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Slashdot Asks: Do You Install Preview Version Of An OS On Your Primary Device?

Posted by msmash on from the the-nation-wants-to-know dept.

On Monday, Google released a new -- and also the final -- version of the Android N Developer Preview. Android Nougat, which is the latest version of Google's mobile operating system comes with a range of new features and improvements, including a notification panel redesign and additions to Doze power saving. The fifth preview, which is releasing today offers a "near-final" look at Android 7. Interestingly, Apple also released the public beta versions of iOS 10, and macOS Sierra to users earlier this month. Microsoft continues to offer preview builds of Windows 10 OS to enthusiasts.

We were wondering how many of you choose to live on beta version of an operating system on your primary devices. Does anyone here wait for the final version of an operating system to release before making the switch? Also, what does the setup of your office/work computer look like? Anyone who is still on an older version of an operating system because of reliability and compatibility concerns?

15 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Hell no by AuMatar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A not yet finalized version of an OS on my primary device? My primary device only does security upgrades- I can't afford for my primary device to go down for days while I try to get it to work. Now my secondary device like a phone I'd consider it- but still I'd probably wait for 2 or 3 releases later before doing so seriously.

    --
    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    1. Re:Hell no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Of course not.

      I install it on someone else's primary device and gauge completeness by the volume of obscenities and time between repeats.

  2. No by LichtSpektren · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I run lots of beta software (Firefox Nightly, Chrome Dev, Thunderbird Early), but I avoid doing it for the OS. Why? If my email client or browser's too buggy, I can uninstall them and roll back to the stable channel. On the other hand, fixing a computer that won't boot or having some other highly annoying problem takes just way too much of my time on my primary device.

  3. Of course not by JohnFen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I need to have confidence that I can continue my normal workflows on my primary machine.

    1. Re:Of course not by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Informative

      Use btrfs with a daily cronjob to snapshot /, have /home on a separate subvolume (also snapshotted, but for a different reason). Anything goes wrong, you roll back / to yesterday. Want a version from two months ago? All it takes is a reboot and type subvol=sys-2016-05-18 on the grub command line. That's the key to comfortably running unstable...

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  4. I'm not here to test your OS. by bytestorm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hire actual QA. Showstopping bugs prevent me from getting shit done. Looking at you, Windows Insider program.

    1. Re:I'm not here to test your OS. by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Funny

      That is simply not possible. Windows is an OS that is used in such a wide variety of ways in such a wide variety of hardware configurations that if we waited for them to do full QA then we'll never see another version of windows.

      I say they should do a full QA.

  5. Nope by bsDaemon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is what VMs or test devices are for

  6. Never by sentiblue · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I make the money to feed my family on my macbook pro... so no I will never install the beta OSX on the laptop.

    Even when the OS is released as GA, I still wait until the first patch to install it.

  7. FreeBSD boot environments by koinu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    On FreeBSD I have already tried the 11.0 development preview (aka CURRENT) using a boot environment (beadm). It's very easy and intuitive.

  8. Early Adopter? by Holi · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nope, as I have gotten older I find I prefer my devices and computers to work instead of having the bragging rights to the new shiny,

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  9. No by zamboni1138 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No. This is what virtual machines are for. Or an older box you might have laying around.

  10. My primary device runs Windows. by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The final version IS a beta.

    --
    Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  11. Bathtub gin by mmdurrant · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do you test your moonshine by drinking it? Hell no. You give a jar to a friend and watch for symptoms of methanol poisoning.

    --
    I see my shadow changing, stretching up and over me...
  12. Re:I would, if.... by AC-x · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ideally, in my mind, it'd work just like a PC --- where I could make a backup image of the Factory Disk Image (just in case); and then install whatever I want on it; knowing that it wouldn't be hard to boot from an external device and restore the factory image. Anyone know of such a phone --- and that'll be the next one I'd buy.

    Any Android Nexus phone. Just hold down a button combination while powering the phone up to enter the bootloader menu, plug the phone in to a PC's USB and you can wipe/flash any of the phone's partitions. It's very easy to re-flash the factory images (which Google provide), or flash custom recovery software and reinstall any custom rom you like.