Preparing For Catalina and Beyond
Welcome to Fall and the cusp of another operating system release from Apple. The focus today is on macOS and what the release of Catalina means for our customers.
As always, Carbon recommends restraint and careful consideration before jumping to Catalina. Remember, there is no award for being the first to install a new operating system. Consider the stability of your workflow and the compatibility of your applications. Give 3rd party vendors an opportunity to release compatibility updates. Let others struggle with “early adopter syndrome.” Catalina is a major release and there are wide ranging impacts to many workflows that need to be considered.
Carbon’s Managed Services customers are protected from inadvertent installation of Catalina. Your Carbon technician will provide support and guidance on when it makes sense to move to Catalina. Carbon takes into consideration your applications, workflow, hardware refresh schedule and budgets to ensure smooth operations and uninterrupted workflow.
If you are managing your own environments, please be aware of the following dates. These events will impact nearly all of our customers.
Catalina 10.15 Released; Sierra 10.12 Dropped from Support – October
Apple provides security updates for the current OS and the two prior releases. When Catalina 10.15 is released, Apple will drop support for Sierra 10.12. This does not mean that systems running 10.12 will stop working. It does mean that those machines will receive no additional security updates. System running 10.12 or earlier should be upgraded or replaced to ensure security compliance. Apple’s product support matrix is easy to figure out. Each operating system has three years of support.
macOS 10.12 dropping from support in October 2019 - get ready to upgrade your machines to a supported version
macOS 10.13 will drop from support in Fall 2020
macOS 10.14 will drop from support in Fall 2021
macOS 10.15 will drop from support in Fall 2022
Microsoft Office 2019 drops support for Sierra 10.12 – November 12, 2019
When Microsoft releases the November service pack for Office 2019 (volume license, O365 subscription, and App Store versions), version 16.31, they will drop support for macOS 10.12. To benefit from the updates to Office 2019, users will need to upgrade to 10.13 or higher. Microsoft is following Apple’s lead and will support the current OS and the two previous.
Adobe Creative Cloud not Fully Catalina Compliant – End of Summer 2019
Adobe has not yet completed the migration to a full 64-bit application catalog. See this link for current status. Adobe is aiming to provided 64-bit compatibility by the end of Summer, 2019. However, there is a possibility that Apple will release Catalina before Adobe completes the migration of all products. If you are using the Adobe Creative Cloud product suite, do not upgrade to Catalina until Adobe confirms full 64-bit compatibility. Acrobat DC and Bridge… our eyes are on you. Also, if you are using plugins for your Adobe products, those plugins must be upgraded also. Don’t upgrade until you’ve checked all your supporting products.
If you are still running Adobe Creative Suite do not upgrade to Catalina. Applications from Adobe CS 6 and older are not compatible with Catalina.
Adobe dropping support for Type 1 Fonts (Postscript) – 2021
This announcement has no immediate impact and is not related to the release of Apple’s new operating system. However, this is a long-term deadline that will have a significant impact for many of Carbon’s customers. It is best to be aware of this coming change and begin preparing for it now.
Customers should start the process of converting to OpenType or TypeKit fonts now. Begin the phase out of the legacy Type 1 fonts. Carbon knows your fonts. We know many of you are still using fonts from the 1990s. Adobe has not released a Type 1 font since 1999. We are talking about fonts that are 20 years old. It is time to let go. It is also a time to consider the cost of compliance. Fonts are a licensed product and can cost a significant amount. Talk to Carbon and we will ensure you are compliant. To see the announcement, click here.
Adobe Discontinuing Flash Player - December 31, 2020
This is a welcomed retirement. At the end of 2020 Adobe will stop supporting and distributing Flash Player. If you still have it installed, consider removing it from your machine. If you visit a web site and it tells you Flash is out of date, it is likely a malware attempt. Do not install anything claiming to be Flash.
Please contact your Carbon Technician if you have any questions or concerns about the pending release of Catalina. Remember, workflow disruption is possible. Don’t jump to the new release until you review your entire environment.