Be Careful Upgrading to El Capitan

Commentary2.jpg Today, Apple released their latest OS X upgrade: El Capitan (OS X 10.11).

I’m reading a lot of warnings from plug-in developers about upgrading too soon to OS X El Capitan. Plug-ins are not working properly and editing applications may have problems. For example, I’m reading cautions from Hawaiki and Native Instruments, just to name two.

I’m also reading about significant performance slowdowns in late 2013 Mac Pros. As one reader wrote: “Without updates for the pro apps, and third party products, the whole thing becomes a nightmare.”

I just want to reinforce my standard caution: if you rely on your computer to earn a living, don’t upgrade the instant a new operating system is released.

Wait at least a month, or until a .1 update is released. Let developers and people who can afford to lose their computers discover the problems first.

Also, NEVER upgrade the operating system in the middle of a project. You don’t need that stress. It never hurts to wait a bit, and can hurt a LOT if you rush in too soon.

Ben Balser wrote an excellent post providing more details on additional updates for other software that you will need to support El Capitan.

As always, let me know your thoughts.


9 Responses to Be Careful Upgrading to El Capitan

  1. James says:

    Thanks for the ever-wise advice! I appreciate the caution and insight! Shall wait to avert any disasters…like we need to add to the confusion and stress!

    Jay Garbose Underwater Video!

  2. Berne Shaw says:

    In my mind I heard Larry tell me: “Berne wait a month or two. Let them work out the bugs.”

    Thanks, Larry. Your advice guidance and help is immensely helpful. Countless times you have helped save my business and improve it

  3. Janvier Smith says:

    Larry –
    FCPX 10.2.2 seems to be working normally on my 2008 Mac Pro, but there is are some slight anomalies in the time window at the center of the display. There is a thin horizontal line that extends part way across the numbers, and the labels for hours, minutes, seconds, etc. are displaced. I have posted this to the FCP X section of Apple Discussions, and am hoping for a resolution.
    Jan

  4. Ben Balser says:

    Janvier, posting to the Apple discussion forum won’t get the message across to Apple. Go to the FCPX feedback page (in the Final Cut Pro X menu), as they do read, catalog, and track those. Always use the feedback page to report problems, and make suggestions. Yes, the line in the Dashboard, plus the words not lining up with the numbers there are well known bugs. When we see an OS X 11.10.1 and/or an FCPX 10.2.3 update, I’m confident we’ll be fine then.

  5. Joop Topma says:

    Larry, Thanks for the warning. I’ll keep it in my mind and will wait for the 1. update.

  6. Steve Sweitzer says:

    Great advice. I’m going to use the wait to get use to using my iMac without some of the finder helper like TotalFinder that will no longer work.

  7. I have upgraded 5 macs, a Mac Pro 6,1, Mac Pro 4,1, two iMacs and a MacBook Air. There were many 3rd party updates needed, and some tweaks to our internal 10Gbe network settings, but all seems to work now. We use mostly FCP 10.2.2, but also CS6. We have not upgraded CS because their subscription model kind of penalizes the occasional users, and also the multi-computer users…but that’s another blog!

  8. gailtori says:

    Does anyone know how safe it is to upgrade to El Capitan now?

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