed my software (except normal updates) on my Mac in 5 years.  It ran great with Snow Leopard, great with Lion and ML.  Now with Mavericks I have 2 issues:  non scrolling in mail (on & off) & external HDD not sleeping when Mac sleeps.  So I cannot believe it is my system unless there has been some change in Mavericks that is not compatible with my programs.  If that is the case why now?

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Jan 10, 2014 12:47 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan
    Level 9 (72,571 points)
    iTunes
    Jan 10, 2014 12:47 PM in response to BigFeynmanFan

    You could do what I do, which is create a new partition and 'test drive' Mavericks. If you don't like it, remove the new partition.

  • by MagicMat,

    MagicMat MagicMat Mar 6, 2014 9:18 AM in response to BigFeynmanFan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 6, 2014 9:18 AM in response to BigFeynmanFan

    I upgraded to mavericks from 10.6, my macbook pro has run incredibly slow and now its wiped my WD HD, external, even though i wasnt using the WD software. I've now lost everything and am back to 10.6, really wondering if i should upgrade at all

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