Version 9.81? El Cap?

[cmarker]

So with only partial support of El Cap in the current version (9.8) and El Cap dropping tomorrow, is anyone else holding their breath on an update to be released today?

[davidacland]

I was assuming either end of play tomorrow or thursday, but thats just a guess ;)

[acaveny]

Was hoping to see some notification today....

[mm2270]

*sigh* Guys, seriously, look at JAMF's past history. They don't release OS compatible versions until the day the new OS is out, not in beta, not in GM, but the full public release. Wait until tomorrow. Is it going to kill anyone to wait one more day to make sure they put out a version that will work with it?

[bbelew]

I can see why people are anxious. If people update before the jss update comes out, it screws things up - no self service for example. It would be nice if it was the day before so all ducks are in the row before the new release drops. Luckily not an issue for us since students can't install the update :)

[bentoms]

[andrew]

I am just looking forward to the Casper release that makes the product work as advertised.

[#8]

Restrict the Installer.app and send appropriate communications about not updating until notified by IT/support that it is permissible to do so.

I know, that's the faintly generic ideal business environment, and nobody reads anything IT sends anyway (hello Adobe Creative Cloud 2015 updates), but that's basic CYA for another few days.

[bkerns]

I agree that day before public release would be much more ideal. Will it kill anyone? Of course not. But it would make for a much smoother launch and less user frustration.

[mm2270]

I agree that day before public release would be much more ideal. Will it kill anyone? Of course not. But it would make for a much smoother launch and less user frustration.

JAMF has been there, done that. And they've been burned by last minute changes that weren't present in the GM that made it into the final shipping version. What would you rather have? That they release something, you update your JSS to it, then find out there is some bug or issue they didn't anticipate because they couldn't test the release against the shipping version?
Or that they wait until its out (publicly), verify its all good, then release it? Or fix any issues that present themselves, and THEN release it?

Me personally, I'd rather have a known working compatible version than a "it should work with it, we hope (that Apple didn't change anything on us)" version. But maybe that's just me.

My take on this is, communicate with your user base, like today, explaining that IT is aware that Apple will be releasing OS X 10.11 "soon" and that IT will be testing the final version as soon as its out. But please wait/refrain from updating your Macs to this release until its given an OK by IT.

If any clients update on their own before being given the OK and have issues with Self Service or otherwise, too bad, they were warned.
On top of this, you can also choose to set up a Restricted Software item for the new install as soon as its available to block it from being run on your managed Macs. Honestly, there's several ways we can mitigate users updating prematurely, so I don't really understand the concern here. Everyone is acting like there are no options for helping users wait one day until the final confirmed working version is out.

[ImAMacGuy]

that's all true, but with the huge mess that 9.8 is, 9.81 being held for an arbitrary date while there are production environments in dire need of the patch seems a bit ridiculous. They released 9.8 with a core functionality (self service) not working as a known issue. While yes, they called it out in the release notes, but as a -btw... if you didn't catch it/missed it... and upgraded now suddenly you're flooded with support tickets/calls.

[bbelew]

There is no way to test 100% the day of release, it's a gamble regardless day of or day before. They have an idea of what is changing, but if something does change day of - whats the lesser of two evils, releasing something that works but is missing one component? Or delaying the release of your software to write more code , test, test, test and release at a later date - while doing so your customers users are installing software against wishes and recommendations of IT staff ( they don't read our emails ), and causing things to break.

I normally go by what causes me less work, not more. If not releasing an update is going to cause an uptick in support requests, it's not worth it.

[emily]

I think part of why it feels like a scramble is that we in turn feel like we're in a scramble out of fear that users will upgrade without a support infrastructure underneath them and panic will ensue when features stop working or they can't get the support they need.

Depending on the size of your organization you may feel like you lose some control over situations like this, but some basic user awareness via email or other communication channels will go a long way. With just a smidge of transparency regarding the tools being used to support our Mac users, I've found they trust me when I say "give me a day or two to figure this out so the impact is minimal on you." A lot of this is accomplished through a #macusers channel on Slack (which we use at our org) or through an email distribution list. I then have 5-10 users opt-in to be testers for new OS's a few days after the release, and once I can vet the JSS under the new release. We let that bake for a week, then open it up to the rest. Inevitably there will be issues along the way, but life would be boring without challenges.

[mm2270]

^ This.

This is what I've been trying to get at, so thank you @emilykausalik for the voice of reason. Communicate with your users. Let them know you've got their back, because that's your job. Tell them you are just as excited about the new OS as they are (maybe even more excited!), but that you need just a day or two to test things to make sure their experience upgrading will be as painless as possible.

Communication people. It's key. You'd be surprised how much it eases people just to know a date of when they can expect something. In the absence of information, people just make s#it up, like "IT is a bunch of idiots, they don't even know there's a new OS X out. I'm just going to upgrade myself since they're obviously asleep!"

But hey, maybe JAMF will surprise us all and release 9.81 later today. I don't think so, but I also don't know. I only know its their product and so its their choice on when to ship it.

[cmarker]

I don't disagree with what everyone is sayings, but in organizations with a set Change Management process, last minute/unknown updates can be a pain point for the users and administrators alike.

[scottb]

Just now another build of "GM". So it may or may not be final.
That's why JAMF can't really do much until it's set...

*Edit: apologies. It's another seed. But I'd still wager the builds out now have a 50-50 chance of not being the release...

[ernstcs]

+1 to the response from @emilykausalik

[Aziz]

@scottb A day before release day, must have been important.

[scottb]

@Abdiaziz - used to be we'd be testing the final build at least a few days, but i the last couple OS's, there have been final builds beyond what we had. Some dealt with security, and I recall one botched installer. All in all, I too think that more people should be doing what @emilykausalik suggests - we actually have meetings where we offer the plethora of reasons why we need to wait on steady-state conditions before allowing everything to be updated.
There have been many good reasons to do so and a reasonable client should be able to be convinced to hold off. I would never put out a new OS and new JSS build on day-one unless a virtual gun was held to my head.