Big sur OS

[cyrano]

That's not what the article tells us.

There are two concerns in that article:

1. Transmission of telemetry occurs non-encrypted.

That doesn't equal "sent to 3rd parties". It only means someone along the way could read those data. BUT: they have to be in the network path already. Of course, it would be better if the data was encrypted. A small concern, really, but a real concern too.

2. The new network api allows Apple apps (and the system) to bypass network analysers (like Little Snitch).

That's a real concern. If malware would use this path, it would make 3rd party firewalls pretty useless. It sure smells of gov spying. That has been going on like forever. Remember Echelon? That's over 20 years ago.

He also writes that, since October 2020, Apple is part of Prism. I fear that could be true. And I fear it has happened a long time ago too, not in 2020. Do you think others don't belong to Prism? I mean, the main RedHat customer is the US military. Tor is owned by the military. There are taps on every major network point. Have been for decades. Etc.

I'm not blind for Apple's faults. I've raged about it enough. But the others are also doing it. There are some threads about some Linux distro's sending telemetry to their makers. Default on. Of course, you can switch it off, if you know about it.

What I wanted to say is: Apple is no better than the others, except they don't sell data to commercial 3rd parties. Of course, they will have to cooperate with gov. Just like the others.

I don't like gov looking into "my" data. But I understand the need for it.

I do mind, however, "my" data being sold to data aggregators so they can spam me even more. It hasn't happened, AFAIK, but that data could be used to trigger a mass compromise in case the aggregator's database gets broken into.

And if you are a target, like working in any industry that is interesting too spies, you'd better watch out. There will always be a way to get to your data, whatever OS you use. Even Qubes doesn't cater for that case.

 

[volker]

That doesn't equal "sent to 3rd parties". It only means someone along the way could read those data. BUT: they have to be in the network path already. Of course, it would be better if the data was encrypted. A small concern, really, but a real concern too.

Yes it does: "These requests go to a third-party CDN run by another company, Akamai." Sure, you could argue Apple runs their own dedicated machines there.

He also writes that, since October 2020, Apple is part of Prism. I fear that could be true. And I fear it has happened a long time ago too, not in 2020. Do you think others don't belong to Prism? I mean, the main RedHat customer is the US military. Tor is owned by the military. There are taps on every major network point. Have been for decades. Etc.

Again not quite accurate here, it says since 2012. For a company that boasts about its privacy advantages, compared to its main competitor Microsoft, that is quite the reveal. There is also danger to your data from within the company: Siri messages get audited by real people, and there have been plenty of leaks from the Apple cloud of private data and photos of celebrities over the last couple of years. Might not concern you personally right now, but can you really not picture a scenario similar to this?

Anyway, I just wanted to let people know about this who are considering upgrading right now.

 

[pucho812]

already started... So I made me a big sur bootable thumbdrive to add to the collection of all other os's, it's a great way to trouble shoot and speeds up install times vs having to ping and download from the servers.
Luckily my macbook 2012 won't run it.  in fact my macbook 2012 is still running 10.12 and I haven't had a need to move from there. It's been working. However I do need start doing a better backup system so I can keep all the important documents I have had over the years.

 

[cyrano]

Just upgraded my 2012 to High Sierra. 

Wanted the try the new Totalmix and some other tools that didn't run on El Capital.

 

[pucho812]

Let’s further complicate the issue with computers using Mac’s t2 chip. I am hearing reports of systems not working because the software breaks the mac equivalent of bios setups.  While I don’t know how often this happens or what but I did catch a video of a repair tech bitching about it.

 

[cyrano]

Firmware upgrades can go wrong and sometimes result in a bricked Mac. AFAICT, it's rare.

There's no info from Apple and warranty repair is very unclear, to put it mildly.

I hope it will be a thing of the past with the M1 machines, as it is SOC.

 

[pucho812]

the other day, the powers that be at one of the studios I tech for is wanting current, faster then it can be provided due to studio schedule and engineering schedule of both studio computers and engineers work computers.
The good news is the following information.

1.Izotopes in general works until it doesn't(OS dependent) then you buy an upgrade and depending on what version(regular or advanced) you upgrade from and to it is a different price structure.  They do a decent job of keeping things working with new OS's but eventually phase out something for a new version of the software you pay for.  It lives on the ilk so transfer is easy. awaiting big sur compliance.

Waves: has an upgrade plan that you can buy whenever. It's free for a year when you buy plugin's but after the first year, you pay for any update service plans. they last a year and are a fixed rate. Best is there is no penalty for stopping and starting.  So just pick up where you left off.  However waves authorizes based on motherboard Serial ID number so to change computers have to use their waves central software and deauthorize  then reauthorize on the new system.  You can also authorize to an USB thumb drive  that way you can take them with you like an ilok but it's not the ilok.  their current V12 plugins just got the big sur treatment

fab filter: you own it for life, and so far of you have a version of a plug in it just works. Fabfilter also is very easy to rotate between systems as you just put in your code  they give you via their website you register the plug in.  You can use the same code on multiple systems  as long as you are not running it simultaneously  on  the systems.

Plugin alliance: have to deauthrize and reauthorize off their website when you switch systems. and so far has had zero OS issues. but who knows with big sur

Avid; pro tools as usual is still behind the curve. I had a client the other day lose some plugin's because they were subject to the annual avid license upgrade plan even though they had purchased a ultimate version of pro tools, these ones were subject to the service plan and not perpetual(owning outright).

it's so much to keep track of and it's a balancing act, and that is just making sure everything is  able to move forward with both hardware and software.  I find at the end of the day, it's the guys who are not real audio engineer that want to be current all the time.