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Apple To Make macOS Sierra Available As Automatic Download Beginning Today (loopinsight.com)

Remember how Microsoft was pushing Windows 10 updates to your computers? That surely made a lot of people furious. Today, Apple told The Loop that it will also begin automatic download of its latest desktop operating system update, macOS Sierra on Macs that are compatible with the new software -- provided, automatic downloads are switched on and the Mac has enough storage space. From the report: t's important to note that this is not an automatic installer -- this process will only download the update in the background, and then alert you that it is available to install. You can choose to install it when its convenient. You can also choose to ignore the update. [...] Of course, you can manually delete the download if you don't wish to upgrade, and you can choose to manually download the update from the App Store at any time.

65 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Please file a bug report by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can COMPLETELY disable that behavior by simply loading the App Store preferences, and unchecking:

    "Automatically check for updates".

    Bango, presto, shazam - NO MORE AUTOMATIC UPDATES.

    Jesus christ, are you really this thick?

  2. GPGTools does not yet work with Sierra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    An announcement on the front page of GPGTools.org: "IMPORTANT: GPGMail, our plugin for securing emails using GPG in Mail.app is not yet compatible with macOS Sierra. If you rely on GPGMail, please refrain from updating to macOS Sierra for the time being!" This is kind of important to me, so...

    1. Re:GPGTools does not yet work with Sierra by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      An announcement on the front page of GPGTools.org: "IMPORTANT: GPGMail, our plugin for securing emails using GPG in Mail.app is not yet compatible with macOS Sierra. If you rely on GPGMail, please refrain from updating to macOS Sierra for the time being!" This is kind of important to me, so...

      Thank you for providing one of the few useful comments to this article.

  3. Bill Yourself for that by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Troll

    "Normal" updates I would normally accept to have, because they're typically small (

    Then why would you have turned on automatic updates again?

    Remember that is a setting that YOU YOURSELF WITH YOUR OWN HANDS have to enable. If I cared specifically about bandwidth I would not have that enabled... even if the general expectation was somewhat low numbers you never know as over time apps may update often which would mean a lot of downloads.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Bill Yourself for that by berj · · Score: 1

      This change (which personally I think is a bit dumb.. but not a huge deal as people seem to want to make it) won't install the update... so I'm not sure how you're thinking adoption numbers will be inflated.

    2. Re:Bill Yourself for that by DarkVader · · Score: 1

      Security updates are enabled by a separate checkbox.

      You don't get this as a security update. You get it as an OS update.

  4. Re:Where do I file for a refund of my data fees? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or you can just turn off automatic updates. Don't be a drama queen.

  5. Re:Please file a bug report by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, it disables all automatic application updates and alerting, because that is what the OP was bitching about.

    If you want to customize it more, then you enable "automatically check for updates," and select any combination of the four options provided:
    1) Download newly available updates in the background (You will be notified when updates are ready to install);
    2) Install app updates;
    3) Install OS X updates;
    4) Install system data files and security updates;

    You can turn on automatic checks, and disable all FOUR of those things, meaning you'll just receive alerts, and can pick and choose what to install; OR, you can opt to enable any combination of those features as you prefer.

    So no, you're not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, unless you choose to. Enabling the alerts is required - which seems sensible, given that you're asking the computer to automatically check for updates, and it's hard to know there's anything to do without enabling alerts. Beyond that, you don't have to download or install ANYTHING you don't want to.

  6. How is this similar to Windows 10? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Windows 10 update was a "Recommended Update" and not an optional one.
    Windows 10 changed the dialog box so that users had to specifically opt out of installing Windows 10.
    Windows 10 installed itself without warning.

    MacOS Sierra downloads if "Automatic Downloads" is enabled.
    Does not install automatically
    Users can ignore the download and not install

    Having worked with OS X machines, this behavior isn't new. As I remember that as far back as Mavericks that it downloaded only if Automatic Downloads was enabled. And it asked for permission to install. Before that, the new OS X showed up as a notification and that you had to run Apple Update to get it.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    1. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by cristiroma · · Score: 3, Interesting

      To add to that, those M$ SOBs went as far as switching the order of the buttons to make you press it by mistake! http://fud.community.services....

    2. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by keltor · · Score: 1

      There's also different levels of automatic updates oh yeah and automatic updates are NOT enabled by default.

    3. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Most of the haters here don't actually own a Mac to actually understand ... Let's all wish them happy freezing with the fresh Windows 10 anniversary update!

    4. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 2, Funny

      Most of the haters here don't actually own a Mac to actually understand ...

      No, but they tried a Mac out for all of three minutes at their local Best Buy store and that makes them experts.

    5. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by amiga3D · · Score: 4, Informative

      I remember how astonished a friend of mine was when he ordered his brand new 2009 iMac and it had absolutely no adware whatsoever. He was blown away that there weren't 150 demo and trial softwares along with all the nag banners and bullshit you get with your typical windows box. He recently installed an SSD drive because the original HD was starting to make the death click noise and he says it's like he got a brand new computer. It seems faster than his wife's new windows laptop he says.

    6. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      How do I delete the download? I got the alert about installing it this morning, then only saw this news this evening, so it may have already downloaded and I want to clear this out before it gets backed up onto my time machine.

    7. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      This is for El Capitan but it is probably similar for Sierra.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    8. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by geekboybt · · Score: 1

      It's in the Applications folder. Drag it to the trash.

    9. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      MacOS still comes with iTunes, right?

      Also, comparing a random Windows laptop to a random iMac is kind of stupid.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    10. Re:How is this similar to Windows 10? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      And how is his point invalidated that it was a random iMac or a random Windows laptop? It is a fact that all Macs don't normally come with additional adware and that most OEMs install it on PCs. Now if you buy Windows outright, you don't get adware.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  7. Re: Please file a bug report by LDAPMAN · · Score: 2

    Automatically check and automatically download are two separate settings.

  8. Re:Please file a bug report by berj · · Score: 1

    You don't have to manually check.. You'll get a notification telling you that updates are available and asking whether or not you want to install it.

  9. What is so difficult about clicking "update"??? by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, because we should all make it as hard as possible to get security updates

    Turning on automatic updates *doesn't install them either* you numskull, they would just be downloaded... what is so hard about downloading them when you see them? Until you are living in a hut in Alaska and you only go into town once a week for the internet, that should not be an issue or delay you from updating in any way whatsoever.

    This whole article is just the most absurd thing to complain about I have ever seen.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:What is so difficult about clicking "update"??? by bn-7bc · · Score: 1

      50GB/month is that on cable/dsl? In thst case shame on your isp, this is 2016 not 2000, if on the other hand this is some form of mobile broadband.maybe. you shuld think about grtting cable/dsl which hopefully has guotas that ar a little less limiting. These are just my Usd .02, if there are things I have not considered ( there probably are a few) please feel free to cpeect/inform me Hav a nice day

    2. Re:What is so difficult about clicking "update"??? by Camaro · · Score: 1

      I'm not the AC above, but I'm in a similar situation. I'm paying almost $100Cdn/month for 75GB from a satellite connection. It is my only choice for fixed internet in a rural area of western Canada. I'm six miles from a DSL connection.

      I do intend just to turn off automatic updates on my older iMac, though, so not too concerned.

  10. what a load. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Remember how Microsoft was pushing Windows 10 updates to your computers? That surely made a lot of people furious.

    of course... but what does that have to do with the macOS update that you can choose to ignore? surely you aren't baiting me or conflating clearly different approaches to a situation, right?

    you know what does make a lot of people furious, bullshit summaries that try to bait people, exactly like this summary.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:what a load. by keltor · · Score: 1

      There's actually 4 different automatic updates settings. One of the options is install OS X/MacOS updates. Uncheck that and you ONLY don't get OS updates (aka point releases and major versions.) That is separate from system file and security updates.

    2. Re:what a load. by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      Why would you ever want to turn off point releases, though? Those are all small patches, and almost never make major changes to the user experience or severely break your apps. Automatically downloading a major release is a completely different matter....

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    3. Re:what a load. by willy_me · · Score: 2

      Cell or satellite connections. The updates are not always small.

    4. Re:what a load. by cerberusss · · Score: 1

      What I really miss about macOS is the concept of a cellular connection. I've never understood why iPads have a cellular option, but Macs don't. Now using the iPhone as a hotspot is very easy but even then, why doesn't the Mac have a data-saving feature of some sorts?

      --
      8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
  11. Preferred method by ArtemaOne · · Score: 1

    This was my preferred method of receiving updates in Windows when I had that option, Vista, 7, 8.1, before 10 disabled the function. I don't understand why comparing a function removed from Windows in version 10 to Windows 10 makes any sense.

  12. Re:Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    At least you can upgrade your Mac. Microsoft pushed out the Windows 10 Anniversary Update over the weekend and it wouldn't install because the installer thinks my SSD was a USB memory stick.

    I miss my Mac. *sigh*

  13. Re:Please file a bug report by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    No matter who does this, or why, fuck you. If i want a major upgrade of my OS, i'll ask for it.

  14. Re:Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! by Arkham · · Score: 1

    Upgrade your MacBook now for 25% less battery life and a slower overall experience!

    Maybe for you. I haven't noticed any difference at all. Honestly aside from the shared clipboard between my Mac and my phone (which is very cool) I barely even notice any differences at all.

    --
    - Vincit qui patitur.
  15. Re:Please file a bug report by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    By the way you insult everyone, it's clear that you are a Mac user.

  16. Remember how Microsoft Blah? by BigBuckHunter · · Score: 2, Funny

    Re: Remember how Microsoft was pushing Windows 10 updates to your computers?

    No, I do not remember, because I'm a Mac user.

    1. Re:Remember how Microsoft Blah? by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      Damn, that was rude. Funny though.

    2. Re:Remember how Microsoft Blah? by DarkVader · · Score: 1

      And don't forget that Macs are comparably priced to other major manufacturer's hardware, the MacBook Pro 15 ships with plenty (16GB) of RAM, there is more software for the Mac than for ANY other platform (Runs all Mac software, runs most UNIX software, and can run all Windoze software through a VM if you want), and much, much more good stuff.

  17. My and a friend played CS:GO yesterday. by aliquis · · Score: 2

    20:12 / 20:02 his Windows machine had told him it would reboot itself for an update.

    The time passed and he mentioned how it hadn't restarted for that and I told him that maybe it didn't do that if one was playing a game. .. but surely enough Windows like the idiotic authoritarian knows better shit-product it is rebooted his machine and he was gone from the team. We won 16-14 and he got a two hours ban from leaving the game.

    I assume one can block that behavior with enough leet / admin / group setting skills but the normal user settings don't let you do that, all you can do is set a 12 hour working period and that's it and beyond that Windows reboots whenever the fuck it wants to if it wants to. Why should you be the master of your computer after all?!

    1. Re:My and a friend played CS:GO yesterday. by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      If you know the mystery of the registry you can have some control. Without that you're at the mercy of the computer.

    2. Re:My and a friend played CS:GO yesterday. by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Seem like maybe launching Task scheduler and going to Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft & gt; Windows & gt; UpdateOrchestrator and then right click Reboot and choose Disable may do the trick. ... and if Microsoft ever tries to get it back again go to C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator rename Reboot to Reboot.bak and make a folder called Reboot so no new Reboot file can be made ..

      http://winaero.com/blog/how-to...

  18. Re:Please file a bug report by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    The problem is that this granularity still isn't sufficient. There's a big difference between downloading a SU and downloading a major OS release. Most people do want to automatically download minor SUs that are typically binary diffs against the previous release (i.e. tens of megabytes). Lots of folks do not want to automatically download major OS releases that are measured in gigabytes.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  19. Re:Please file a bug report by amiga3D · · Score: 1, Troll

    By how simple you are you must be a windoze user.

  20. Re:Please file a bug report by CTU · · Score: 1

    Yeah even iTunes will do that on windows...no matter how I try disabling that crap

  21. Re:Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    Shared clipboard?
    So everytime you copy something, it's uploaded to iCloud?

  22. Re:the highest of praise by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 1

    No, but they tried a Mac out for all of three minutes at their local Best Buy store and that makes them experts.

    this is precisely why many people buy macs, in three minutes you have it all figured out and you can get to work.

    I used to work for a Telco and one of my tasks was to mind the systems in the call centre. The women who worked there liked Mac users for the simple reason that they could resolve their problem pretty quickly. Nothing was more than three or four clicks away. With Windows you always had to lead the user through 10-15 click odyssey to get to whatever configuration menu you were interested in and often the customer would often get lost along the way. Once that happened, and after letting out a deep frustrated sigh, you had to instruct the user to close all visible windows and then start all over again.

  23. Re:Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! by Jeremi · · Score: 3, Informative

    So everytime you copy something, it's uploaded to iCloud?

    No, it's only shared locally with devices that are on the same LAN, and logged in to the same user account. Also, it's encrypted before transmission.

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  24. PPTP support is gone in Sierra by zerofoo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Make sure you don't need it before you update.

    Yes, yes - PPTP needs to go into the trash bin - but there are devices that do not yet support L2TP or IPSEC (I'm looking at you Ubiquiti).

    1. Re:PPTP support is gone in Sierra by RandomSurfer314 · · Score: 1

      What's the point of an encrypted VPN that anybody can decrypt within minutes?

    2. Re:PPTP support is gone in Sierra by jaklode · · Score: 2

      Just to mention one ridiculous use case of PPTP: In Austria, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands; ADSL connections run PPTP on top of a PPP over ATM (PPPoA) connection. So if you only have a modem (to which your device connects via PPTP), and directly connect your Mac to it, I suppose you are screwed now.

  25. Re: Please file a bug report by DarkVader · · Score: 2

    Interesting that you picked VMWare Fusion, because 8.5 is a free update...

  26. Re: Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I love how these dimwits constantly assume that Apple is bad at security, even after they were willing to go to court for it against the FBI. Laughable. Apple is the only company provably adequate at security.

  27. SMB Support? by johnsnails · · Score: 1

    Does it fix SMB issues often encountered in mixed OS networks?

  28. Re:Please file a bug report by Darinbob · · Score: 1

    There is no important reason to automatically download updates. You're basically throwing out the dirt with the bathwater.

  29. Re:Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    Well why did you do a damn fool thing like buy a piece of shit Windoze machine then?

    My 2006 Black MacBook died after eight years. I shifted everything over to my gaming PC for a while, and then over to a $250 Dell laptop. I haven't found a worthy successor to my MacBook yet. I don't find Apple's Quest for Thinness to be appealing.

  30. Re:Please file a bug report by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    SU stands for software update, not security update, and refers to point release updates, e.g. 10.12 -> 10.12.1. They almost certainly aren't included in that bucket, or if they are, then it is very poorly named.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  31. Re:Please file a bug report by ruir · · Score: 1

    I have been a long time Mac user, and Apple Mac/OSX/iOS/rainbow OS or whatever they call it today is getting shittier as time goes by.

  32. Re:Please file a bug report by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    Where is the "alert me but don't download/install" option?

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  33. Compatible and not better than Apple's current by Carewolf · · Score: 1

    I had to trick Apple into upgrading to 10.12 on a 2009 Mac Pro, it seems they don't want to support old machines that leave all their current offerings in the dust. The OS still supports it of course, since a 2009 is internally identical to a supported 2010, so you can force the upgrade anyway and have a "working" system (at least as far as OS X/macOS ever works, which is barely)

  34. Re:Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    exactly, and most reports are that they saw no performance change and no battery life change.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  35. Why won't Sierra work on 2008 Mac Pro? by jsepeta · · Score: 1

    I have 32gb RAM and 2x 2.8ghz Xeons, but my 2008 Mac Pro won't run Sierra. Why the hell not?

    --
    Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
  36. Re:Upgrade now for 25% less battery life! by DarkVader · · Score: 1

    I'm running a 2011 15" non-Retina MBP as my primary laptop, it's a really good machine. The 2012s are great too. The black MB was a great machine, I had one years ago, but the pre-Retina Pros are even better.

    You can sometimes luck into one for pretty cheap.

  37. Very misleading article by pghmike4 · · Score: 1

    There's no comparison between this behavior and what MSFT did with Window 10. The system preferences for the App Store lets you specify whether you want automatic downloading done, automatic installation of downloaded apps, and/or automatic installation of OS/X updates (and I'm not even sure a new version of OS/X counts as an OS/X update). And by default, IIRC, it doesn't install anything. Apple leaves you in full control of when or whether the update occurs. Windows, on the other hand, did its very best to nag you to death to install Windows 10, including ignoring your attempts to say "no."

  38. Re:the highest of praise by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

    10 to 15 clicks? If your job required user support for Windows you probably should have did a little training yourself.

    I think you have some reading comprehension problems. The poster said that the user would get lost through 10-15 clicks of instruction meaning nothing was wrong with his training.

    With Windows you always had to lead the user through 10-15 click odyssey to get to whatever configuration menu you were interested in and often the customer would often get lost along the way.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  39. Re:Please file a bug report by amiga3D · · Score: 1

    oooooh! Well actually I haven't dragged the old A3000 out in almost 10 years. I do still have it, an A1200, A500 and a Commodore 64. I enjoyed them all immensely since purchasing the C64 back in 1983. I did pull the 64 out briefly a few years ago to get a recipe off a disk I had stored. Over 20 years old that 5.25" floppy but it still worked. Now I mostly use Linux or a Mac although we have Win7 on the computers at work. Nice to see someone on here remembers Amiga users well enough to insult them!

  40. Re:Please file a bug report by dgatwood · · Score: 1

    SU was in my original comment that you replied to when you incorrectly claimed that there was an option to install SUs without installing major updates.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.