Mac OS X Update 10.2.4 Resets
Oculus Habent writes "It may just be me, but 10.2.4 reset a number of settings on my computer, including icon sizes, window positions, and dock size and contents. Minor annoyances, but completely unnecessary. Is anyone else experiencing this?" As for me, Apple re-added some apps to my Dock and overwrote all my changes to httpd.conf (though it did back it up first) to add mod_rendezvous_apple. But those problems pale in comparison to some others: Anonymous Coward writes "If you upgraded your Mac desktop to 10.2.4 last weekend, check your date and time. Many users have suddenly found it to be 4:00 PM, December 31, 1969 again. Apparently, this happens whenever they are shut down or restarted, and resetting the motherboard and/or the PRAM doesn't fix it. Complaints have been piling up at Apple.com and prices for batteries have been skyrocketing - but relax. It's not your battery!"
First, you must remember that a large majority of Mac users (usually those who were around before OS X) know little or nothing about BSD or *nix. And they shouldn't have to. The sysadmin "don't fix it unless it's broke" philosophy is not the consumer "I want the latest and greatest" philosophy. These people buy Macs so they won't have any hassles. When Software Update pops up, they just want to click install and be done with it. Most of the time, this is fine and there are no problems.
On the other hand, you do have geeks who will take a more "wait and see" approach, many of whom have the advantage testing it on one machine before putting it on their other boxes. This is fine, but I've found that with OS X it is usually not necessary. I've tried every update on my Powerbook before throwing it on my Cube, and never have I had to wait long because there haven't been any problems. Despite the inevitable horror stories that come with each update, the grand majority of OS X users don't have any problems.