Mac system requirement increase

Hi, I received notification that MacOS 10.12 and below will no longer be supported for futures updates – why?

@mercir , @crskub

Mac OS System Requirements for using updated versions of Brave Browser after BBv1.39.111

Brave Browser System Requirements info - the documentation is out-of-date re Mac OS, at the Brave Support Help Center; says:

  • ‘OS X El Capitan 10.11.0 or later’ at:

https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021357112-What-are-the-system-requirements-to-install-Brave-

Using Brave Browser for Mac - About Brave:

About_Brave

in a Brave Browser > New Window, go to: brave://settings/help; says:

  • To get future Brave updates, you’ll need macOS 10.13 or later.

WHY

At the Vivaldi forum:

  • https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/75879/future-vivaldi-updates/13?lang=en-US

@tonyd1 I don’t think that the Vivaldi team will have any choice but to also raise the minimum system requirements for Mac. This is primarily due to the following Chromium change(s): https://crbug.com/1322548

Basically, they are ripping out and refactoring quite a bit of Chromium code and the new code changes will require macOS 10.13 or later. These changes are also blocking Issue 1313180, which is currently hidden, so the code rework is probably being done for security reasons… which also means that it won’t be feasible or desirable to revert any of these changes.

At GitHub:

  • https://github.com/gpuweb/gpuweb/issues/1069

Screen Shot 2022-06-04 at 7.47.20 PM

Google Groups:

  • https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/embedder-dev/c/eSIhUxOaS84

Avi Drissman to Chromium Embedders, Chromium-dev

A heads-up that the Chrome Mac team will be removing support for macOS 10.11 and 10.12 in Chromium starting in M104. There are a few internal bugs, but https://crbug.com/1322548 will be tracking the code removal.

Chrome Enterprise and Education release notes

Last updated on: May 26, 2022

https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7679408?hl=en

https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7679408#oldVersOSx

Chrome 104 will no longer support macOS versions 10.11 and 10.12, which are already outside of their support window with Apple. Users will have to update their operating systems in order to continue running Chrome browser. Running on a supported operating system is essential to maintaining security.

It’s no longer supported even by Apple…

“To get future Brave updates, you’ll need macOS 10.13 or later. This computer is using macOS 10.12.” The [Learn more] button opens the “How do I download and install Brave?” page, but there’s no further information.

Wondering why this announcement, I looked into Chromium’s system requirements, which still specify 10.11. Vivaldi same. Thanks @289wk for the clarifying research. Seems Brave is just a little early with the news.

Unfortunate, as I have no intention to “upgrade” to APFS with its opaque, bewildering, undocumented complexity, new “features” and bugs I don’t need. Sierra already has enough bugs. But Brave has been a real help for continuing to work in 10.12.

Of course. Apple needs to keep the power on in its gigantic circular Pentagon, so they can track everything you do. So they need you to keep buying their ever more complicated, buggy, unrepairable hardware. The Upgrade Treadmill is perpetual, relentless.

I’ve been in the Apple techniverse exclusively since I got my first computer, a Mac Plus, in 1988. Apple has always been overpriced and arrogant, but in the early years there was at least a spirit of making the products as good as they could be, rather than just good enough to sell. Unsurprisingly, that spirit departed with Steve (RIP).

And it was a fun community, though that too has mostly faded out. While Apple has become the very Big Brother it famously mocked in the first Macintosh commercial.

I’ve been thinking about moving to Open Source software for years – fortunately it runs fine on “obsolete” Apple hardware like my 2014 MacBooks – but just haven’t had the time/energy to get into it. 34 years of muscle memory won’t be easy to relearn. But this development provides another spur. (And eventually I expect to move to the Framework laptop – totally user upgradable and repairable – or something similar; this is the future of computing.)

Meanwhile, though the next version of Brave won’t work on any of my Macs (including one that will only run 10.11), the current version will continue to work – just as Safari 12 still does.

Ever since 9/11, TPTB have everybody in a constant state of fear over “security” – a great marketing gimmick for corporations as well as politicians. It’s important, of course, but I have to wonder just how many ordinary users have ever had a problem. I’ve seen only one (1) actual virus in 34 years – and that was ca. 1992 in a client’s Mac SE that when I opened it up was literally stuffed full of cat hair and dust bunnies. Maybe the situation is not quite as perpetually terrifying as they want you to think?

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@ElectricBrain

Almost exactly what I would write. Thank you.

I am currently unable to arrange for the sea change to APFS, and therefore I cannot update Brave Browser for Mac OS.

The loss of advanced controls in the Brave Browser site-specific Shields(Lion icon) panels’ settings from v1 to v2, has been a significant reduction of standards by Brave Software.

Out of curiosity, what features can’t you use anymore?
Although I was used to the old interface, I can do the same things now. I don’t see any missing features, let alone “a significant reduction of standards by Brave Software.”

Thanks @289wk, @ElectricBrain. Agreed regarding perpetual upgrade treadmill business model. The pinnacle balance of features and complexity vs stability and performance occurred over a decade ago, if not decades ago in my opinion. Been a downhill ride ever since :confused:

…which is a potential security risk. It means you are distributing software for an abandoned OS, whose newfound vulnerabilities will never be fixed.

That sounds nice; after all, nobody is forcing you to use Apple.
That being said, there’s no such thing as an open-source OS version that will be supported for ever.

For you, it’s not terrifying.
For me, it’s worse.

So, Brave keeps on downloading its daily (?) updates, and tantalizes with an [Update] button in the upper right; but when I quit and restart Brave, it tells me again: “To get future Brave updates, you’ll need macOS 10.13 or later. This computer is using macOS 10.12.” Can anybody tell me how to tell it to stop downloading the useless updates? I’ve looked in Settings, but see nothing relevant.

The updates appear to still being applied at this point despite the warning, at least for me (on 10.12)

Unless something is changed/I’m mistaken, at this time we support macOS versions 10.11.0 and later. If you are on 10.12 you should still be good to go.

Can I ask where you saw this notification?

Oops, right. Brave was upgraded last time I restarted it, from v.102.1.39.120 to v.102.1.39.122. Looks like the warning notice is a little premature. According to the research done by @289wk above, the 10.13 requirement will apply when Chromium makes some major internal changes, which hasn’t happened yet. So I guess the new Brave versions will go on working until that happens. Have to see if Brave stops downloading new versions then, or continues but is unable to install the new versions. Anyway, I’ll keep on using it for now – as I do Safari v.12, which is several years old now but still works. I also use ungoogled Chromium, which doesn’t update automatically; will be interesting to see how that works out when Chromium no longer works with 10.12.

Yes, that’s the official word; the confusion has arisen because Brave is warning us that we need 10.13 for “future Brave updates”.

Also in “About Brave” window:

@ElectricBrain , @Chocoholic

Huh. To my surprise (using Mac OS 10.12.6 ‘Sierra’), moments ago (Monday, June 13, 2022), I was able to update to:

Brave Browser for Mac OS: Version 1.39.122 Chromium: 102.0.5005.115 (Official Build) (x86_64)

Thanks for the info.

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Got it — I was not aware that this message was displaying. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. For the record, I believe it will be when we update to Chromium 104 (Brave v1.42x I think) that we will bump the system requirements up.

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