MacOS 14 didn't really add any new features. There are widgets on the desktop and... that's about it. You don't have to use widgets if you're worried they might be buggy.

Safari and some other system apps added some stuff, but those aren't really part of the operating system.

Apple is the most profitable tech company in the world, they should be able to get more talent to allocate to work on both stability and new features, is not like they’re a small startup short on money.

So was Tiger before that

And don’t forget Mac OS X was on two-year release cycles at that time. They spent two full years on bug fixes only, no features!

According to the article, this pause is only some weeks, and will not delay the release of new versions. So unfortunately I think your hopes are in vain. Even if I agree with you.

I could be wrong, but that’s not been my impression at all. The last few releases of all their operating systems have been pretty light on whiz-bang features, but fairly stable. I haven’t noticed any problems, much less anything “dire”. I hate their new settings app on Mac, but that’s more of a design decision, not a bug.