The Curious Case of MacOS 12.3 ⇥ 512pixels.net
Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:
Dropbox today announced that users who update to macOS 12.3 once that software version becomes available may temporarily encounter issues with opening online-only files in some third-party apps on their Mac.
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Dropbox did not provide any further details, but Microsoft recently said macOS 12.2 will be the last version that supports its own cloud storage service OneDrive’s current online-only files implementation. Microsoft said OneDrive will be getting a new online-only files experience that is “more integrated with macOS” and “will have long-term support from Apple,” adding that the current version is built on several technologies that are “now deprecated.”
I don’t know why Apple would change this feature, but it’s not hard to look at this as a move against services that compete with its own iCloud Drive feature. Given the scrutiny the company already faces when it comes to anti-competitive behavior, I’d sure like to see a better reason for this change, especially if iCloud Drive retains features similar to what Dropbox and Microsoft offer.
I am curious to see what changes are coming in MacOS 12.3 that necessitates these kinds of advisories. It is also interesting to see Dropbox and Microsoft making similar but different announcements: the former says that applications may not open online-only files, while the latter is forcing users to work with Files on Demand instead of always retaining a local copy.
I am already a user of Files on Demand in OneDrive, and I hope this revised client is wholly native and more resource friendly. The existing OneDrive client likes to eat up an entire CPU core just to sync files. I do not like Apple’s questionable behaviour, but I also like to get work done without my computer’s fans whirring for no good reason.