Leopard has a few rough spots, at first
In the first week or few weeks after Apple or Microsoft has released a new operating system, a couple things happen.One, the company releases a software update right after releasing the brand new OS. Two, people find some significant new bugs and affecianados figure out just how to prevent or deal with the problems they can cause. Third, more patches come out.
It seems like the most intense flurry of this activity takes place during the first week the new OS is released. The highly elevated bug finding/fixing seems to go on for about three weeks or so after that.
Then things seem to settle down quickly.
If you are risk-aversive, do not have as much data or software backed up as you should, or your computer is used for vital activities every single day - then I think you should wait until Leopard version of Mac OS X has been out about three weeks (mid-November 2007) before actually installing it.
That way the initial "breaking in" of the released version of the OS will have been done for you. The combined efforts of the most active members of the Macintosh user community and Apple employees do a good job of knocking down some possible big surprises in the brand new OS.
The same pattern has been evident in releases of Linux and MS-Windows.
The phenomenon is not new. MS-DOS 6.0 - which was actually updated on a seemingly continual basis until MS-DOS 6.22 was released.
The situation does not seem to be getting worse. If anything, things have gotten much better in this regard since MS-DOS 6 came out in the 1990s. However, new OS releases are still not perfect.
No harm done if you buy your OS and do not install it that same day. You should be aware of the return policy for your purchase.
If you buy it 10 days, 14 days, or 90 days before you unwrap it and try to install the OS, you miight run afoul of limits on how long return limits and warranty periods cover. So find out what those are, and plan your purchase and "install day" accordingly.
And when you do install, enjoy the new goodies! Waiting can make them all the sweeter.
posted by John Collins @ 8:22 AM
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