snow leopard end of life, and support?

so says this article.

Apple signals end to OS X Snow Leopard support - Computerworld

looks like apple may be forcing me to leave sno lep and try the mavericks install again, which didn't go well first time around for me.

macgig said:

looks like apple may be forcing me to leave sno lep and try the mavericks install again, which didn't go well first time around for me.

Click to expand...

If Snow Leopard (10.6) will no longer fit your needs...and you (at the moment) don't really want to go all the way to Mavericks (10.9)...you still have Lion (10.7) and Mountian Lion (10.8) as options.

Plus remember one other VERY big thing. If you have PPC-based apps you still like to use...Snow Leopard (10.6) is the newest OS option...due to it having the inclusion of "Rosetta" (the app that allows PPC aps to run on an Intel Mac).

- Nick

p.s. Lion or Mountian Lion are only $19.99 each.
p.p.s. I personally have no fear of Snow Leopard being no longer supported. I still have Mac's running 10.6, 10.5, 10.4...and earlier.

snow lep works fine for me and I like it. maybe I should stick with it?

the only reason I considered upgrading is for better/improved security, and I'm not sure if the newer OS's offer more security?

I'm honestly happy with what I have. it works fine.

macgig said:

the only reason I considered upgrading is for better/improved security...

Click to expand...

This is usually folks biggest concern about an older OS with support ending. The largest threat to security on any computer is the internet. So three things to consider:

1. Even older Mac's running an older OS version are probably still much safer than a brand new Windows computer, running the latest Windows OS, with the most up to date anti-virus software.
2. Practice "safe-internetting"...and an older Mac running an older OS version is probably just fine.
3. Relegate the Mac running an older unsupported OS to ONLY non-internet activities. And for "internet activities"...use a different (2nd Mac) with a newer "supported" version of the Mac OS.

OR...have two partitions on the Mac's HD. One for the older unsupported OS (for non-internet activities)...and the other partition with a newer supported version of the Mac OS on it...for "internet activities".

- Nick

The problem with EOL is not so much the OS (although that can be an issue) but the lack of support for bug fixes for software. At some point (and you may have hit this already), you won't be able to update browsers, frameworks, plugins, etc. and this is where the easy security issues come.

very true, I don't recall seeing updates for snow lep for quite some time in software update, so I'm wondering if apple has already kicked it under the bus....

Well, it DID come out four years ago, you know. Apple has supported it with security updates until VERY recently, but some of the biggest security issues (known by their commercial names, "Java" and "Flash") are controlled by companies other than Apple and may opt at any point not to support an old OS like Snow any longer.

While I can't say that Snow Leopard is at this point UNsafe to take on the Internet, I would say its accurate to say that it is now LESS SAFE than Lion on up, and will continue to get increasingly less safe as time goes on.

We'll know for sure when Apple stops selling Snow Leopard on line. And, if they do stop selling it, that's going to be a road block for those folks who want to upgrade to Lion or later but are still running Tiger or Leopard. There will be no way for them to access the Mac App store without running Snow Leopard.