During the fall, I’ve been asked by several people if they should upgrade to Mac OS X 10.9 aka Mavericks. My response is usually a bit complex.

In our labs (SINC Sites) we don’t roll out a new OS hot off the press. In our environment we have to be sure of several things:

• The current software catalog will still function on the new OS.
• Security and privacy concerns must be addressed.
• Management of client workstations must be fully operational.
• And other concerns.

So, before we roll out the new OS, we have to perform a great deal of testing, and possibly modifications of some functions etc.

Now, for individual users, it’s usually less intense then that. But regardless, of what anyone wants, my advice is always to wait a few minor version releases. This gives Apple the time to fix bugs or other problems not detected or left unresolved during the beta testing phase of development. I for one, will install it on a test computer not my prime computer. This way I get to mess around with it, as a user and under the hood administrator, which gives me the time to figure out what’s what.

Since Mavericks was released mid fall semester, and it was priced at $0.00, many people thought it would be “awesome” to upgrade to the latest and greatest right away. I mean extra features is always a good thing right?

Turns out that wasn’t the case. Some of the students who upgraded their computers found out that once 10.9 was installed they could no longer use some of the required web sites for assignments and tests. Other issues that surfaced was the work at home VPN. Issues with Java made using the VPN quite difficult to impossible, thus cutting faculty and students off from campus resources while at home.

So, to wrap up this post, my answer would be to wait. This allows the vendor to sort out any issues, and also for vendors of third party software to ensure compatibility. A mid semester update is not a recommended practice, especially if you depend on your computer throughout the semester. However, if you absolutely need one or more of the new features in the new release, then, what can I say, take the plunge, but remember that other things may break, so making a pre-upgrade backup is highly advisable in case you need to roll back.