To Upgrade, or Not to Upgrade – That is the Question

Upgrades, whether for the macOS or your favorite NLE, are always a balancing act. We need to decide whether the new features (and security improvements) are worth risking breaking a feature we depend upon.

There’s no “right” answer on timing – though most of us have learned to wait after any new upgrade is released to allow others the, um, honor of discovering where problems are located.

The other really huge issue – especially for media creators – is the blinding speed with which media, and the tools we use to edit it, become obsolete and stop working. All Final Cut Pro 7 projects come immediately to mind, along with 32-bit QuickTime movies, SoundTrack and LIveType projects, FireWire 400, plugins, codecs… the list goes on.

Apple is not alone in abandoning older formats – though it is guilty of more than it’s fair share – but the tech industry, itself, firmly believes that anything released last month is too old to even talk about.

Tech companies are driven to pursue the “latest thing” and, if it doesn’t turn an immediate and consistent profit, they drop it; leaving customers with an expensive doorstop. Belkin cancelling support for all Wemo devices and Google discontinuing Nest products are two recent examples. The tech industry has no interest or incentive to preserve what worked in the past; only in building something new for the future.

But, as creators, we often need to access and incorporate decades old media or tools.

Worse, archiving projects for the long-term is an exercise in frustration. Yes, exporting an XML version of your edit is always a good idea. While media may be playable for years, what breaks is the software you used to edit it or the plugins inside it.

The only viable solution for archiving major projects is to preserve everything – hardware, software, operating system, plugins, and media you used to create that project. Because 15 years down the road, no current technology will be able to open and access those files, except the original hardware and software you used to create it – assuming you can still remember how the software worked.

It’s enough to make film viable again….

But, I digress.

Most of us are not editing material that needs to be preserved forever. And media codecs have stabilized so that media shot today will be playable several years into the future. While we want to keep our systems current, we also can’t afford downtime caused by buggy software that was insufficiently tested before release.

Here’s what I recommend:

• For all major updates to the macOS, wait at least until Apple releases a .1 upgrade. This generally occurs 1-2 months after the initial release. This allows time for major bugs to be found, developers to fix them, and the upgrade to be properly tested.
• For intermediate macOS releases (for example, .1, .2 and so on), I wait a couple of weeks. Anything major will be found immediately. If there’s no large amount of screaming and yelling, I upgrade.
• For minor upgrades, I wait a few days.
• For major upgrades of software I rely on – Final Cut, Premiere, Resolve – I wait about a month. Again, rushing to upgrade only to discover there’s a problem is far worse than waiting.
• For minor upgrades, I wait a week

I still read the trade press to make sure there are no major problems, but following this advice has kept my system secure, up-to-date and running smoothly. (Knock on wood.)

The key word is “wait.” Yes, the latest and greatest is cool and flashy and does magic, but no client will congratulate you for editing on the latest version of anything.

They WILL congratulate you for editing their project on-time, on-budget, and in a way that engages an audience. And that doesn’t require the latest-and-greatest, merely a system that works reliably. Then, when the project is done and the software is stable, upgrade.

You’ll sleep better at night.

SPECIAL NOTE

The one exception is security updates. Given the hostile nature of the web these days, updating to the latest security fixes is important to be done quickly. Here are my settings – Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update.

REFERENCE SOURCES

While I publish bugs when I learn about them on my website and newsletter, I also refer to other online sources:

• MacRumors
• AppleInsider
• ArsTechnica
• 9-to-5 Mac
• MacWorld
• Apple KnowledgeBase

(If you have a favorite, please suggest it in the comments.)